never forget
never forget
By David Greene
Under warm blue skies like that fateful Tuesday, New Yorker's gathered at events across the city, marking the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
At Jacobi Medical Center, a few dozen family members joined local officials at a memorial garden across from what used to be the hospital's emergency room, where a few dozen doctors and nurses waited for patients in the hours after the two planes hit the Twin Towers.
Sadly, just a few survivors were pulled from the rubble and were transported to Manhattan hospitals.
Family member's and friend's of the borough's victims each took turns reading a poem, that read in part:
"As we fell on our knees to pray for strength
we became one faith
As we whispered or shouted words of encouragement
we spoke one language
As we gave our blood and minds a mile long
we became on body."
Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., told attendees, "If you look around at the rich diversity, we are also one Bronx and that is what is important on this sacred day, when so many of our New Yorkers and 158 Bronxites lost their lives."
Speaking of the controversy surrounding the building of a mosque and cultural center two blocks from Ground Zero, and a Florida preacher's threat to burn the Qu'ran, Diaz stated, "Shame on those who want to politicize this day. Bronxites are showing the city and the rest of the world that we hold this day dear and true to our heart."
Recalling his visit to the hospital shortly after the attacks, Senator Jeff Klein stated, "They were going to use Jacobi Hospital to bring back the wounded and then we found out there would not be any wounded."
Klein added, "I think it's important to leave behind all the rhetoric and remember what 9/11 is all about. It's not about some mad man in Florida, who's about to burn a religious book, or is he going to burn a religious book."
Klein said September 11th was about, "Remembering those heroes who lost their lives.”
Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera added, "As the fourth year came, waking up understanding that I had to explain to my little boy that was going to school, what 9/11 meant."
Rivera added, "How do I rationalize something so irrational?"
Jack Lynch, who lost his firefighter son Michael in the attack ,has become frustrated, believing most everyone involved in the redevelopment of the 16-acre Manhattan site has an agenda. Lynch, who would not be attending either ceremony, but visiting his son's grave site instead, stated, "I'm very upset with what's going on and everyone taking advantage of us with all this nonsense."
As family members joined by Vice President Joe Beiden and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, participating in the annual reading of the victim's names at Ground Zero, several thousand anti-mosque demonstrators gathered in a park outside the Path Station next to the new Freedom Tower.
The group, largely made up of people who believe that George Bush was behind the terrorist attacks and members of the socialist World Workers Party peacefully marched to Maiden Lane. A second group, just as large, gathered outside City Hall in support of the mosque.
No arrests were reported but even though the Florida preacher has decided not to burn the Qu'ran, one man tore several pages from a Qu'ran and burned them in front of the cameras of several news organizations--a block from the proposed mosque. The unidentified man was allowed to carry out his action, then marched to the Path train by police officers and apparently put on a train to New Jersey.
President Barack Obama had declared Sep. 11, 2010 as a National Day of Service, asking Americans to spend the day helping their local community. Obama spent a portion of his day painting a middle school.
The official death toll for the World Trade Center attacks stands at 2,752, including 343 firefighters and 23 police officers from the NYPD and 37 from the Port Authority Police Department. The remains of over 1,500 victims were never recovered. The toll also included nationals from more than 70 countries.
Monday, September 13, 2010
hero remembered
Council Member James Vacca joined family, friends, and former colleagues of Port Authority Police Officer Dominick Pezzulo, to rename a traffic triangle after the local hero, who was killed on September 11, 2001, assisting rescue efforts at the World Trade Center.
The triangle, at E. Tremont Avenue and Hutchinson River Parkway, is located directly across the street from Herbert H. Lehman High School, where Pezzulo was a teacher for seven years before joining the Port Authority Police Department.
“Dominick Pezzulo was a public servant two times over, first as a public school teacher who inspired hundreds of young people in our community and then as a public safety officer dedicated to keeping New Yorkers safe,” Vacca said. “It is my hope that when thousands of young people walk by this triangle each day, they remember someone who truly defined courage, someone who knew what it meant to have character, in both ordinary and extraordinary times.”
Pezzulo was stationed at the Port Authority Bus Terminal when news of the terrorist attack came over the radio. He and a group of fellow officers commandeered a city bus and rushed to the Trade Center, where Pezzulo was sent to an underground concourse to aid the evacuation. After the South Tower collapsed, he helped save the lives of two fellow officers trapped under the rubble. He was struck and killed when the North Tower collapsed. He was 36 years old. Pezzulo’s heroics in the final hours of his life, and his efforts to save two fellow officers, were portrayed in the Oliver Stone film “World Trade Center.”
Joining the ceremony were Pezzulo’s widow, Jeanette; his two children, Dominick Jr. and Gianna; his parents, Dino and Vittoria; Port Authority Police Benevolent Association President Paul Nunziato; fellow PAPD officers; and the PAPD Honor Guard and Pipe Band. Also attending were Lehman High School Principal Dr. Janet Saraceno and former colleagues from Lehman. Before joining the PAPD in 2000, Pezzulo taught auto repair, math, and computer science at Lehman, from which he and his wife also graduated.
The City Council formally authorized the honorary street naming for Pezzulo last December at the recommendation of a local resident who had participated in recovery efforts at Ground Zero and had heard of Pezzulo’s story. Community Board 10 also passed a resolution in support of the naming. Representing the Board at the ceremony were Chairman John Marano and District Manager Kenneth Kearns.