Sep 10, 2008 8:14 pm US/Eastern
Bloomberg: 9/11 Memorial Will Be Done By 2011
NYC Mayor Takes Aim At Delays In Rebuilding Of Lower Manhattan, Wants City To Take Over Planning
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
-
-
On the eve of the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is taking aim at the delays in the rebuilding of lower Manhattan.
CBS
As New York City prepares for the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is doing what he can to speed up the process of the replacement projects. He's doing this while people flock to lower Manhattan to sign a piece of history.
Two 37-foot steel beams, each weighing some four tons, are on display for people to sign before the beams become part of the 9-11 Memorial and Museum. Kim Clark lost her brother, Michael Clark of Ladder 2.
"We're gonna put a message to him, from all the family so people can carry on," Kim Clark said.
Not only did victims' families show up, but so did average New Yorkers and the mayor of the city.
"If we don't learn from our past mistakes, we will live to repeat them in the future," Bloomberg said.
Since the attack, cost overruns, construction delays and bureaucratic wrangling have marred progress at the site. In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, the mayor called upon the Port Authority to share the urgency, and Gov. David Paterson has applauded the mayor's call to dismantle the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, turning over its functions to the city. The mayor wants the deadline for the memorial to be the 10th anniversary.
"Do I think a deadline is critical? Yes, I think for this country this date is critical, and for the state and city to have the memorial done," Bloomberg said.
The museum is set to open in 2012, a year after the memorial plaza is scheduled to be ready for visitors.
But for now, the mayor wants a hard deadline of 2011 for the memorial and wants all parties involved to get aboard.
New data from a public health registry that tracks health effects of 9/11 suggest that up to 70,000 people developed post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the terror attacks.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
World's Most Useless Facts
Click to enlarge
Paterson: NYS Will Be Broke Before Christmas 55 mins ago 
Hempstead Asst Police Chief Alleges Discrimination 58 mins ago 
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments