New York Times article on recovery commemoration

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document nr. we wing are excerpts from an interview Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. ca he" WE How did your feelings change after Sept. 11, which, of course, was sup- d to be the primary? Did any part of not want to be mayor? y. No, I never had that feeling. 1 think J knew it would be more complex. There is a dimension of the job that is just more difficult, in terms of dealing with a budget- ary shortfall. There was an element to the that was going to be new: that’s going to are directly related to 9/11 —- working the design for what you build there. But uu know, the fundamental job isn’t that ‘you always had transportation problems, “von always had people that are desperately need of social services. And the magni- le of New York ‘City is such that 9/11 pkes some of those problems worse. ... jt I still come back to the basic problems this city aren’t any different, and we owe to those who died to fix those problems. “Eve tried to call 400 families of firefighters, gielice officers and court officers who died, gd maybe J have 40 left to go... and almost '@i of the families say, J want a better life for “Py Is there anything that is not getting the time and attention it would have re- ceived because it has been overshadowed by 9/1i?... A 1 think you still would have had a & problem. Lower Manhattan was losing the financial sector. We didn’t have enough housing. A lot of the problems of this city are ‘gaused by the national economic slowdown 198:-So 9/11 puts a bump on it, 9/11 moves it to wether industries, particularly ‘tourism or ‘Bey that depend on flying. 3iutin the end, 9/11 probably economically ‘heirt the poor more than anybody else, be- jebuse Wall Street was contracting and lay- Seg off anyway. But when tourism got burt 7.tourism is an industry that gives jobs to ‘fhdse at the beginning of the economic lad- ‘Wer, the people that work in the hotels, the tgéople who work in the restaurants, people “faat drive the buses, those people starting “@p:the economic ladder, And they live all Whroughout the city and the region; they weren’t living downtown. Hae: 4 How does 9/11 characterize your may- ag oralty? Are you the rebuilding mayor? A ...In terms of rebuilding, an awful lot buildings that we build here won’t be lone in seven years from now. Just think ‘ the length of time it takes. We stili t aven’t really agreed on, conceptually, what id be here. That is what I want to focus ‘gn over the couple of months. I had no ‘objection to the six plans that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation put ‘Ont, but I it they were all variations on one Monceoengl ideal Just office space. 1 NYC-WTC_000142980 _ Lost to. We Owe It to Those That We expand Our Quest’ hee ‘ . * Would consider just residential; I’d consider ined, .». You have to consider rebuilding he two towers. 1 think that’s impractical. ee not happen. You could never finance ‘the thing. Nobody would move into it. But U want to go and say, what are the needs “of this city and what are the different ideas? ‘Which of the different ideas fit the needs? vw 7+ and I think the same mistake is being fnade with the memorial. Everybody wants italk about the size of the memorial and y location of the memorial. But I don’t , why we are sure what the memoriai wilt be. For example, it could be a park. I that’s what most people envision... ;. may be 10 other things that people ad come up with as an idea for a memorial, a 30: of which I wouldn’t agree with. But this *$ the hard part of getting people to take the “mé. to sit back and open their minds and *: all possibilities ... And a lot of people don’t ever want to ask «sestions where the possibility of the an- ser coming back being something they 7on't want to hear exists. I think you have to =o that; 1 think we owe it to those that we -3t tO expand our quest at a con +vel for all different kinds of memorials «id then sit back. Because it may very well = that a year from now people say, “Oh -¥$. Of course, I would want an X, Y, 2.” Who are you referring to when you say . “people”’ don’t want to sit back and re- Daw a A ... I think there’s this pressure: we've got to build right away. But if you look + the history of great memorials, all the #1 éat ones have taken time. The rspective # being away from something lets you look «: the forest. If you are in the middle of it, . “U Can only see trees. That’s true in a lot of ings we do, Nobody wants to build faster han I — we need the tax revenue. I want to de the building mayor, whatever you want to call it. But I just think that it’s a mistake to cash through it. ... 1 don’t have any precon- -«ived notion of what the memorial should ‘¢. 1 don’t have any preconceived notions +bout how big it should be. I do have a ~feconceived notion that whatever we do on ‘nat site and around that site has to work gether, and that this city has to do two ngs: memorialize, but also build for the ‘.ture, I don’t see how you could leave all 16 +sres for a memorial. It’s not fair to those K behind. They’re going to need jobs, ~“ey-re going to need schools, they’re going need restaurants and stores ... Goona i What for you has been the darkest moment since Sept. 11? A The most difficult thing was calling the y™% three families of the employees that | had. ... 1 still get choked up when I do eulogies at funerals. You know they’re for people I’ve never met. So it isn’t that I’m choked up for the person. J guess I’m choked up for the concept. Because you know, I look at those left behind and that’s where my sympathies are, And I’ve said, when I talk to the families of the firefighters and police officers that I call, you know, I can pray for your son or husband or brother or whatever, but I can’t really do anything other than that. What I can do is try to lead this city forward for those left behind. And most of the families, that is what they want. You know these families’ groups that you inter- view; they don’t represent most of these families. Most of the families, you know, vou talk to them ~— kids, the kids are screaming in the background or throwing something — and the wife, you know typically. it was a man who died, the wife says, vou know. “Look, my husband’s gone but he would nor want me mourning all the time.” I think the Jews do it right. They have a headstone unveiling a vear after the funera’. and that’s sort of the time that vou sec: - Stop the mourning process and star: goin forward. And that’s one of the reasons I sort of stalled on laying out a grarc visien. - you wil], for what New York Cry needs in 4 more comprehensive wav than just the site Because 1! don’t think you can focus on i while we're in the middie of a grieving period. And the 9/11 ceremonies ~ what I'm trying to do is that in the morning, we wil} look back, remember who they were and why they died. And in the evening come out of it looking forward and say, O.K., we're going to go forward. The world will be watching us on Sept. 11. What elements of the ceremony were most important to you? No political speeches. The families said that a lot, but 1 think independently J couldn’t agree more. No Hollywood. The danger here is that it becomes a spectacu- lar. We don’t want that. The idea for the governors, Pataki and McGreevey; Giuli- ani; and myself — to none of the four of us to make ~~ was mine .. 1 can’t imagine if you read the Gettysburg Address why it isn’t appropriate. And it savs some- in - thing. but in @ nonpolitical way. The Decla- ration of Independence — you know every-, Dods’s flving an American flag —~ what's ‘rong with a litle patriotism? These peopie . Gied because the freedoms that we so value were what che terrorisss found so threaten. ‘NE Rotsevels Four Freedems ir the {VENINE — $C 20. Te going farwarcd wha: eed - “ 38a" wt es ems said Mo owtre anpropriagte’ acc Goce: