FEMA grant air monitoring contract discussion, March 2002

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

Frcftn: Lila Meade L PH Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 1:35 PM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Closing of St. Paul's

Dear Ms. Sumowicz: I've attached a copy of an article I have submitted to the NY Times for publication on the closing of St. Paul's for their oped page. Please, please...whatever pressure your office can put on the EPA to halt the closing of the chapel for the rescue workers until their work is finished (1- 2 months) would be appreciated by the thousands of workers who come into the chapel each day for replenishment of their spirits. Below is a copy of the interview on NYl yesterday's program, interviewing some of the rescue workers. So many thanks for your help. Lila Meade Here is a transcript of the story....NYl Newscast report: 3/19/02

-- Church Serving As Refuge For WTC Recovery Workers May Temporarily Close Its Doors MARCH 19TH, 2002 St. Paul's Chapel weathered the World Trade Center attacks but its respite center may not withstand the rest of the recovery operation. Its home parish. Trinity Church, is closing the chapel March 31 for a top-to-bottom cleaning. "If this place closes it's like, I would feel like they're making us all orphans," said Fire Safety Director Mike Bellone, one of thousands of firefighters, police, sanitation and iron workers who have leaned on St. Paul's since September 11. "I visit the chapel here twice a day. Once in the afternoon for mass and once at night when I go to sleep. I sleep here four nights a week." But it's more than a bunker. Volunteers serve food and coffee, offer shoulder rubs or shoulders to lean on. "This is a family down here," said sanitation worker Joe Bracety. "It's become a family. We've gotten quite close with the workers, with the volunteers and we do need their support. They provide a warmth for us that we really need." When operating engineer Jim Traynor of Local 15 first came to the site it was a five-story pile of rubble. Now, it's a seven-story basement. Traynor said the further they dig, the lower he sinks emotionally and the more he relies on St. Paul's. "Sometimes you get caught in a spot in the hole where they're digging up bodies and you see things that you really don'.t want to see in your life," Traynor said, "and it's just a place to go and reflect and sit and be quiet and pull your thoughts together," "This church has been like a safe haven for us," said sanitation worker Anthony Palmeri. "It's been fabulous, it really has. And they shouldn't close it - we depend on it too much." But the church said the decision to do the $500,000 clean-up is coming from higher up. According to John Allen, of the chapel, the city environmental authorities gave the church a notice to clean the building. 2

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