NYC-WTC_000230595

NYC 9/11 Public Portal Document

daily NEWS, MONDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2001

Refugees head home homeless fg;.

in sad trek By BOB HEKia M1L¥ NEWS STAFF WHITER

Lower Manhattan came home yesterdai', temporarily. Some of Che more than 25,000 Sy'-, people made homeless by the at­ tack on the WftdiiTrade Center were allowed to visit their apart­ ments to pick up clothing and medicine, With friends helping, they carried out pets and photos, special blankets and un­ paid hills. They walked through dark, odor-filled apartments coaled in the thick, gray dust that blew through their lives ’Tuesday. They saw the smoking rubble that was all that remained of their towering neigh­ bors. 1 They also saw how their lives have I changed — and began to consider wheth­ er they could ever return. 1 For some, especially Battery Park City I families, the proximity to the twin lowers — once a selling point — makes a quick recovery impossible. Officials told the crowd at a comtnuniry meeting at the bas­ ketball court on Canal St. and Sixth Ave. it could be weeks before those apartment buildings are opened. The line to get into the neighborhood around Battery Park City began at Pier 40 just south of Christopher St. Each resi­ dent was allowed to bring one person to help and one suitcase. Each would have 10 minutes in the apartment. Carrying pet looc and cages and flashlights, they ROBEPT ROUUdJLIO CmUL^J rode into the hor zone on a flatbed truck. William Singleman, 55, and his wife, SIGN OF GRIM TIMES Man waits ta ba dieched out yesterday by authorities before he’s allowed back Inio Ws ^idli Pauline DeVita, 52, have lived in Gate­ way Plaza for nine years. . to redalm belonjlngs abandoned after the World Trade Center’s destruction. “It’s a .slice of heaven,” Singleman said. But he’s thankful. “Compared to what and waffle-shaped chunks of the facades Mendles, both SG, paid S2,S00.aiii^th “That’s what it was. W; belong down has happened here," he said, “we’re not looked like the barricades at the French tor their 27th-floor apartment .at bh.'22 here. It's our home. There’s no place complaining about anything." Revolution must have. River Terrace- It facet! the twin tq^ij. else." Four blocks north of Ground Zero, the “I'm concerned about the rat prahlem,’ . "The view was the only reason we took ’They have been staying with DeVita’s lobby in the south tower of Independence she said.. “It's stressful to be_ _ , exposed to that apartment," DeLeon said, ^e hid a parents on Staten Island. Her office, on Plaza stinks of rotting food and sewage, jhe chemicals in the air. As a resident choice of a water view or a city view but Rector St., was severely damaged, too. There’s a grocery store on the first floor, who lives in the area, I feel overlooked." with that view it felt like you could reach “They’re not going to take this from Electricity won’t be back until tomorrow. Artist Jim Gilroy, 35. walked up 32 out and touch the 'World Trade Center" us," she said. "They’re just not." Chances are they won’t be back.' ., ’ They, won’t have neighbor Luis Ellen Rosen, who works for the Board flights to his apartment in the 39-story of Ed, lives there. So does her 90-year-old building to see his two cats. A3CPA volun- “T don’t like the thought of looking but Ramirez when they return. The 44-year- at where.5,COO people were killed," Men- old food service worker at the GE build­ mother. Her daughter Bonnie, 40, a teers implanted coded microchips in the Brooklyn school teacher, has an apart- pets they have rescued, to help unite dlea said. ' ing in midtown ran home Tuesday to get Robyn Cooper won’t be back to her the stroller, the favorite blanket and the ment in another building in I he complex, them with owners who register at (212) The Rosen ■women left their apart- 876-77(10, ext. 4741. apartment at 400 Gateway Plaza, either. Barbie dolls that form the world of his “I’m not going to be some pioneer." she 3-year-old daughter, Amanda Wearing raents Wednesday and stayed in the shel- Maura Cox, a jewelry designer, fled said. “It’s going to be years and years be­ borrowed clothes, he returned for what ter at Washington Irving High School. Tuesday with her passport and her fore they rebuild, and then 1 may be look­ he believes could be the last time. Ellen Rosen returned to pick up medicine 2‘/t year-old daughter. She returned ing over a craveyard." “I don’t want to live there anymore," he for her mother and some clothing and alone. ,, Cooper left her apartment yesterday said. “That used to be home, and there's bills. She used a flashlight to find her “The streets look better than I thought, with Sketch and Skittish, her 1 O-year-old no way I'll bring my kid back there." way up darkened stairs to the fourth but it’s still a war zone here. The smell of daughter’s hamsters. Faruk and Eiruza Amin lived in nearby floor. garbage is terrible and I’m concerned “She’s lost her home," she said. “She’s Gateway Plaza for six months. Faruk She found her apartment door and about asbestos—no matter what authori- lost her security. But those hamsters I Amin is an n vest men! banker with Leh­ opened it wide. ties say. mean something to her, I don’t care about man Bros, a block away in the World Fi­ Her windows framed the rescue site “Mainly, we’re safe," she said. “1 want anything else in that apartment. nancial Center. and the smoke. ' to be flexible and not be in a rush to 'She desperately wants to go home and They're looking for a new home. “It’s sad." Rosen' said. “It's pathetic, dis- move hack. sleep in her bed and be with her things. “We re not coming back here," he said. turbtng." “I’m nervous tor New York." “I'm just trying to break the news that "We need enother place to stay." Bonnie Rosen said the pile of girders Roommates Jesse DeLeon and Richard we may not go home again.”

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NYC-WTC_000230595