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Letters to the Editor

The forgotten ones

To The Editor:

Re “New study proves 9/11-related anxiety can linger for years” (news article, Feb. 16)

An article acknowledging 9/11 survivors and responders living a life full of P.T.S.D. and other traumatic conditions ten years after 9/11 made me reflect on my own reality. There is no doubt these brave souls are struggling and they deserve recognition. But you didn’t have to be in the Twin Towers to suffer the same effect and much more.

I’m speaking about the 9/11 siblings — the forgotten ones. We lived the horror of that day through our cherished brothers and sisters. The closeness of siblings cannot be discounted; it is as if we were there. When they were murdered, an immeasurable part of us died as well, and we continue to feel that pain everyday.

What once was a collective group of 9/11 families just after the attacks became fragmented throughout the passing years. A big contributor to some of the division was the 9/11 compensation, which created a backlash of bad feelings and drew lines between families. It was an enabling factor that can’t be ignored.

The first portion of the payout was for grief, but if the person was married, the birth parents received nothing. This set a bad precedent and caused some families to feel it was just about those receiving the payout. Birth families were left standing there. Many families that received the payout remarried and moved away.

So now the estrangement is magnified for many 9/11 families who hardly ever see their grandchildren or their nieces and nephews anymore.

Barry Zelman

Brother of Kenneth Zelman North Tower floor 99.

Vanity is appalling

To The Editor:

The vanity surrounding the 9/11 “memorial” is appalling. Countdowns, tour buses, and the like…

The Memorial Foundation is conducting a countdown: 340 days to go! 215 days to go! Look at this monument to ourselves, see how great our pain is! We had to build two immense “voids” gushing thousands and thousands of gallons of water to express the absence in our lives! Imagine our pain! Our hurt! That is what matters here! And we will leave it here for generations so they can see how sensitive we were! And trees! Not just one or two or a handful, but hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them! A forest of trees we will plant here! Because we are so sensitive! Every one of them symbolizing the “rejuvenation of life”! The circle of life! It’s just so meaningful; so profound; so sensitive! Cue the singing animals.

We can walk under the trees and listen, if not actually see, the subterranean waterfalls. The wall of names – those are the poor people “lost”. 9/11: so sad. Sigh. Well, time to “move on” as Julie Menin says. Those walls must be high enough, as per the insurance company, to prevent anybody from tumbling over into that, um, void.

And Michael Bloomberg will dedicate this monstrosity, this monument, to our “sensitivity” on Sept. 11, 2011 in a great television production covered by all the networks to show that he got the memorial done by the 10th anniversary, because that is what is important here.

And no one is supposed to notice that it does not even acknowledge the attacks, that with all the hoopla about “absence” and “memory” and “rejuvenation of life,” 9/11 has been forgotten.

Or that all the authentic artifacts of the WTC have been tossed aside or buried underground. Two “tridents” inside the “Visitor’s Center” will be “visible,” the memorial’s president and CEO Joe Daniels tells us. Well, not exactly prominent, but “visible” if you are standing on the right side of the hundreds of trees. And if the goal is to make them “visible” why not put them outside and include them in the memorial? And the elements are not a factor — the curator of these artifacts told me so. But “visible” they will be, if you define visible as barely noticeable.

So we have reduced 9/11 to just another self-love fest, absent of any greater meaning than wallowing in the wonder of ourselves — a sort of contemporary “Woodstock” sans the drugs, sex and rock and roll, which were the only things that made it worthwhile anyway. And an opportunity for Bloomberg to show how efficient he is. He doesn’t have to worry about any snow, but warn him that many of the firefighters were of Irish descent. But hey! The memorial does not acknowledge firefighters! Brilliant!)

Joe Daniels and Michael Bloomberg will be there, each solemnly expressing sentiments about this thing we are building that has nothing to do with the reality of it, exploiting the good faith of honest Americans. Architect Michael Arad will be there; admiring this monument to his experience on the night of 9/11, forgetting all about what happened that morning.

I, for one, will not be there. I have a weak stomach.

Michael Burke

Note: On 9/11 my brother, Capt. William F. Burke, Jr., Eng. Co. 21 gave his life.

BID equals misery

To The Editor:

Re “Tired of being ‘malled,’ residents reject Soho BID” (news article, Feb. 16)

My husband and I have lived in a Soho co-op building since 1974. We have seen the neighborhood become ever more congested, ever more crowded, and ever more unsustainable. This new BID, if it were to succeed, would make our lives truly miserable.

We do not want tourists, noise and trash. The forces behind this project do not understand that people live and work here, quietly and seriously. Our neighborhood is not a circus.

Joyce Kozloff

Say ‘no’ to BID

To the Editor:

Re “Tired of being ‘malled,’ residents reject Soho BID” (news article, Feb. 16)

I am a Lifetime Certified A.I.R. Artist, living in Soho for more almost thirty years. During that time, I have owned a working-living floor in an A.I.R. co-operative building. As a long-time resident, I have witnessed first-hand the deterioration of Soho and its transformation from a unique community of artists living and working in architecturally significant cast iron buildings to a shopping mall for tourists.

Central to the shame and pain of this deterioration of our neighborhood has been the proliferation of late night bars and noisy restaurants, which destroy the quality of life for residents.

The proliferation of bars and the violation of the “500-foot Rule” is evidence of the corruption of the New York State Liquor Authority, which hands out the licenses under which these establishments operate.

Soho — and Broadway, in particular — doesn’t want or need the establishment of a BID, which will attract even more tourists, more garbage, more traffic and more noise. Conduct an honest survey of residents and you will see we are overwhelmingly opposed to all BIDS. Only commercial interests and developers will profit at our expense.

Do NOT allow this to happen!

Richard Brick

Professor of Film

Columbia University

Streets already crowded

To The Editor:

Re “Tired of being ‘malled,’ residents reject Soho BID” (news article, Feb. 16)

I am writing as a 40-year resident of Soho to let you know that my entire co-op building and I are opposed to the formation of a BID in Soho. This would only increase tourist traffic and congestion in what is a residential neighborhood whose streets are already over-crowded with tourists, especially on weekends.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Diana Kurz

Soho is for the people

To The Editor:

Re “Tired of being ‘malled,’ residents reject Soho BID” (news article, Feb. 16)

The thought of a Soho BID is appalling. It would cause more people on our sidewalks, and more trash, crowding and crime.

Soho should be for people, not profits!

Sally Lindsay