New York – A group of 9/11 family members on Wednesday accused the governors of New York and New Jersey of betraying the people killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks, urging them to resolve a financial disagreement that has hobbled construction of the ground zero museum meant to memorialize those lost.
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“The Port Authority’s conduct is a betrayal of those who died on 9/11. It is a betrayal of the thousands who risked everything to honor them, and it is a betrayal of the growing number of children for whom `9/11′ is not a first-hand memory,” said the letter to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who jointly control the agency that owns the World Trade Center site.
Of the many thousands of family members, more than 200 signed the missive, voicing support for the foundation that controls the memorial and museum while excoriating the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Work on the museum has been slowed since last year, with both sides locked in a dispute over hundreds of millions of dollars.
It was the latest development in an increasingly acrimonious clash over the site’s future. Weeks ago, another group of family members accused the foundation of allowing costs to spiral out of control, and it said that public money shouldn’t be used to rescue the project. Michael Frazier, a spokesman for the foundation, said the organization’s costs hadn’t risen significantly.
Wednesday’s letter laid the blame on the Port Authority, saying the agency “is seeking to use the public’s heartfelt support of the 9/11 memorial and museum as an easy source of revenue to help pay for its own oversized, under-budgeted, poorly-managed capital projects.”
But a Port Authority spokeswoman disputed that, saying in a response Wednesday: “Completing the 9/11 Memorial Museum and providing families with a proper venue to remember their loved ones is of utmost importance to us.”
“We will continue to work with all stakeholders to reach an agreement that protects public dollars and ensures a site of national significance to honor all who died on 9/11,” spokeswoman Lisa MacSpadden said in a statement.
MacSpadden said that dozens of workers remain at the site every day, working on electrical and piping systems and carpentry projects. But others note that many more workers would be required to move full-speed ahead on the project.
Earlier this month, Christie and Cuomo asked the U.S. National Parks Service to step in at the site to offer financial support and “ensure long term stability.” Days earlier, the chairmen of both the foundation and the Port Authority had said they were close to an agreement, but the deal never materialized.
A spokesman for Christie referred to the statement from the Port Authority. A spokesman for Cuomo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
No one disagrees that the Port Authority is not well managed but this constant stream of demands from the 9/11 families getting a bit tiring as well. There has never been any group that has gotten more public money for their losses than the 9/11 lobby. Yet they always want more and nothing is ever enough. They got million dollar settlements for their loss, lifetime medical screening and care for first responders and now hundreds of millions of additional dollars so they have a “special venue” to mourn their loved ones. Well, guess what….the families of thousands of American soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan have received a small fraction what they’ve gotten for their equal or greater losses and they manage to do their grieving with hundred million dollar edifices. Enough is enough.
Commentator. #1 you have something wrong with you. You think that the family of a firefighter that died horrificly on 9/11 is asking too much?? Do you think that the thousands of people that did search and rescue at the site that now have respiratory problems, are asking too much? How about the airline attendant that’s throat was cut when the hijackers took over the planes? Is her family asking too much? What about the families that have no body parts of a family member to bury, so they bury pictures, are they asking too much? The families could ask whatever they want, and it should be given. None of us can comprehend how a 9/11 family member grieves for a lost one. What does 250,000 dollars do for a 6 year old girl (at the time) 10 years later? The ground zero ground is holy, and the governors of both states should be ashamed of themselves.
These “9/11 Families” don’t know what betrayal is. We don’t need a memorial and we don’t need a museum. It was a horrible and cowardly attack, but as Anonymous wrote, we’ve lost way more lives in war since 9/11 and we haven’t spent a fraction of the amount lavished on “9/11 Families” in honoring their devotion to duty. The people working in the Twin Towers on 9/11 were doing office work. The soldiers were fighting for their country.
(And I don’t think either war should have been carried out, but don’t blame the soldiers!)
I agree with #1 ; there were over 100,000 British civilians killed during the aerial bombing of London and other British cities by the Luftwaffe during World War Two; there were over 350,000 Japanese civilians killed in the firebombing of Tokyo and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There were over 50 civilians killed at Pearl Harbor, as well as several civilians killed by Japanese balloon bombs in Oregon. There were also dozens of civilians killed at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City. My point is the families of all of those civilians did not have the mentality as the 9/11 families, which is “give me, give me, give me”. Enough is enough! As a former Chief Supreme Court Justice once stated “There has to be some finality to these cases”.
I agree with #1 as well. I hate the Port Authority but there will be a memorial at some point. Sometimes there things take a while. Also, there is already a lot ceremony and ritual surrounding 9-11. Everyone invokes it and there are parades, memorial funds, scholarships, local memorials. It’s not like 9-11 is fading into memory. You can’t watch C-Span without a Congress person mentioning it.
In Israel, there have been dozens of 9-11’s and people lay flowers, mourn privately, sometimes dedicate a hospital wing or tzedaka in memory, and the country moves on.