PUTTING THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE

[DMCKEON]

A couple of news items this week regarding Ground Zero got me thinking about putting things into perspective.

Much was made of the fact that the ramp was being removed the WTC site.

The press release went on to say that because of the historic significance of the ramp that a section of it was being preserved for the 9/1 Memorial Museum.

Nothing was mentioned about the fact that items such as the ramp, the staircase, and even the globe would not have been saved had it not been for the appeals by 9/11 family groups and in particular Anthony Gardner.

On Friday another victim of 9/11 was added to the “official list”

In the release it was stated that the ME’s office had been identifying finds and identifications on a daily basis since the new remains were found in the Con Ed conduit and the Deutsche Bank Building.

The fact is that the findings in the Deutsche Bank Building were not made public until a story appeared in the NY Times.

As for the remains in the Con Ed conduit and subsequent finds the Where to Turn site actually posted the finds on a daily basis until the ME’s office decided to do so.

We still cannot get them to put out a standardized report detailing the status of remains from the initial effort separate from the new effort.

Also this week the area where Flight 93 crashed was put under federal control. "It ends what has been a three-year process of trying to get those lands under federal ownership to protect the remains of the passengers and crew," said Patrick White, vice president of the Families of Flight 93. "That's the key. That's the essential, that's the most ... outstanding aspect of it."

While we are extremely supportive of this it is really a disgrace that the same cannot be said of the Fresh Kill Landfill.

While it appears to be important to protect the remains of those lost in Pennsylvania the remains at the landfill are not offered the same respect.

In a cruel twist of fate this announcement was made on the birthday of Matthew Horning, the son of Kurt and Diane Horning who was killed on 9/11.

His remains were never found and his parents have been trying to get a proper burial for all the remains potentially in Fresh Kills.

So here we are nearly eight years later and the city is still releasing half truths and accepting credit for things that never would have happened had it not been for the families fighting for their loved ones.

Some things we were actually able to change such as raising the names of the victims at the Memorial at the site to ground level but there are still many things that we need to continue to fight for.

Do you realize that if you took 10% of what the city spends on the LMDC for one year you would have enough to excavate Fresh Kills.

Do you realize that if the $1 Billion granted by the Federal Government had been used to pay medical claims instead of nearly $400 million of it being spent on lawyers or lost in the stock market we would not have people dying or losing their homes to pay medical bills from illnesses associated with 9/11.

So as had been said many times don’t always believe what you read in the papers especially if it’s being released by the city.

We will continue to work with the 9/11 families and give them a platform to get the truth out and when things are released attempt to put them into perspective.

It’s the least we can do