Ground zero powerful landmark

NEW YORK -- For generations, visitors to New York City have headed to Times Square, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty. But since Sept. 11, 2001, another landmark has been on the must-see list: The site where 2,792 people died in the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Like it or not -- and many native New Yorkers don't -- ground zero pilgrimages have become a regular part of New York City tourism. Even though there's very little to actually see at the site, at any given time dozens of people from around the world can be found peering from a viewing wall into the gaping hole at the heart of the nation's tragedy. Just as the Twin Towers were a New York landmark, so are their ghosts.

Some visitors take pictures or shoot videos. Others read panels depicting the history of the site and the events of Sept. 11. Some just stare in awe.

"We wanted to see everything there is to see in New York -- Yankee Stadium, the Statue of Liberty. Ground zero is now part of that," said Dan Leonard, 56, of Turkey Run, Ind., on vacation with his wife and children.

"If you've seen it before and know how incredibly large it was, you can't possibly imagine it not being there," said Cindy T. Francis, 51, of Apex, N.C., who visited ground zero while attending a teachers conference.

For those who saw the attacks on television, a visit puts things in perspective. Many people think only the Twin Towers were destroyed; in reality, seven buildings were.

"Once you see it in person you get a much better idea of how big this attack was," said Cristyne Nicholas, president of NYC & Company, the city's tourism bureau.

None of the companies that offer tours of downtown Manhattan, either by bus or on foot, specifically mention ground zero. That would be distasteful, Nicholas said.

But, she added, "it's part of the healing process for people to see where the tragedy took place and absorb it. . . . It would be an even greater tragedy if the firefighters and the New Yorkers who were lost that day were forgotten."

Artist Andy Jurinko, who has lived near the World Trade Center site for 27 years, is used to the tourists. But their presence irks him.

Before Sept. 11, he said, they wanted to eat out and shop. Now, "they want to see the train wreck, they want to touch the horror.

"Standing right outside my office here, they come stand by the wall and have their picture taken. It's like Disneyland," he said.

He looks forward to the day when people have a proper memorial to visit. "They say they want to pay respect, but sometimes paying respect is staying the hell away," he said.

Demand from visitors to see the site was so strong during the six- month cleanup after the attacks that the city built special viewing platforms and issued over a million passes to them. The platforms are closed now that visitors can walk around most of the perimeter.

City life continues to bustle around the 16-acre zone. Financial sector employees whiz by en route to the subway; vendors hawk framed photos of the Twin Towers. Some days, an elderly man sits on the sidewalk playing patriotic songs on a flute.

Inside the 13-foot high wall, which consists of a series of galvanized mesh panels that people can look through, crews work to remove ruins of a parking garage and to shore up the 70-foot-deep foundation for a new skyscraper.

The Freedom Tower will be 1,776 feet -- the tallest building in the world. When it is ready in 2009, the twisting glass and steel tower, topped by a 276-foot spire designed to evoke the Statue of Liberty, will include 60 stories of office space, 10 stories of retail space, an observation deck and energy-generating windmills.

Twisted steel beams and a wall that is the only surviving remnant of the original complex will be preserved in an underground interpretive center.

The 20-ton cornerstone for the Freedom Tower is nearly undetectable amid the construction vehicles, ramps and barrels. Its inscription reads, "To honor and remember those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, and as a tribute to the enduring spirit of freedom -- July Fourth, 2004."

Construction is also planned for a permanent memorial that will transform the Twin Towers' footprints into reflecting pools of water. The memorial, called "Reflecting Absence," will place the names of all the Sept. 11 victims randomly around the pools. The memorial also will pay tribute to the six victims of the 1993 bombing of the Trade Center.

Meanwhile, an interim memorial can be found in Battery Park at the tip of Lower Manhattan, five minutes from ground zero.

The Sphere, a 12-foot high bronze and steel sculpture, sat atop the fountain of the World Trade Center plaza for three decades. It was originally dedicated as a monument to world peace through trade.

When the towers fell, the globelike sculpture was gashed through the top but remained intact. It was dug from the rubble and moved to Battery Park in March 2002. An eternal flame, small American flags, floral bouquets and a wreath adorn the site.

Steps away is The Skyscraper Museum, which contains a 7-foot-tall original model of the World Trade Center on loan from The Octagon Museum in Washington, D.C.

The plastic, wood and cardboard model was used from 1969 to 1971 for architectural presentations as the buildings were being designed. The model sat unnoticed and deteriorating in a warehouse for years but was restored after the attacks.

Models of the Freedom Tower and "Reflecting Absence" can be seen at The Winter Garden, the glass atrium at the World Financial Center. It also contains a timeline detailing the work of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the agency responsible for rebuilding the site.

The Winter Garden had to be rebuilt before the exhibit opened; it, too, was destroyed in the attack.

One building that escaped damage when the towers fell was St. Paul's Chapel, the oldest church in Manhattan, located directly across the street. (Please see cover story.)

Exhibits at the city's fire and police museums include similar artifacts as well as the stories of officers who died Sept. 11 -- 343 from the Fire Department, 23 from the New York City Police Department and 37 from the Port Authority Police Department.

Of particular interest at the police museum is a life-size reproduction of officers and officials scouring 1.8 million tons of ground zero debris for anything to help identify victims.

Cindy T. Francis, a tourist from North Carolina, understands why her presence might upset some New Yorkers. But "it's not like people who stop to see a car accident," she said.

"I don't think people come here to gawk," she added. "They come to pay respect to our nation and the people who were killed here. It's a tribute to our fallen comrades."

Copyright C 2004 Deseret News Publishing Co.
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