WTC kin rip name plan; Mayor Bloomberg yawns

New York Post: WTC Kin Rip Mike ‘DISORDER’

A coalition of 9/11 families will launch a TV ad campaign today opposing Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to list most victims at the World Trade Center Memorial in random order.

The plan backed by Bloomberg will organize the names of 2,979 victims randomly around the memorial’s reflecting pools. Most names will be grouped only by the tower the victims were in.

[Edie] Lutnick and other 9/11 family members say they want the names and ages of their loved ones grouped by the firm they were working with, with the floor numbers and company affiliation spelled out.


New York Times:

Broadly, the mayor’s plan and the alternative put forth by the family groups are similar. They both would arrange the names of the 2,979 victims on parapets around the memorial pools marking the locations of the twin towers. In both cases, the names of those who died at the trade center would be at the pool that corresponds to their tower. Both proposals set uniformed rescue workers apart, arrayed by company or unit.

But the proposals differ in personal details that many family members say are critical to telling the full story of 9/11. The mayor’s proposal would allow co-workers to be grouped together, but there would be no indication on the memorial parapet of what companies they worked for. Neither would their floor locations be shown. The ranks of uniformed workers would not be indicated. And ages would not be given for anyone.

The family groups’ proposal would provide all those elements [emphasis added mine].

“Ages are important, ages are important,” said C. Lee Hanson. His son, Peter, daughter-in-law, Sue, and granddaughter, Christine, were aboard United Airlines Flight 175, which hit the south tower.

He imagined visitors’ experience at the memorial if the family groups’ alternative were adopted. “They’re going to see, ‘Christine, 2½ years old,’ ” he said, “and will say, ‘Who could do such a thing?’

New York Daily News

Uniformed Fire Officers Association President Peter Gorman said in a statement that the group appreciated Bloomberg’s decision to list the 343 fallen members of the FDNY together. But Gorman said he would prefer to see FDNY members’ ranks also included before their names.

“Would it spoil some vast, eternal plan if the rank of those members appears before their names?” he asked.

Bloomberg, who serves as the chairman of the WTC Memorial Foundation, shrugged off the criticism. “We’ve addressed the issue,” he said. “As I said, you can’t please everybody.”

You can see our television ad and the differences between our plan to honor our loved ones — each of the 2,979 people we lost — and Mayor Bloomberg’s cold, random list of names by clicking here to visit Save the 9/11 Memorial. While you are there, please sign our petition.

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