The Ground Zero Scars Hidden in Plain Sight After 25 Years - Newsweek
I've lived in New York City for 20 years, and I've worked at the World Trade Center for the past three. I've reported on the redevelopment of Ground Zero, and consider myself fairly knowledgeable about the history of these 16 acres in Lower Manhattan ever since I watched them get destroyed on September 11, 2001.
A while back, I was driving my family home to Brooklyn when we got stuck in traffic on the West Side Highway, the artery that snakes up the western side of Manhattan and hugs the 9/11 Memorial toward the Battery. As we crawled along, I looked up at the pedestrian bridge that connects Liberty Street, at the south end of the WTC, with the World Financial Center, another office complex across the highway. I remembered reading years ago that this rather nondescript overpass was one of the few pieces of infrastructure still standing more or less intact, almost miraculously, after the Twin Towers collapsed on top of it. When I stared up, I noticed dozens of little nicks in the aluminum cladding of the structure. Small dings and divots imprinted all over the siding, like the ones you see on a car that's spent its life parked on Manhattan streets. Could these gouges be damage from debris when the towers fell? Indeed, they were.
This discovery set me on a reporting trip. How many remnants of that day—the physical scars of the worst terrorist attack to befall our country—were still visible after all these years? Not the relics and tributes painstakingly cataloged and displayed at the nearby museum, powerful as they are. But those elements of the disaster that were either never covered up, or else woven with purpose into the rebuilt neighborhood.In the exclusive video podcast below, I am joined by Glenn Guzi, assistant director at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, the supragovernmental agency that's always owned the Trade Center. Glenn, who oversaw major elements of the WTC rebuilding process and is as familiar with the complicated history of the site as anyone I know, gives Newsweek's The 1600 a walking tour of Ground Zero as it stands today: as both a bustling commercial district and a living reminder of what was lost here 25 years ago—if you know where to look.
Below, Newsweek readers also talk about their memories of that day. Their responses have been lightly edited.
Mindy Dallas: I was living in NYC on 9/11/2001. The attack was so shocking that it took me a while to process it. Riding the subway, I could see from other riders that they were having a similar reaction to mine. As I remember it, it took several months for things to feel sort of normal again. That said, there were no disruptions, that I remember, in the functioning of the city. The subway ran, except for the WTC station, as usual. People went to work as usual. The things you depend on--groceries, utilities, police, etc,--continued on as always. But, there was a hole where the WTC used to be that, in some ways, will never be filled, even as the site is rebuilt with something else.
Mario DiPasquale: I was in New York City at 200 Fifth Avenue when the first plane hit the Twin Towers. I rushed up to the 15th floor and went out onto the roof with many others from our building. From there, I saw the fire moving through the floors and noticed glass windows floating through the air. Shortly after, I saw objects falling faster than the glass and realized that people were jumping from the windows. That is embedded in my mind, something that will never forget. I returned to our showroom, closed it up, and went back to my hotel, where I spent the rest of the week trying to secure travel back home to Seattle.
Greg Womack: I was the First Officer on United Airlines 901 (not positive that was the number) flight from Munich, Germany to Washington Dulles that day. We were airborne just entering North Atlantic oceanic airspace when given very basic info of what had happened. Since we were already over the ocean, we were allowed to continue west. Eventually landing in Halifax Nova Scotia. With approximately 44 diverted aircraft there, it was 13 hours later when we were processed off the aircraft through Canadian customs. Safety pilots from Air Canada met the crew and we were escorted to a room to view video of the attacks for the first time. It was very emotional for the 3 pilots and 10 flight attendants. We were able to secure hotel rooms and eventually returned to Dulles on Saturday the 15th.
Alyce Home: I was at work at Dow Jones Call Center for Wall Street Journal reporters. They were located in the World Financial Center and everyone was calling looking for what to do or family members looking for their family. We were in South Brunswick, NJ and didn’t have any information. It was hard that we couldn’t provide any information. I really didn’t know how bad it was until I was home that evening. I will never forget 9/11.
Ramon Salles: I was working at the Woodhull Hospital X-ray department. From a corridor window, we could see the buildings collapse and the dust rise. We received some survivors, and I had to do an exam. I will never forget what I and my colleagues saw on that day.
Laura Wallin: I was driving to work as an ER nurse in Southern CA. I called my husband and told him to immediately turn on the TV. It was quite early in the morning in CA. When I got to work, nurses and firefighters were all standing looking stunned, crying and hugging each other. I’m an old paramedic, and as nurses we see and get to know our firefighters and medics pretty well, so this hit pretty close to home for me.
Paula Yokoyama: 9/11 was a work day for me at the Mental Health Center in Ft Collins Co. I had 13 patients scheduled for 15 minute appointments. No cell phones or computers. One RN had a radio in her office. Driving to work my car radio said a small plane had hit the Trade Center in NYC. All day I saw a Patient and ran to the radio. Saw a patient and ran to the radio. I remember most when the Fireman went in. All of the Medical team worked a full day. We were zombies. Finally we could go home and see on TV the horror.
Gayle Robinson: We were in Montreal visiting my 95 year old Mother. We were supposed to head home on 9/11. With all planes grounded, we were stuck in Montreal, and weren't able to get home to Scottsdale, AZ until the following week. It was devastating to see the planes fly into the World Trade towers on TV. We'll never forget it as long as we live. So very sad—all the lives lost needlessly. I had a green card and was married to an American gal, and decided right on the spot to get my US citizenship. I'm proud to say I accomplished my goal to become a US citizen the following year.
Rebecca Kieft: I was at work when a friend from another office called and asked me if I was watching the news. At that time the news was on TV and the shop next to us had one. I went there to see what was going on and that's when I saw. I was shaken to the core. The one thing I remember saying is, I have to go home and be with my girls who were 11 and 7 years old at the time. I couldn't do anything but the need to be with them and protect them was strong. I left work and went home with them. The sky was eerily quiet. The day was eerily moving on and there was nothing we could do. Every year on this day I remember and become emotional. It was a horrid day in history.
William Rickley: I was 7 years old in elementary school when the attacks happened. We had a firetruck and firefighters were there for show n tell, then they rushed off into their truck and took off. My dad (who was in the Pennsylvania national guard at the time) was working near DC for baker installations when the attacks took place, and my mom had to pick me up from the daycare center. I didn't even know what was even going on at that time, all I knew was that the firefighters were taking off to an emergency and in a huge hurry. It didn't take until we had a huge party where my uncle John lived that I had realized what had happened.
Phyllis Farber: After I retired, I began volunteering one morning a week at White Plains Hospital. I was treated like the next best thing to sliced bread. That Tuesday morning, I was passing intake when I saw plane number one hit the first tower. My thought was, ‘is that pilot in trouble’. I took the elevator up. By the time I reached floor 4, the second building had been struck. The fear and horror was overwhelming. Shortly after, the hospital was put on high alert with expectations that the City hospitals would be overwhelmed. If only it had been so. The hospital was deadly quiet waiting for the emergencies that never came.
Joseph Clark: I was working in culinary on the Navy Base in Panama City Florida and was waking up for my shift at 9:30 when I received a call from my father telling to turn on my TV. This was after the first plane hit the tower. I literally was jumping out of my brain when I was witnessing the events in real time. By the time I got to work at the Galley we were struck by what was unravelling. My life has never been the same.
Beth Krieger: I was starting a new job that day. I'll never forget how empty I-95 was. It was frightening. Big black SUV's were speeding in a group, south. And, watching the news I would just cry about the suffering and the brave first responders for doing what they did. It is beyond brave, really. Courageous, selfless...I just felt proud of this country and the people. I'm grateful for this country and the way it was, then.
