Put It Above Ground

We would like to thank the many media outlets that covered our letter to Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Spitzer.

We would also like to thank the other family groups that have joined the effort by distributing the letter through their distributions.

We will begin posting family reactions to the letter (both positive and negative) as we receive.

Many of the media outlets did not mention the recent recovery of remains at Ground Zero (146 Last Week Alone).

Some stated that they were not aware of the number of finds last week.

That is a major problem.

Please pass this on to your distributions and media contacts.

Since the accidental discovery of the 209 remains in the Con Ed manhole last October we have distributed an update on as to new recoveries as well as a summary of identifications from the original and new search on a daily basis.

These updates are also posted at

www.where-to-turn.org

and

www.putitaboveground.org

These updates are sent to family members, family groups, elected officials and anyone one else on our distribution.

Anyone is welcome to join the distribution or stop by either site for an update.

We also hope that those on our distribution are sending these updates through their distributions as well.

Dennis

To All,

Take a moment and read click on the link below and read an article in today’s Bergen Record by Mike Kelly about the great work that Glenn Corbett has been doing for the 9/11 families over the past 5 years.

Dennis

Closing human book on Ground Zero

http://www.where-to-turn.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=38541

Families Upset By Plans To Move 9/11 Ceremony
WCBS-TV New York - NY,USA
(CBS/AP) NEW YORK Relatives of 9/11 victims are opposing plans to commemorate the terror attacks’ sixth anniversary in a small park instead of at the World ...
See all stories on this topic 

9\11 Families threaten to hold own ceremony
Jerusalem Post - Israel
11 terrorist attacks are threatening to hold their own anniversary ceremony unless city and state officials reverse their decision to move the event from ...
See all stories on this topic 

FURY AT 9/11 ‘DOWNSIZING’
New York Post - New York,NY,USA
By SUSAN EDELMAN July 20, 2007 — Families of 9/11 victims yesterday denounced a decision to relocate this year’s anniversary ceremony from Ground Zero to a ...
See all stories on this topic 

Cheney Speaks
Yahoo! News - USA
September 11, 2006, brought the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that had shaped the Bush administration. President Bush was in New York for much of ...
See all stories on this topic 

9/11 Ceremony Location Change Upsets Families
Gothamist - NY,USA
Some families of September 11 victims are upset that officials have moved this year’s anniversary events from the World Trade Center site to Zuccotti Park. ...
See all stories on this topic 

 Blogs  

9-11 families may hold own ceremony (AP)
11 victims are threatening to hold their own anniversary ceremony to commemorate the attacks unless officials reverse their decision to move the event away from ground zero. Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in.
Terrorism - MySpace News - http://news.myspace.com/politics/terrorism  

9/11 Families Unhappy With Location Of Ceremony (WCBS-TV New York)
11 victims are threatening to hold their own anniversary ceremony to commemorate the attacks unless city and state officials reverse their decision to move the event out of ground zero. “As America watches the memorial service on Sept. ...
September 11 News - http://september11news.net  

Upset families of Sept. 11 victims threaten to hold own memorial …
NEW YORK (AP) - Relatives of 9-11 victims are threatening to hold their own anniversary ceremony to commemorate the terror attacks unless New York officials reverse their decision to move the event aw…
Space Science News latest RSS… - http://www.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ct/10/id/89d96798a39564bd/  

9-11 Families May Hold Own Ceremony
Relatives of Sept. 11 victims are threatening to hold their own anniversary ceremony to commemorate the attacks unless officials reverse their decision to move the event away from ground zero.
General News Feed for MyFox WGHP - http://www.myfoxwghp.com/myfox  

  

wcbstv.com - Families Upset By Plans To Move 9/11 Ceremony
Families Upset By Plans To Move 9/11 Ceremony ... Families mourned at Ground Zero for the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. (File photo) ... 

Newsvine - 9-11 Families May Hold Own Ceremony
11 victims are threatening to hold their own anniversary ceremony to commemorate the ... 9-11 Families May Hold Own Ceremony. Sat Jul 28, 2007 7:36 PM EDT ... 

9/11 Ceremony To Be Held Away From Ground Zero - News Story - WNBC …
First Responders To Attacks To Read Names On 9/11 Anniversary ... Eliot Spitzer and Mayor Michael Bloomberg notified victims’ family members of the changes ... 

September 11th Anniversary - News and Video from CBSNews.com
The Pentagon’s 9/11 Ceremony A memorial service was held at the Pentagon to mark the fifth anniversary of 9/11. Friends and relatives of the victims ... 

Boycott threat over move from WTC site
Family groups sent Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Spitzer a letter blasting the decision. ... Kin balk at 9/11 anniversary ceremony ... 

Yesterday an additional 29 remains were recovered from the former site of the St. Nicholas Hellenic Orthodox Church bringing the total to 206 remains from that location alone.

If you add that to the 407 remains that were recovered from the Haul Road the total is 613 remains.

613 remains from two locations that the city refused to include in their new search plan in October.

Even though we specifically asked that they be included as priority sites in the new search.

Below is an excerpt from a posting on 11/1/06

Even though there have been WTC items found in the fill under the service road they currently are not planning to excavate it. Instead they are planning to drill pilot test holes.
The reason they are not proceeding with the excavation of the road is that the Port Authority is stating that the road is necessary to continue the construction work.
The bottom line is since WTC items have been found the road should be excavated. Once again this should not be about reconstruction it should not be about money it should be about the proper recovery of remains.
It should also be about holding people responsible. If anything but fresh fill was used on this service road the company contracted to build it should face the appropriate charges.

While we are on the subject of proper recovery efforts I hope that everyone is aware that none of the debris from the basement of St. Nicholas Hellenic Orthodox Church was ever removed.
Anything that was in the basement was left in the basement and the entire location was black topped over.
Even if there were no remains in the basement (how would we know now) we cannot believe that church artifacts might have been buried under when the church was razed and might now be under blacktop.
It is now one thing after another and we are supposed to believe that things will get better.

Now almost nine months later they are just recovering these remains.

If we new that that the Haul Road contained remains and that it was most likely constructed from fill from the site why didn’t the city?

If we knew that the site of the St. Nicholas Hellenic Orthodox Church was bulldozed over and never searched, why didn’t the city?

Why did the city purposely leave these two locations off the new search plan?

Why did they just drill pilot test holes?

Were they hoping to miss remains?

Have they ever explained how two 18 foot steel beams were missed under the Haul Road during the original search?

And how come they have never published how many personal items and debris from the WTC have been recovered since October?

Could it be that the facts would prove that these areas were never searched properly and that in the rush to reconstruct the site these errors of omissions were overlooked?

We know of air shafts on buildings that have never been search.

We even visited an area near the site that has debris that might be from the towers, a site that was never searched after 9/11

But the city refuses to expand its search to additional rooftops or outside the perimeter of the site.

After finding 1637 remains that they missed during the first search they still refuse to revisit Fresh Kills because according to them they did not miss anything there.

Their track record doesn’t seem to support this.

Could the real reason be that they just do not care?

It appears that way.

Today we had to send a letter to Bloomberg and Spitzer protesting the move of the 9/11 ceremony from the site. A move that would have been unheard of just a few years ago.

But things like this continue to be necessary because they just don’t care.

Those of us who do must continue the fight

On Friday, July 27, 2007, twenty-nine (29) potential human remains* were recovered from the Liberty Street section at the WTC site.

Total Remains

1637

785 - Deutsche Bank
209 - Manholes
407- Haul road (including 3 from 39th Street Facility)
206 - Liberty Street
3 - West Street
2 - Rooftop 130 Cedar
13 - DEP Subterranean Structure under the Haul Road
12 - Subterranean outside WTC site

NEW SEARCH

Remains recovered 1637

Remains sent for testing 0

DNA extracted 0

Matches 0

WTC Items Recovered 0

ORIGINAL SEARCH

Remains Recovered Over 20,000

Remains sent for testing NA

DNA extracted NA

Matches 1598

Remains tested with new process NA

DNA Extracted NA

Matches 11

WTC Items Recovered NA

(We have requested this information on numerous occasions with no response. We will keep these as NA until we receive information from the ME’s Office)

Put It Above Ground

For Related Articles Go To

http://www.where-to-turn.org/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=23

July 28, 2007

Via Fax and Email

Mayor Michael Bloomberg Governor Eliot Spitzer

Attn: Nazli Parvizi, Commissioner Attn: Marlene Turner

NYC Community Assistance Unit FAX: (518) 474-1513

FAX: (212) 788-7754 Email: marlene.turner@chamber.state.ny.us

Email: nparvizi@cityhall.nyc.gov

Dear Governor Spitzer and Mayor Bloomberg:

We were very disheartened to receive your letter of July 23, 2007, indicating that you will not reconsider your decision to relocate the annual September 11th memorial service from Ground Zero to Zuccotti Park. The discovery of 105 human remains of September 11th victims over the last three days at Ground Zero is further evidence of how sacred this space remains and why it is essential to hold the annual event at the authentic site of the terror attacks on our nation. We are writing to share the following:

Although we appreciate your concerns about the safety of family members and other attendees, we reject Zuccotti Park as the venue for this year’s memorial services. The space is too small and provides neither a view nor access to the actual World Trade Center site. As America watches the memorial service on September 11, 2007, we are sure that they will agree that this event should take place at the real and sacred location.

The families propose an alternative ceremony location at Ground Zero itself. We propose using the Liberty Street corridor and adjacent areas as the assembly point for families and the southern portion of the haul road for the reading of the names. We feel that the construction ramp to bedrock can be used as a means of allowing access to Ground Zero itself, anticipating that families will move in a continuous, moving procession to the base of the ramp where they can leave flowers on bedrock and proceed back up to Liberty Street. We have visited the site within the last few days and believe this to be the preferred and viable alternative.

It is our preference to realize the alternative plan working in partnership with the City of New York. However, if we do not receive a substantive response from your office by Tuesday, July 31, 2007, we the undersigned will file a permit application to hold our own ceremony at the site. No response to this letter will be considered a constructive denial. Over the last six years, we have coordinated numerous events for families at Ground Zero including the weekend closing ceremony in 2002. Therefore, we are certain we could stage a successful memorial ceremony on September 11, 2007.

Since September 11, 2002, there has never been construction activity at the World Trade Center site on September 11th. Therefore, we ask for your assurances that there will be a construction moratorium again this year, September 11, 2007.

We welcome the opportunity to meet with you and your staff to discuss our alternative proposal in person.

We feel that this is the only true way to honor our lost loved ones and never forget what happened at the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001.

Sincerely,

Rosemary Cain, Freeport 9/11 Families Group

Bruce DeCell, 9/11 Families for a Secure America

Bill Doyle, Doyle 9/11 Support Network

Anthony Gardner, World Trade Center United Family Group, Inc.

Kurt and Diane Horning, WTC Families for Proper Burial, Inc.

Jim McCaffrey, Advocates for a 9/11 Fallen Heroes Memorial

Dennis McKeon, Where to Turn, Put it Above Ground

Margie Miller, 9/11 Long Island Families

Sally Regenhard, 9/11 Parents & Families of Firefighters & WTC Victims, and The Skyscraper Safety Campaign

Patricia Reilly, Coalition of 9/11 Families

Rosaleen Tallon, Advocates for a 9/11 Fallen Heroes Memorial

Cc:

Governor Jon Corzine Anthony E. Shorris, Executive Director

Attn: Michael Goldblatt Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

FAX: 609-292-3454 FAX: 212-435-6670

Mr. Kelly,

I just wanted to respond to your commentary in The Record on July 26th. I am a 9/11 widow and believe you “hit the nail on the head” in your article entitled, Site Shift Dishonors Memory of Sept. 11 Victims.

The city has totally disrespected those that were murdered as well as their families. Talk about sacred ground! The former site of the World Trade Center is a burial ground and proof of that gets haphazardly uncovered as more and more remains are discovered regularly. The haste in getting Lower Manhattan back to normal has no doubt destroyed the possibility of recovery and identification of those who were lost.

It is such a shame that construction workers will continue to function at the very site, on the anniversary of the day where so many lost their lives. They have shown such compassion in the past and I cannot understand how a normal day of construction can carry on, as usual, on Tuesday Sept. 11, 2007.

Unfortunately the so called intellects are more focused on money and redevelopment, as they always have been. All compassion, respect and dignity have faded. As a result the rebuilding project that is supposed to remember and pay tribute to the 2,749 lives that were lost, will in fact disrespect and forget those very victims on the sixth anniversary of their deaths.

I guess the average person believes we have moved on. But sadly, I must agree with your sentiment. It is my opinion they we have moved in a direction that has forgotten the original purpose and cause of the need for the rebuilding.

Not only were our loved ones victims of terrorism six years ago, they continue to be the victims… victims of bureaucracy, money and politics causing more pain and heartache for those of us trying to process, understand and deal with the entire event.

No one can understand or could have predicted the direction this all has taken.

Thank you for giving your voice in this regard. The 9/11families have so often been negatively portrayed and misunderstood and it was a comfort to read an article written by someone who “gets it”.

Sincerely
Jane Pollicino

For Immediate Release

July 27, 2007

Contact: Press Office

202-224-2243 or press_office@clinton.senate.gov

STATEMENT OF SENATOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON ON SENATE APPROVAL OF BILL ENACTING 9/11 COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS

Washington, DC – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton issued the following statement on Senate approval of the 9/11 Commission recommendations conference report. The bill now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

“I am proud that, under Democratic leadership, the Senate has finally approved the remaining recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. Enacting the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations is a long overdue step forward for our national and homeland security. I would also like to praise the persistence and hard work of the families of the victims of September 11th whose resolve led to the creation of the 9/11 Commission.

This bill addresses vulnerabilities we still face more than six years after 9/11. It ensures that precious homeland security funds will be allocated more on the basis of risk and increases funding for high threat urban areas like New York City. It provides critically needed funding to finally ensure emergency communications between our first responders are interoperable so responders can talk to each other when a crisis strikes. It finally funds the grant program I secured in law in 2004 to upgrade our 911 emergency response systems, which in too many areas can not pinpoint the location of incoming calls made from cell phones or internet-based phone systems. And it steps up inspections of cargo, a critical vulnerability in our homeland security, so that 100 percent scanning will be required before cargo comes into the United States.

These are real steps forward for our safety and security and I hope the President will act quickly to sign this bill into law.�