Put It Above Ground

To All,

I have known Jay since 2002 and I met David a short while later.

I have worked with them on numerous occasions.

There has never been anything political about what they are doing.

Jay got involved to honor his brother who was lost on 9/11 and David became involved even though he did not lose a family member.

They wanted make sure that we remembered and honored those who were lost on 9/11.

What began as One Day’s Pay has expanded and led to the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance.

They have been working on this long before Obama became president.

Politics have never entered into the equation.

And to say that they are doing it for financial gain is just absurd.

This is just another example of “no good deed goes unpunished” and trust me I speak from experience

So to Jay and Dave I say don’t let this get you down, keep up the good work and Where to Turn will always be in your corner.

Dennis

________________________________________
From: David Paine [mailto:david.paine@911day.org]
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 6:55 PM
Cc: Debra Burlingham; Lutnick, Edie; Alice Hoagland; Mary A Fetchet; Lee Ielpi; Rosemary Dillard; Anthony Gardner; Arnie Korotkin; Bill Doyle; Monica Iken; Jay Winuk; Cindy McGinty; Nancy Aronson; Jennifer Adams; Diane Horning; Dennis McKeon; Liz Alderman; Nikiki Stern
Subject: Please Read - Very Unfair and Incorrect Article on 9/11

Hi,

Jay and I wanted to alert you to a very inaccurate, misleading story that appeared in a guest blog online at the American Spectator Web site a couple of days ago. See: http://spectator.org/archives/2009/08/24/obamas-plan-to-desecrate-911, While most have already discounted it as they should, we hope you will all be available if needed to help set the record straight should this inaccurate information be picked up elsewhere or cause confusion among the families. To set the record straight, please communicate to those who may ask the following facts:
• It was the 9/11 community, not President Obama, that called for 9/11 to become a Day of Service and Remembrance, dating back to 2002-2003.
• We are entirely a nonprofit initiative with no partisan leanings whatsoever.
• We have strong support from the left, middle and right — Rep. Peter King, Gary Sinise, John Bridgeland, Sen. Tadd Cochran, Sen. Orrin Hatch and others all are staunch conservatives who back this effort.
• We depend entirely on private sector contributions - we do not receive any federal funding.
• We have had absolutely nothing…nothing…to do with the individuals or organizations mentioned in Vadum’s article — Jay and I don’t even know who they are and have no idea whatseoever where that mystery “conference call” information came from — the source of course was not cited.
• The Obama Administration supports the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, which we welcome, but they certainly are not controlling it in any way.
• We helped draft the 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance legislation that passed Congress in March — not the Administration.
• We have been very strong in emphasizing to the prior Administration and this Administration that the 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance is a very special observance that forever belongs fittingly in the hands of the 9/11 community, and we’ll make sure it stays that way.
• We oppose any federal mandates involving this program — we oppose 9/11 becoming a federal holiday.
Here’s our formal reply:

Matthew Vadum’s article in American Spectator (”Obama’s Plan to Desecrate 9/11″, August 24, 2009), sadly attempts to do the very thing it criticizes — politicize 9/11. I am the president of the 9/11 Day of Service and Remembrance, which Jay Winuk and I helped to co-found back in 2002 following the terrorist attacks. On 9/11 Jay lost his brave brother Glenn, an attorney and volunteer EMT in the collapse of the south World Trade Center tower. Shortly thereafter Jay and I, along with the leaders of all 22 of the 9/11 family member and support groups came together to create this observance as a forward-looking way for all of us, and the nation to forever remember the lives of those lost and injured, and pay tribute to the many who rose in service following the attacks and continue to do so today as members of our Armed Forces.
Since then we have worked closely for more than seven years on a bi-partisan basis with Republicans and Democrats alike, conservatives and liberals, including advisors in both the Bush and Obama Administrations. This year thankfully, we finally achieved our mutual goal when Congress, in a broad bi-partisan vote, passed legislation that provided federal recognition for the first time of September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance – a very proper and official affirmation of something that hundreds of thousands of people from all 50 states and 170 countries have observed informally since 2002.
We just wanted to set the record straight that this is not, in any way, a government initiative created by President Obama or any government official. In no way are any of the individuals or organizations cited by Matthew Vadum involved with our group or this observance. Our program partners include the Points of Light Institute, founded with the help of former President George Bush Sr., AARP, America’s Promise Alliance, City Year, and so many other wonderful and nonpartisan groups listed on our Web site at 911dayofservice.org. We want to make it clear to all concerned that the 9/11 National Day of Service is a privately-funded, nonprofit observance, nearly unanimously supported by the Left, Middle and Right. This article in American Spectator, which was written by blogger who is not a 9/11 family member, seeks to improperly and unfairly drag the 9/11 families into a much broader political disagreement that exists between those with differing views of how this country should be run.
The 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance is a wonderful, patriotic, and constructive observance created by the 9/11 community. It basically tells Osama bin Laden that we will not accept the legacy that he hopes to pass onto to children for generations to come — solely the visions of death and destruction that he created. This is our chance to take back the day, and ensure as a gift to the families that something positive arises from the ashes of 9/11.
Accordingly, we respectfully request that 9/11 not be used any further by either side of the political spectrum to inspire anger, further political agendas, or create destructive divisions between well-meaning and in some cases heart-broken people. Doing so represents the true desecration of the day, and worse, it dishonors the many brave patriots who gave their lives and rose in service on 9/11 and afterwards.

–
David Paine
Founder and President

http://www.where-to-turn.org/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=6

To All,

I was just about to send out an e-mail telling you that we had finally thrown in the towel.

Our interview with a local newscast was cancelled and it looked like I had no “Where to Turn”

As I was about to hit the send key I received a call from the news station and they want to do the interview tomorrow.

So we still have a shot to get the word out.

I want people to realize that:

We can spend millions on campaigns.

We can create media events to promote movies or to honor visiting dignitaries.

But for over six months we could not find space to display a memorial that truly honors those we lost on 9/11 in a very personal way.

A quilt made up of over 3,000 patches from people from all over the world each bringing to life the individual victim they represent.

And while 9/11 showed how hatred bares severe consequences this quilt serves as an example of how the global outpouring of love and tolerance can supersede any future acts of hate, by spreading goodness and decency throughout the world.

That is why we need it displayed at Ground Zero on 9/11

Eight years ago almost everyone was stating that we must never forget.

Unfortunately it appears too many have.

Hopefully other media outlets will follow the lead of this local news station and help us spread the word.

There has to be someone with space for us.

We need to get this done.

Dennis

P.S. If you have any ideas please give me a call at 718-966-6531

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, August 27, 2009

Kathy Kwon, 310-435-0812, kathyekwon@gmail.com

World Trade Center Survivors’ Network

Dear Members and Friends,

To mark the eighth anniversary, we want to invite you to share this day of remembrance with other survivors. Survivors are welcome to attend any of these events. The ceremony and reading of the names will be held in Zuccotti Park. This year there will be a newly built upper level of the memorial site because the ramp has been removed.

***********************************************
Thursday, September, 10th, 2009
Reception hosted by our Oklahoma City friends, 4-19 Outreach
5:30 pm St. Andrew’s Church, near 1 Police Plaza, Manhattan

We would like the opportunity to meet and visit with our fellow survivors, family members and rescue workers and give an overview of the mission of 4-19 Outreach. Please plan to attend if possible. We would love to meet you.
RSVP Email: joanne.hutchison@gsa.gov
************************************************

Friday, September 11th, 2009

7:00 - 8:00 am — Gathering for the Ceremony
Location: to be announced.
WTC Survivors’ Network will be gathering nearby to walk as a group over to the site.

8:00-12:00 pm — Official Anniversary Ceremony
Zuccotti Park - Liberty & Church Streets

Passes are required for attending the official ceremony. If you will be attending we need to provide the Mayor’s Office with a list of names. Please RSVP by August 30th. Email: lindagormll@gmail.com

12:15 - 12:45 pm — Survivor Tree Visit
Directly following the official ceremony, we will meet at the Survivor Tree for our own moments of reflection. We will again be joined by our friends from Oklahoma City.
Location: Living Memorial Grove, near City Hall

1:00 - whenever… Lunch
Location: We will be gathering at a nearby restaurant, Woolworth Tower Kitchen, payment on our own. Please RSVP by August 30th. Email: lindagormll@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing you again, and to meeting those of you who may not have attended previously.

Sincerely,
Richard Zimbler
Linda Gormley

World Trade Center Survivors’ Network
survivorsnet.org
info@survivorsnet.org

Dear Family Members:

This past June, we sent a package to the next of kin of all those killed on September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 for the purpose of verifying how your loved ones’ name will appear and where it will be located on the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center. We are immensely grateful that we have continued to see a remarkable response rate from those who received this package.

Since we hope to hear back from as many next of kin as possible, a few weeks ago we extended the due date for this process to August 10, 2009. If you are the next of kin and you have not yet returned your form to us, we hope you will do so in the coming days. If you agree with the information we have already sent you, it is true that you do not need to return the form (we will inscribe the name as it appears in our records) but we hope to receive as many responses as possible for our records. Through this process, next of kin can also request the names of specific individuals next to whom they would like their loved ones’ names to be inscribed, whether they be family, friends, or colleagues.

Please contact 1-877-671-1636 or memorial@sept11mm.org with any questions. I continue to keep you and the memory of your loved one in my thoughts, and I appreciate your help in creating the National September 11 Memorial.

Warm regards,

Joe Daniels

One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006 ¡p (212) 312-8800 ¡f (212) 227-7931
http://www.national911memorial.org/

To All,

With the report from the LMCCC yesterday and the promises made from the Port Authority today take a moment and read our post from last October when the PA released it’s latest schedule.

Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.

Some things never change.

A Realistic and Rational Schedule…Don’t Count on It

http://www.where-to-turn.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=45375

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 5, 2009

CONTACT: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Candace McAdams or Steve Coleman, 212 435-7777

PORT AUTHORITY RELEASES SECOND quarter

MILESTONE report oN world trade center REBUILDING

Work Already Under Way on Third Quarter Milestones That Will

Bring Most of Western Half of WTC Site Up to Street Level

The Port Authority today released its latest quarterly milestone report announcing that it has met 19 of 20 second-quarter 2009 rebuilding milestones. Milestones for the second quarter included: the installation of more than 2,400 tons of steel for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the equivalent of 20 Statues of Liberty; the installation of 1,250 cubic yards of concrete - the equivalent of six miles of New York City sidewalk - bringing the plaza and main entrance of One World Trade Center to street level; and, competitively bid one of the largest and most critical work packages for the World Trade Center Transportation Hub.

The one missed milestone - Complete Approximately Half of Sector 3A Steel over the PATH Line - is substantially complete and will not affect the project’s critical path.

The bistate agency also announced today that it has begun work to meet 24 third-quarter milestones, which will bring most of the western half of the site up to street level for the first time.

The work completed to date and in the coming quarter will allow 9/11 family members to walk out onto the Memorial Plaza for the first time during this September’s anniversary. The Port Authority is partnering with the Memorial Foundation and the City of New York on the detailed logistics of that day.

The major milestones were established as part of the World Trade Center Assessment, a comprehensive review of all of the major public projects on the World Trade Center site. It was released last October. The Port Authority has since been issuing quarterly reports so the public can track the rebuilding progress and challenges.

Today’s report can be found at www.wtcprogress.com.

Highlights for the third quarter include: the second-to-last installation of structural steel for the entire 9/11 Memorial; the installation of steel columns that will support the WTC Transportation Hub’s roof over the PATH tracks, as well as a major Hub contract for the construction of Greenwich Street and the permanent support of the No. 1 subway line; and, the completion of the street-level plaza that surrounds One World Trade Center. The report also lists 19 milestones the agency has set for the fourth quarter of this year.

Port Authority Chairman Anthony R. Coscia said, “We’re pleased that the site’s public projects continue to move forward on schedule. We’re already hard at work to achieve milestones for the third quarter and we’re continuing to tackle the rebuilding challenges that lie ahead.”

Port Authority Executive Director Chris Ward said, “The rebuilding is on track and this report tells us we are hitting the milestones to keep it on schedule. But we have some critical milestones coming up so we need to continue working aggressively to make sure we hit each one of them.”

The major milestones met by the Port Authority are:

World Trade Center Transportation Hub:

· Begin 9A Underpass Excavation for East-West Corridor.
· Complete Concrete Placement on All Sectors of the Fulton Street Deck.
· Bid out Early Action Work Packages to Support Steel Erection.
· Complete Fabrication of the Remaining Calatrava Arches for the East-West Connector.
· Take PATH Platform A and Tracks 1 and 2 Out of Service.

National September 11 Memorial & Museum:

· Complete Pavilion Interior Design.
· Complete Approximately Half of Sector 3A steel over the PATH Line - Substantially Complete.
· Complete Sector 4 steel.
· Turn over Sectors 2 and 3 to the Concrete Subcontractor.
· Begin Concrete Operations on Interior of Memorial.
· Activate North Lift Complex and Install South Lift Complex.

One World Trade Center:

· North Core Shear Wall Complete to B-1.
· South Core Crane Jump.
· Finish Concrete Placement on the #2 - Auxiliary Shear Wall.
· Complete First of Three Sections of Cutback on the Vesey Street Deck.

(In our last quarterly report, the title of this milestone had a typo and was missing the preposition “of.” There are three sections of Vesey Street and this milestone included finishing the first of those sections, not all sections).

Vehicle Security Center and Tour Bus Parking Facility

· Complete Slurry Panels 1-4 and 8.
· Assemble and Activate Slurry Plant.
· Complete Trenching and Installation of Buttress Guide Walls.

Greenwich Street

· Phase I Excavation & Bracing
· Top-Down Contract for Greenwich Street Out to Bid.

In addition to meeting these construction milestones, in the past quarter the Port Authority also achieved the following:

· Erection of steel for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum is more than 70 percent complete.
· More than 5,000 cubic yards of concrete was placed for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, which required more than 500 concrete trucks to deliver to the site.

· Completed steel in Sector 4 that consisted of more than 2,400 tons - the equivalent of almost 20 Statues of Liberties.

· Put out to bid one of the most critical work packages - Greenwich Street/Underpinning of No. 1 Subway Line.
· Completed the concrete slab above the East-West Connector section that supports the future Fulton Street. More than 2,100 cubic yards of concrete was poured.

· Over 7,000 cubic yards of superstructure concrete was poured in the second quarter including the largest single concrete placement on the site to date - 1,250 cubic yards of concrete to bring the southwest plaza area of One World Trade Center up to street level. (Overall on the site, 13,000 cubic yards of concrete was placed - equivalent to a sidewalk stretching from New York City to Stewart Airport 65 miles away in Newburgh, N.Y.).

· Erected the third tier of the perimeter columns for One World Trade Center. All 25 of the columns now extend above street level.

· Developed proactive strategy to mitigate delays from the ongoing demolition of the former Deutsche Bank building.

Prospective 3rd Quarter 2009 milestones:

World Trade Center Transportation Hub

· Begin Platform Column Foundations (to be completed by end of 4Q 2009).
· Fulton Street Slab Available for Access.
· Early Action Packages Awarded.
· Complete Level C Tiebacks (H&M Station).
· Notice to Proceed - Construction Management Contract.
· Structures to Grade Package Out to Bid.
· Award and Issue a Notice to Proceed on the Top-Down Contract.
· Complete Installation of the 8 Additional Arches along the East-West Connector.
· Demolish 286 & 266 slabs (H&M Station).

National September 11 Memorial & Museum

· Complete Erection of Sector 3 Steel.
· Complete Sector 5 Steel Erection.
· Award Pavilion Structural Steel.
· Award Pavilion Curtain Wall.
· Complete Counterfort Wall behind Exposed Slurry Wall.
· Award Drywall/Carpentry Package.
· Complete Sector 2 Concrete.

World Trade Center Vehicle Security Center and Tour Bus Parking Facility

· 130 Liberty Street Deconstruction Complete (by LMDC).
· Finish Slurry Panels along West Street.
· Complete Work Around Design for 130 Liberty.

One World Trade Center

· Concrete Slabs to Grade Substantially Complete.
· Place Concrete at Shear Walls - 1st lift Above Ground.
· Complete Demolition of Vesey Street.
· Tower Steel Erection Begins.

Greenwich Street

· Notice to Proceed for Top Down Construction

Prospective 4th Quarter 2009 milestones:

WTC Transportation Hub

· Begin Construction of Underpass Super Columns.
· Complete Steel Erection at South Mezzanine & Pavilion Transfer Structure.
· Begin Fabrication of PATH Hall Roof Steel.
· Complete Fulton Street Access Roadway.
· Complete PATH Hall Roof Demolition over Platform A (Tracks 1 and 2)

National September 11 Memorial & Museum

· Complete 1A Steel Decking at 307 Level.
· Complete Substantially Sector 5 Concrete Operations.
· Installation of Phase 1 of Sector 2 Interior Masonry.
· Complete Sector 3A Steel Erection.
· Complete Central Chiller Plant Concrete.
· Complete Sector 3 Masonry Walls

WTC Vehicle Security Center and Tour Bus Parking Facility

· Complete Buttress Wall Panels along Cedar Street.
· Start Construction of Liberty Street Pedestrian Bridge.

One World Trade Center

· Start Erection of Tower Steel.
· Erect Tier 2 - Floors 2M and 3 - Perimeter.
· Jump Crane onto Steel at North Core.
· Place Concrete on Deck at 2nd and 2M Floors.

Greenwich Street

· Begin Construction of Underpass Super Columns.
· Begin Construction of Elevation 274 Concrete Slabs.

end

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey operates many of the busiest and most important transportation links in the region. They include John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia, Stewart International and Teterboro airports; AirTrain JFK and AirTrain Newark; the George Washington Bridge and Bus Station; the Lincoln and Holland tunnels; the three bridges between Staten Island and New Jersey; the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) rapid-transit system; Port Newark; the Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal; the Howland Hook Marine Terminal on Staten Island; the Port Authority Auto Marine Terminal; the Brooklyn Piers/Red Hook Container Terminal; the Greenville Yard-Port Authority Marine Terminal; and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan. The agency also owns the 16-acre World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan and is a partner in the Access to the Region’s Core tunnel project.

Dear Friends,

A report was just released by the Lower Manhattan Construction Command

Center projects that the 9/11 Memorial Plaza at Ground Zero will not be

completed until May 2013.

As reported in the Daily News today

“Although the September Memorial President Joe Daniels is confident that

the Memorial will be opened permanently with operational waterfalls by

9/11/11 the Port Authority has only promised a partial completion by

then”.

“The LMCCC said that the twin reflecting pools may not be operational in

time for the 10th anniversary in 2011 or even 2012″.

“It also predicted an 80% chance that the plaza won’t be finished until

May 2013 and warned that the opening could be delayed as late as January

2014″.

This does not even include the 9/11 Museum portion of the project which

is currently scheduled to be completed years after the memorial.

Even when they are completed they will be surrounded for years with

ongoing construction which looks like it will run into 2020.

This comes as no surprise to those who have been following the projects

at Ground Zero.

It also makes the Hearts and Hands 9/11 Memorial that much more

relevant.

If we can generate the right amount of support over the next couple of

months we will be able to get this memorial complete by the 10th

anniversary.

We have reached out to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum and

hope that they will consider partnering with us to make this happen.

They are currently assisting us in finding a location at Ground Zero

where we can display the United in Memory 9/11 Victims Memorial Quilt

this year on the weekend of September 11th.

We have also had some of our local officials take a walk through and we

have support on the city state and federal level.

What we need now is your help.

Even if you can’t  afford a donation we need you to spread the word.

We need contacts for all of the companies that occupied the WTC.

We need help in reaching 9/11 families that have moved since 2001.

We need the media to get the word out.

We need to show everyone that it does not take billions of dollars and

15 years to create a personal and passionate memorial.

We need to show that we are all willing to come together as we did after

9/11 and work as one community to get this done.

We need to show that we still care.

We are in the process of printing 5,000 additional brochures Secret report: Ground Zero Freedom Tower construction lags, slated for 2018 finish

We are also putting together a presentation to accompany the quilt

exhibition on 9/11 at Ground Zero.

Now all we need is you.

If you would like to get involved please respond to this e-mail with

your current mailing address and we will forward you a brochure.

Or visit our website at www.where-to-turn.org to learn more about the

Hearts and Hands Memorial and how you can become involved.

We hope that you will spread the word through your distributions and

networks.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Dennis