Put It Above Ground

An Open Letter to Congressman Nadler and Senator Schumer from a 9/11 Widow

Patricia Casazza

Dear Congressmen and Congresswomen,

I could not even address this letter to our Representatives as you have once again shown that you do not warrant that title.

Your rejection of the Zadroga bill is just another slap in the face to those who actually attempted to do something after 9/11.

As you sit in your offices paid for by those who elected you and meet daily with lobbyists to discuss how you can promote their interests brave people continue to die.

People who did not hold press conferences after 9/11 to swear they would never forget.

But people who did the right thing and worked at Ground Zero or Fresh Kills in an attempt to find the victims of the most vicious attack in the history of America.

And when we came to you to help those who are sick and dying because of their efforts you turned your backs.

You hide behind Congressional tricks that allow you to change the voting rules to get your desired results.

You line up behind Nancy Pelosi who has stonewalled this bill since it was first introduced with the hopes that it would die in committee.

Well the bill didn’t die but many of our loved ones will continue to as you play politics with their lives.

It is amazing how the House continues to be held hostage as its members sell their votes to the highest bidders every chance they get.

Unfortunately we do not have the money or the influence to buy your votes.

But be assured we will keep up the fight.

And we will let everyone know who voted against this bill.

We will also make them aware of what to expect “God Forbid” something like 9/11 happens again.

So the next time you are counting the money in your campaign war chests, money that you will most likely need to use to pay lawyers to get you out of trouble most of you seem to find yourselves in, remember we are still here.

We expect to be represented.

We expect you to care for the victims who where lied to by the Federal Government about the quality of air after 9/11.

We expect you to make decisions based on what is right and not what fills your pockets.

And most importantly unlike you……”We Will Not Forget”

Dennis McKeon

Reply to: administrator@respecthumanremainsatthe911memorial.com

*Advocates for a 9/11 Fallen Heroes Memorial*
* The Skyscraper Safety Campaign *

* 9/11 Parents & Families of Firefighters and WTC Victims *

* Freeport 9/11 Parents & Family Support Group *

Alliance to Respect Human Remains

at the 911 Memorial

July 26, 2010

Dear Family Member,

The intent of this letter is to inform 9/11 families of serious issues regarding the ethical and respectful treatment of our loved ones’ human remains at the future 9/11 Memorial Museum.

We are an alliance of established group leaders who have lost their loved ones at the WTC. For the past eight and a half years, we have been advocating for 9/11 family members as they struggle to ensure a proper, honorable and respectful 9/11 Memorial and Museum as a legacy for their loved ones.

As the 9/11 Memorial Museum is being constructed, alarming details are just beginning to emerge about specific design elements of the facility. Some time ago, several 9/11 family group leaders attended a lecture by Alice Greenwald, Director of the Memorial Museum. Among other elements of concern, we were appalled to learn that the unidentified human remains will be inside the museum itself - seven stories below ground - and will be a “programmatic element” among the other museum artifacts and displays!

The sad truth is that the majority of families have been excluded from this entire process - you have not had any input or decision-making power in any aspect of this memorial process. You have not been consulted on the disposition of human remains.

Now is the time to make your voice heard.

In the first few years after 9/11, many families advocated that the unidentified human remains be returned to Ground Zero, to be interred in a type of “tomb of the unknowns.” At that time, the families fully believed that this tomb, and indeed the entire memorial complex itself, would be above ground where it belonged. We all believed that the human remains would be interred in a respectful and accessible location at Ground Zero. We never thought our loved ones’ remains would be made part of a museum and we surely never agreed to such an arrangement!

Now we are told that the sacred remains of our loved ones will be placed at the bottom of the museum (70 feet below ground), behind a “memorial wall” which will be pointed out to all tourists and visitors at the Museum as containing the remains of our loved ones! This was a shocking revelation: We did not realize these plans would relocate the human remains to such an extremely inaccessible and impersonal location.

We and our expert advisors recently met with representatives of the 9/11 Memorial Museum and once again expressed our opposition to placing our loved ones’ human remains at the bottom of a museum without proper consultation with all of the 9/11 families. We would like to be able to bring your collective desires to them as well as insist that you and all other family members be consulted on this critically important and most sacred issue regarding the interment of 9/11 human remains at GZ

Fundamentally, the choice about the final disposition of our loved ones’ human remains at Ground Zero must be solely in the hands of the family members. It is through proper, ethical consultation with all family members that this decision must be made. We need to have a voice, and we need to have a choice, regarding where the placement of the human remains should be at the WTC site.

We have established a web site to inform the families and to record their opinions & choices regarding the placement of our loved ones’ human remains 70 feet below ground in the lowest level of the 9/11 Museum. Please VISIT the web site and VOTE at: www.RespectHumanRemainsatthe911Memorial.com Please select one of the three specified options OR tell us about your own proposal in the space provided. We also wish to hear any specific comments that you have about this situation. Please email us at: administrator@respecthumanremainsatthe911memorial.com with your comments.

*Please share this email with other 9/11 families.

Sincerely,

Deputy Chief Al Santora, FDNY ret. & Maureen Santora

9/11 Tribute Center Docents
9/11 Parents & Families of Firefighters & WTC Victims,

Parents of FF Christopher Santora, E-54, WTC/9/11

Deputy Chief Jim Riches, FDNY ret. & Rita Riches

Chairman, 9/11 Parents and Families of Firefighters & WTC Victims

Father of FF James Riches, E-4, WTC/9/11

Jim McCaffrey, LT/FDNY

Co-chair, Advocates for a 9/11 Fallen Heroes Memorial
Brother-in-law of B.C. Orio J. Palmer, Batt 7, WTC/9/11

Rosaleen Tallon, Ed.D

Family Liaison, Advocates for a 9/11 Fallen Heroes Memorial

Sister of FF Sean Patrick Tallon, L-10/E-10, WTC/9/11

Rosemary Cain

9/11 Parents & Families of Firefighters & WTC Victims

Freeport 9/11 Parents Support Group

Mother of FF George C. Cain, L-7, WTC/9/11

Russell & Joyce Mercer & Christine Kopytko

The Skyscraper Safety Campaign

9/11 Parents & Families of Firefighters & WTC Victims

Family of FF Scott M. Kopytko, E4/L15 , WTC/9/11

Sgt. Al Regenhard, NYPD ret.

Sally Regenhard

The Skyscraper Safety Campaign

Parents of FF Christian M.O. Regenhard, L-131, WTC/9/11

To contact the above members of The Alliance to Respect Human Remains at the 911 Memorial

email: administrator@respecthumanremainsatthe911memorial.com

Good afternoon,

Three potential human remains (PHR) were recovered on Tueday, May 4, 2010.

Sifting operations continue today. We will continue to provide a daily report on the number of PHR recovered.

Ellen Borakove
Director, Public Affairs
Office of Chief Medical Examiner
520 First Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Tel 212 447 2041
Fax 212 447 2755
Web www.nyc.gov/ocme

Good afternoon,

As part of our ongoing efforts to identify victims of the World Trade Center attacks, the City of New York has been conducting a comprehensive sifting operation for material recovered at or in the vicinity of the World Trade Center since the previous operation concluded in December 2007. The City has opened a forensic mobile sifting platform to thoroughly evaluate the material, using the same techniques employed during the prior operation.

My office will once more coordinate visits for family members who have requested to observe the current efforts. We are scheduling visits for Friday, May 14, 2010, and Friday, May 21, 2010. If you wish to join on either day, please contact Jordana Zizmor in my office by phone at 212.442.8953 or via email at 911familyquestions@cityhall.nyc.gov.

Sincerely,

Nazli Parvizi
Commissioner, Community Affairs Unit

This was sent to The Daily News. Unfortunately they printed only a redacted version (in today’s edition) but at least the issue was mentioned.

——————————————————————————–

To The Editor,

Julie Menin’s article (”$150M in WTC found money” 4/14) about unused LMDC funds suggests utilizing them for redevelopment. There is a more urgent and moral imperative that should override any such notion. To wit, the relocation, re-examination, and proper burial of the 9/11 human remains that still–abhorrently–lie in the former Fresh Kills garbage dump. The opposition to this plan, led by the obdurate Mayor Bloomberg, has often cited the lack of money as a main reason for denying what the 9/11 families have been requesting for years. This “found” money would go a long way in vitiating the city’s position which characterizes the families request as too expensive. More importantly, it will help provide what should never have been denied while simultaneously mitigating what is nothing short of a national disgrace.

James McCaffrey
LT/FDNY
9/11 FDNY Family member
Co-chair, Advocates for a 9/11 Fallen Heroes Memorial
9/11fallenheroes.org

Dear All,

This is DAMAGE CONTROL. The media and our personal emails from the City (Mayor’s office and Office of the Medical Examiner) have been filled with the news of sifting taking place at Fresh Kills. These messages coming out of the City are misleading at best. What is taking place is a continuation of what they had been doing at Water Street in Brooklyn. This is NOT a resifting of what they dumped at Fresh Kills.

For years we have been telling the City that there are many places at the WTC site that had never been excavated. Instead of being proactive, the City waited for such awful discoveries as that made by Con Ed workers. Accidentally discovering human remains, and being honest enough to report this discovery, Con Ed essentially forced the City to search a bit more. There are still areas at the WTC site that have been paved over or just ignored, not having been searched. The most recent excavations are no longer being processed at Water Street but are being taken to Fresh Kills, near the Sanitation Department office trailers where the material is being looked through. We had been allowed to visit the Brooklyn facility for one day. At that time we were told all material, after processing would be put into environmentally safe containers. When I saw these containers months later at Fresh Kills, these containers had NO LIDS. Calling that to the City’s attention, lids were affixed to the containers. Shortly after, tents were erected, and the containers emptied and removed. These materials are no longer in environmentally secure containers. There seems to be a pattern of trying to deceive the public and especially the friends and families of those who were murdered at the WTC.

We are still fighting to have the material (hills 1 & 9 at Fresh Kills) removed and put in a place which does not have household trash. There is even a place at Fresh Kills that could accommodate this effort, but the City has refused. Apparently the garbage dump is good enough. The City emptied (though not thoroughly) the WTC site and searched for remains (though not completely) during a 10 month period from 2001-2002. The endeavor came in under time (scheduled to take 2 years) and under budget ( FEMA appropriated $125 million…the City spent $67 million and then used the remaining money to pay straight-time salaries). It is this material, sitting on top of household trash without separation, that we want removed.

How especially cruel to try to deceive you all. I am so very sorry for any false hope you had and any increased pain this information gives you.

Questions? Please write to WTCFamiliesforProperBurial@comcast.net

Sincerely,
Diane Horning
mother of 26-year-old Matthew Horning, WTC I, 95th floor

Dear WTC Community Member,

Almost a year ago after hearing many concerns that people in our Ground Zero community had regarding the Mt. Sinai WTC Medical Monitoring & Treatment Program &/or Centers of Excellence, I initiated an effort to communicate them to the program directors Dr.’s Jacqueline Moline & Michael Crane. I also reached out to the New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH), who in collaboration with the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR) created the WTC Health Registry in July ‘02.

Over the subsequent months, I posted email requests for input from the 9/11 community via direct contact to persons on my e-list, or through various WTC-related groups. I asked for people to contact me with their list of concerns & any attempts made to communicate their concerns directly to Mt. Sinai or the Centers of Excellence via email or letters. I wanted to compile a fairly exhaustive account of issues which our community feels have not been addressed by the monitoring or treatment programs.

My intent was to get a consensus of any similar issues & an understanding of any other concerns unique to you. I wanted to have an idea if you’d voiced these concerns in writing to the program’s treatment doctors, or directors…& whether or not you’d had your issues resolved.

I have heard many in our community verbally “venting” about the inadequacies of the WTC MMTP, yet, when I asked for folks to email me with those concerns, I got few responses with few specifics. My sister Denise Villamia & I have both written the WTC MMTP directors with our respective thoughts…but we are 2 people among the approximate 27,000 participants in the program & the 71,000 registered with the NYC WTC Health Registry (WTCHR).

According to a 2008 report titled “An Overview of 9/11 Experiences & Respiratory & Mental Health Conditions Among World Trade Center Health Registry Enrollees” published in the Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, Volume 85, No. 6…the number of persons believed to have been affected by toxic exposure has been estimated by the WTCHR to be 409,492. This figure includes the responders, volunteers, area residents, employers/employees, & students…besides those who just happened to be in the vicinity when the towers fell. Although 409,492 were eligible to enroll between September ‘03 & November ‘04, only 71,437 did…reflecting only 17.4% of the estimated exposed population. And this figure includes an overlap of those who may also be enrolled in the Mt. Sinai WTC MMTP. So the number of those being “monitored” is clearly a fraction of the total.

Therefore, as it is, the programs in place are servicing a very small portion of the affected population. All the more reason that we who are enrolled in them must make every effort to insure that our conditions are being properly tracked, recorded & evaluated for patterns of symptoms that are manifesting in an inordinately high percentage of our population. If we do not feel this is being done to the best of their ability…we have to SPEAK UP.

I recently received word that Dr.’s Moline & Crane are making themselves available to meet with us the beginning of the 2nd week in April regarding our concerns. So there is not as much time as I would have liked to gather input from you in preparation of our meeting. Dr. Moline is leaving the WTC MMTP & this is the only window of opportunity she has to meet with us. I do not know what position she will be assuming, nor who will be replacing her.

If you want to see improvements made in the current 9/11 health care programs, it is imperative that you share your impressions now so that I may bring them to the discussion table. We have a unique opportunity to sit with these directors & have an exchange of ideas on how their programs can better serve our respective needs going forward.

Please set aside a few minutes of your time in the next couple of days & email me a bullet point list of any aspect of the program you would like addressed at the meeting. This can be with the “monitoring” part, the “treatment” part or both. Those of us at the meeting are going to be representing you. We each have had our own personal experience with the program which we will be sharing, but we want to be as inclusive as possible. If you have at any point expressed your concerns to them in writing, please tell us to whom you addressed your letter or email, the date & nature of your concern, & if your issue was acknowledged & resolved or ignored.

I realize I am asking you to work on this in the midst of celebrating Passover & Easter. The timing is unfortunately not ideal, but we had little control as to the scheduling of the date for the meeting. I’d been in contact with them since the fall regarding our request to meet. That is why I was trying to gather your feedback back then…so we would be prepared for the possibility of meeting with them. After all these months, I was given the date the end of last week…& there is no flexibility…so there are only these next few days to compile our data.

I’d appreciate your understanding how important this is. What goes on at this meeting can very positively affect the care we receive from the program. Let your voice count. We need to make a collaborative effort. I look forward to hearing from you. Please send your responses directly to my email: phoenixrjv@yahoo.com.

Gratefully,

Rhonda Villamia

March 12, 2010

Dear Lower Manhattan Community Member,

Contractor Bovis Lend Lease has obtained permits from the New York City Department of Buildings to add a second shift to the deconstruction work at 130 Liberty Street starting Monday, March 15th. Deconstruction activities will take place in two shifts: from 7am to 3:30pm; and from 3:30pm to midnight. Currently, there is only one shift, from 7am to 5pm. The second shift will only take place Monday through Friday.

Under the new permits, all deconstruction activities will be allowed to continue until sundown. However, as a condition of the permits, Bovis will cease all crane operations at sundown, meaning steel will not be lowered to the deck except those few pieces that can be lowered without a crane. In addition, debris containers will not be lowered to the ground. Similarly, all concrete operations will cease at sundown, meaning that concrete will not be broken up on the deck or crushed on the ground.

From sundown until midnight, Bovis will be permitted to continue lowering pieces of steel to the deck that do not require a crane, cutting pieces of steel that have already been lowered to the deck during the day and loading the steel and other debris into the containers on the deck. The containers will be lowered to the ground by the tower crane the following morning.

John De Libero
Project Manager - Communications
Lower Manhattan Development Corp.

On February 26, 1993, terrorists abandoned an explosive-filled van underground in the public parking garage of the World Trade Center. The detonated bomb ripped through that garage, rocking the North Tower’s foundation and sending shockwaves of fear and horror across a city of millions and killing six innocent people.

Please join the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in extending our condolences to those who survived this attack and to the families of the six who were killed. We remember John DiGiovanni, Robert Kirkpatrick, Stephen A. Knapp, William Macko, Wilfredo Mercado and Monica Rodriguez Smith and her unborn child.

In remembering the victims of both the 1993 and 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, we demonstrate the value we place on human life and protest indiscriminate mass murder. The six names of 1993 victims will be inscribed in bronze alongside the nearly 3,000 names of those killed on 9/11, rimming the waterfalls of the 9/11 Memorial when it opens next year.

Though the world has pledged to never forget 9/11, it is important that we do the same for the six stripped away from their families and friends seventeen years ago today. The 9/11 Memorial is dedicated to that commitment. Brick by brick we are building a memorial to the memories of innocent lives, in the face of the cruel intentions of terror.

We hope you will take a moment today to join the Memorial & Museum in pausing and remembering those killed on February 26, 1993, the families who lost loved ones that day, and the survivors of the attack.
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/