Long Island

12 years later: 9/11 remembered

Noelle Maerz was born seven weeks after the World Trade Center towers fell. She didn't know her father, a bond broker from Long Beach who died on 9/11. 
 Up until last year, the 11-year-old had refused to attend the solemn ceremony at Ground Zero marking the anniversary of the terror attacks. 
 "She was afraid that something was going to happen to her," said her grandfather Ralph Maerz, 68, of Fort Myers, Fla., who came to lower Manhattan to pay tribute to his lost son. 
 But when her father's name was called on the 12th anniversary of his death, Noelle spoke to him in front of thousands gathered at the National September 11 Memorial Plaza. 
 "Thank you for giving me such a wonderful life," she said. "I wish you were here to share with me and Mommy." 
 The roll call of victims, nearly 3,000 in all, lasted about four hours as families embraced by the memorial's reflecting pools and tearfully remembered loved ones. 
 A bell tolled at 8:46 a.m. -- marking when the first hijacked plane slammed into the north tower -- and the ceremony didn't end until early afternoon. Through it all, mourners cried, first responders embraced, and people shared stories of sacrifice and survival. 
 Nearly 500 of those killed that morning at Ground Zero were from Long Island. 
 Like so many others, the remains of Noelle's father have not been found, the family said. Noell Maerz, 29, who worked on the 84th floor of the south tower, simply disappeared. 
 Rosemary Cain of Massapequa, who lost her son -- FDNY firefighter George Cain, 35 -- attended the ceremony with about 10 friends. 
 "It is a very sacred place for me," she said of Ground Zero. "It is hallowed ground. I feel 3,000 souls are here." 
 Out of the ashes, a rebirth is nearly complete. The memorial plaza is now flanked by the gleaming, 1,776-foot-high 1 World Trade Center, formerly called the Freedom Tower, and the smaller 4 World Trade Center, which opens in November. 
 At 8:39 a.m., the ceremony began with bagpipers and drummers from the FDNY, NYPD and Port Authority Police, agencies that saw heavy casualties on 9/11. The Brooklyn Youth Chorus performed the national anthem. 
 Across the city, fire and police department units lined up outside their commands to observe a moment of silence. 
 The ceremony paused at six key moments: twice to mark when each plane hit the towers; twice to mark when each tower fell; once to mark the attack on the Pentagon; and a final time to mark the crash of Flight 93 in a field in Pennsylvania. 
 One of those present for the roll call was Linda Amato, 49, whose brother, NYPD Sgt. Timothy Roy Sr. of Massapequa Park, died after rushing to the towers from Brooklyn that morning. 
 The two were the youngest of eight children and spent their childhood and adulthood as best friends -- even taking vacations together with their families. 
 "It still hurts to hear his name," said Amato, of Massapequa Park, who wore a bright yellow T-shirt emblazoned with her brother's picture. 
 "We've been here every year since the first anniversary," said her husband, Chris Amato. "As a family, no matter what's going on in your lives, we have to take this day out of our lives to honor Timmy." 
 It was the second commemoration without speeches by politicians, but many of them attended. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo arrived as part of a motorcycle contingent and Michael Bloomberg attended for the last time as mayor. 
 Also at the ceremony were Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Bill de Blasio, top vote-getter in Tuesday's Democratic primary for mayor. 
 "I see those 8-year-old kids, now 20 years old, and remember their faces when they were kids at the funerals, struggling," said Thomas Von Essen, who was fire commissioner on 9/11. 
 "I see them now and they are grown. They have handled it, and I see hope in their faces." 
 With William Murphy, John Valenti, Deon J. Hampton, Chau Lam and Maria Alvarez 
 CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated that Noelle Maerz had never attended the 9/11 memorial service at Ground Zero.

9/11 Anniversary

NYWTC12

Family, friends remember those lost on 9/11

APTOPIX Sept 11 Anniversary - cropped

Not long after sunrise Wednesday, James Sherry walked up to the 18-foot-tall replicas of the Twin Towers and penned a message to his father, a bond broker killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks when James was 4 years old. 
 "I love you so much," the 16-year-old high school junior from Rockville Centre wrote to his dad, John Anthony Sherry, who was 34 when he died. 
 James, his 14-year-old brother, Johnny, their mother, Missy, and other family members were among more than 1,000 people who gathered on the beach at Point Lookout just after dawn to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the worst terrorist act committed on U.S. soil. 
 People also paid tribute in other places across Long Island, mourning and reflecting in their own homes or at public events from sunrise through sunset. 
 Firefighters, religious leaders, the young and the old who arrived with walkers and wheelchairs, came to pay tribute at the Point Lookout event. 
 "You will always be with us," Scott Bart's mom and dad wrote in a handwritten message for him. 
 "We love you always," wrote Stephen Kevin Tompsett's wife, Dorry, and daughter, Emily. "We miss you every moment of every day." 
 The sentiment was the same in Wantagh, where people gathered at American Legion Post 1273 on Park Avenue. 
 In Commack, as many as 600 people gathered on an athletic field for an evening that was supposed to be illuminated by candlelight -- but the winds were too strong. 
 Still, people flocked to the 7-foot-tall model of the Twin Towers lit up in red white and blue. 
 "It's really something to come out with so many and reflect," said Sharon Chosak of Commack, who said she knew as many as 10 people who were killed that fateful day. 
 Janlyn Scauso of Melville was a 39-year-old mother of four when she lost her husband, a hazardous materials firefighter. 
 "You have people who come into your life and contribute but you can't replace people," she said. 
 For most people, the observances were an annual ritual of healing. 
 "I come here every year to bury my husband," said Wantagh resident Philomena Mistrulli, 54, after the 10 a.m. event. 
 She had stood quietly throughout the 20-minute gathering, thinking of Joseph, 46, a carpenter, who died when a plane struck the first World Trade Center tower. "I don't think we have coped yet, and it's been 12 years." 
 Most years, James Sherry and his family have come to Point Lookout on Sept. 11 to remember his dad, whom he got to know over time thanks to the stories and memories others shared with him. The family was at the former World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan on the fifth and 10th anniversaries of the attacks. 
 "I really try not to get sad," James said. "It's not going to bring him back." 
 Andree Marshall of Island Park, who survived the 1993 and the 2001 attacks, said those events taught her to value the ordinary and fleeting moments in her life, such as seeing her daughter's eyes light up when she plays with her dog, and savoring times when her son steals a kiss. 
 "Had I not been able to get past tragedy, I would not be able to see beauty that permeates my life," said Marshall, one of the keynote speakers at Wednesday's remembrance in Point Lookout. 
 At the ceremony's conclusion, she and others cast white carnations into a reflecting pool in front of the stage. Some planted small American flags with handwritten messages attached. 
 "Never forget." 
 Lawmakers at the Wantagh commemoration told the more than 60 people there the same message: Never forget the attacks. 
 State Assemb. David McDonough (R-Merrick) said that the morning of 9/11 was similar to Wednesday, when the sky was blue with promise of a beautiful day. 
 "We must never forget all of those people who lost their lives," he said. 
 "While many people have gone on with their lives, and the resiliency of American citizens is something we should all admire, we thank everybody who comes here," said state Sen. Charles Fuschillo (R-Merrick), whose district includes Wantagh. 
 In his prayer, chaplain Joe Stein said America should ensure its borders aren't breached anymore and to protect citizens. 
 "As we honor the memories of our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who were murdered on this day, let us vow, never again," he said. 
 With Joan Gralla, Zachary R. Dowdy 
 and Deon J. Hampton

LIREME12

12th anniversary of 9/11 commemorated by LIers

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The design objectives for the Sept. 11 memorial were specific: It would commemorate both loss and regeneration. 
 Today, 12 years after nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks on the World Trade Center, in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon, the memorial plaza in lower Manhattan designed by Michael Arad and Peter Walker appears to have accomplished its mission. 
 Millions of tourists from all over the world have thronged to the site since it opened to the public two years ago. The waterfall-edged pools in the Twin Towers' footprints, each engraved with the names of the dead and surrounded by trees and rising skyscrapers, call forth reactions both somber and hopeful. 
 "It's amazing, just unbelievable to think they've rebuilt so much stuff in such a short period of time," said Madeline Wood, visiting from Cedar Falls, Iowa, with relatives. "It's just a wonderful tribute to the people who died here. It's like, we're coming back." 
 As with other historical traumas -- from the Civil War to Pearl Harbor and the Holocaust -- the memories of individuals pass with them into history. Those who study the forces shaping historical memory say that it is too soon to predict how 9/11 will emerge in the historical record, or in the collective memory of generations to come. 
 "The meanings and kinds of memories are evolving and will continue to evolve over time," said James Young, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who studies the cultural and political forces shaping Holocaust memorials and was the sole historian on the committee that selected the 9/11 memorial design. 
 "The memorial is not over-determined so that it fixes memories, but allows future generations to come and find their own reasons for remembering," he said. "Really great memorials do that." 
 Nearing 'a tipping point' 
 The events of 9/11 are already moving beyond personal memory for many, said Civil War historian and Yale professor David Blight, one of the historians who have been advisers to the soon-to-open national Sept. 11 museum located at the plaza. 
 "We may be reaching a tipping point, 12 years out from the event," he said. "Now you have a lot of young people who don't have any real memory of this, and soon we will have millions with no memory. It will just be an event they hear about through time." 
 The memorial and 9/11 museum "will become a source of both refurbishing memories and creating them for a new generation," Blight said. How historical events are understood, he noted, depends on "how forthrightly we face the past and how closely we want to look at its causes and consequences." 
 He added, "Historical memory is always about the narratives we tell ourselves, the stories we believe in," conveyed to future generations in ways formal and informal -- from textbooks, media and political rhetoric to commemorations, rituals and family stories, shaped in part by those with the power to control how, and what, stories get told. 
 "It is quite possible that what we think we know about an event can be very different than truth," said Mark A. Greene, director of the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming, who noted that historical interpretations shift with the questions posed in different time periods, and the evidence available at the time. 
 For now, the narratives of those streaming onto the plaza are as much about pride and hope as they are about despair and loss. 
 As the waterfalls thunder into the reflecting "pools of absence" -- the water flowing and disappearing into a void at the centers of the pools -- the sounds of construction echo from striking new skyscrapers rising all around. 
 'We can stand together' 
 "It's inspiring and makes me feel pretty good about where we live, this country. Our biggest enemy poked us with a needle and we came back and made something beautiful. We're stronger now for what they've done," said Wood's grandson, Michael Best, 19, a college sophomore from Minnesota. 
 Best was in second grade on Sept. 11, 2001, and remembers the day as "very surreal. . . . The adults were crying and I didn't know why." He said he's had 12 years to sift through the "hysteria, the panic, the anger and all the sadness, and be able to take away something positive. Patriotism, community. . . . We can stand together when it counts." 
 Lisa Jones came from Connecticut with her daughter Molly, 19, and Molly's friend Lauren Dobrynski, 20, one day last month. 
 "I think it's a time of resilience in our history, finding a way to overcome," said Lisa Jones, 52. "That's what it stands for." 
 Her daughter, who was too young to have clear memories of the attack, said it was "something to learn from. Just because this happened we're not beaten. We keep moving. We'll still remember, but we keep moving." 
 And, said Dobrynski, "It brings us together. Even though we're from all around the world, we have this in common." 
 Tourists from all over the world come to the plaza. Michael Hadjitofi, visiting with his family from the United Kingdom, said the world suffered on that day. "There are very few events where the world can witness it live and that was unimaginable," he said. 
 New York University historian and museum adviser Edward Berenson said the memorial -- like the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. -- allows visitors to come together around the idea of bravery and sacrifice, whatever else their differences. 
 "That's really healthy for a society to be able to do that, but there should be a corner in our mind to remember our vulnerability as well, so we can better protect ourselves in the future," he said. 
 For now, despite persisting fears about terrorism, and contention over the wars and surveillance and privacy intrusions in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, people embrace the calming and healing and inspirational aspects of the memorial, the positive narratives gleaned from the loss. 
 Jamie Kennedy, visiting from Austin, Texas, with her family, marveled at the "tremendous progress" since first seeing Ground Zero in 2002. 
 "You can do nothing about a person blowing up a building. You can respond in a way that is uplifting, and empowering and supportive," she said. "There are many of us who would give their lives to help others. That's just who we are as a people." 
 The memorial, she said, is "perfect. The whole thing about putting water over fire is awesome. There's a little tear, but it's a calming, hopeful place." 
 Nature's narrative 
 She loved seeing the Survivor Tree -- a pear tree badly damaged by the 9/11 attack but nursed back to health and replanted on the plaza. "It's amazing that it would survive: You're not going to get us. You might think you will, but we will survive. And thrive." 
 Every day, tourists crowd around the tree as a guide recounts its story, showing photographs of the once-battered tree on an iPad. 
 Still, the presence of loss is inescapable. 
 Historian Edward Linethal, who has written of memorialization from battlefields to the site of the 1995 bombing of the federal office building in Oklahoma City, said he was struck by the insistence in so many memorial projects on the centrality of the victims' identities. 
 "It seems, perhaps, that this is a protest against the anonymity of mass death, an insistence that these people, these faces, names and stories will engage people's moral imagination by humanizing, in such a painful way, the enduring cost of violence," he said. 
 The interplay of loss and regeneration lies at the very heart of the memorial, said historian James Young. 
 "The taller the trees get, the deeper the volume of void gets, the deeper the loss. The taller the buildings, the deeper the canyon and void, that deep empty space," he said. "That will be the narrative, about resilience and regeneration all built around the core of loss." 
<h3> The Ground Zero commemoration</h3> 
 The commemoration is for family members of victims of the 2001 and 1993 attacks and they have been invited to participate in this year's reading of the names. 
 8:46 a.m. Citywide moment of silence, observance of time first plane struck north tower. Houses of worship will toll their bells. Families of victims of 2001 and 1993 attacks will begin reading the names. 
 9:03 a.m.Moment of silence for when second plane struck south tower. 
 9:37 a.m. Moment of silence for when Flight 77 struck the Pentagon. 
 9:59 a.m. Moment of silence for when the south tower collapsed. 
 10:03 a.m. Moment of silence for when Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pa. 
 10:28 a.m. Moment of silence for when north tower fell. 
 12:30 p.m. Program concludes. 
 Tribute in Light: The lights, located at West and Morris streets, will be on beginning at sunset Wednesday and will fade away at dawn Thursday. There will be no formal program.

LIWTC11

At 9/11 memorial, reflections on loss, resiliency 12 years after

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More than 25,000 responders and survivors have registered with the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund -- 7,000 just in the past two months -- with the 12th anniversary of the attacks looming and little more than three weeks until the deadline to sign up. 
 Advocates had worried those made sick from the World Trade Center collapse or working on the pile would miss the Oct. 3 deadline to register with the $2.775 billion fund, set up under the federal James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010. By the end of June, fewer than 18,000 people had signed up. 
 "There's been a huge increase in registration in the last few months and it's increasing every week," said special master Sheila Birnbaum, who oversees the fund. "They're getting the message this is the deadline." 
 The concerns partly stemmed from the fact that no one has a good idea of how many people might register -- especially with office workers and residents of Lower Manhattan made ill by the attacks also eligible. Estimates ranged from 19,000 to about 50,000 out of the estimated 400,000 to 680,000 people who were exposed to the toxic mix of dust, smoke and debris. 
 "It's still a moving target," Birnbaum said. She said the "overwhelming majority" who have registered so far are responders. 
 Benjamin Chevat, executive director of the 9/11 Health Watch in Manhattan, a nonprofit formed by unions, said the lack of solid numbers reflects the lag in time before the federal government began to acknowledge health problems related to the terrorist attacks. 
 "For years we had to struggle to even get Washington to admit there was a problem," Chevat said. "The only way we're going to know is when it's done." 
 Confusion over eligibility 
 Another issue has been confusion about who is eligible for the fund, which will award money to those deemed physically harmed as a result of the attacks. Anyone diagnosed with a 9/11-associated illness as of Oct. 3, 2011, must register by this Oct. 3. Those already diagnosed with a 9/11- associated cancer -- added later to the list of covered diseases -- must register by Oct. 12, 2014. 
 Many responders say they see the fund as critical protection for their families, others wonder if they will live to see the payments. 
 Patrick Triola, 50, of Wantagh, a former New York City police officer who worked 104 days at Ground Zero, has four children. He lost a kidney to cancer in 2008 and recently recovered from a lung infection. 
 "I'm just waiting," Triola said of his submission to the fund. "I'm hoping. We shall see." 
 "I am worried about it, the way the program is written," said Bruce Edwards, 56, of Ronkonkoma, an electrician who worked in a building close to Ground Zero. 
 In 2007, Edwards was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He said he submitted his paperwork about six months ago. "I haven't heard a thing," he said, adding that the money would help make up for lost wages and pension. 
 'For the rest of my life' 
 Joseph Greco, 44, of Hicksville, a former New York City police officer who worked on the pile and amid 9/11 debris at the Staten Island landfill, said the fund compensation "goes toward the future, for the rest of my life." 
 His 11 medications for asthma -- one of which costs $1,800 a month, are covered under the Zadroga-funded World Trade Center Health Program, Greco said, but "who knows when the funding is going to stop? If they stop giving me meds, I'm done." 
 Those who are healthy do not have to register. If they subsequently are diagnosed with a 9/11-associated disease, they have two years from the date of the diagnosis to register. 
 Advocates said they have received calls from responders who are healthy and unsure whether they have to register and from some who are sick but reluctant to sign up because they fear they will take money from someone sicker. 
 "A lot of them are a little uncomfortable asking for help," said Richard Alles, deputy chief and legislative director for the Uniformed Fire Officers Association. "I tell them every case is unique and does not have impact on others." 
 Lawyers still signing clients 
 Lawyers representing responders said they have recently seen a steady stream of calls. 
 "Everything has picked up. We're still getting clients everyday," said Noah Kushlevsky of Kreindler &amp; Kreindler in Manhattan, who with Michael Barasch represents about 5,000 responders. 
 Andrew Carboy, an attorney with Sullivan Papain Block McGrath &amp; Cannavo in Manhattan, which represents about 1,200 responders, said the firm was "still signing up four to eight a week." 
 Birnbaum said she and her staff have been concentrating on registering people and less on awarding compensation. 
 According the Department of Justice, which is administering the fund, 53 awards have been made as of late June. Under the law, $875 million of the fund can be paid out in the first five years of the program; the rest may be paid in the sixth year -- 2016 -- when funding ends. To ensure that the fund doesn't run out of money, awards are being prorated. The first payment is 10 percent of each person's award. 
 John Feal, founder of the responders' advocacy group FealGood Foundation, said ensuring there is continued funding when the law expires in three years is the next huge hurdle. 
 "What we need to be concentrating on is renewing the bill," he said. "2016 -- that comes quick." 
 CORRECTION: The date when Patrick Triola, was diagnosed with kidney cancer was incorrect in an earlier version. &nbsp; 
<h3> Compensation for 9/11 victims</h3> 
 FUND: September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, established under James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010. 
 ADMINISTRATOR: Special master Sheila Birnbaum, appointed by the Department of Justice in 2011. 
 MONEY: $2.775 billion 
 ALLOCATION: $875 million available first five years; the rest to be paid in 2016. 
 WHO'S ELIGIBLE: Responders and survivors present at a 9/11 crash site between Sept. 11, 2001, and May 30, 2002, whose physical harm is a direct result of the terrorist-related crashes or debris removal. 
 WHAT'S COVERED: Lung and respiratory diseases, gastro-esophageal reflux disorder, sleep apnea, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, musculoskeletal disorders, injuries, about 60 cancers 
 DEADLINES TO REGISTER: 
 OCT. 3: 
 Those diagnosed with a 9/11-associated illness as of Oct. 3, 2011 
 OCT. 12, 2014: 
 Those diagnosed with a 9/11-associated cancer 
 FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.vcf.gov 
 Source: www.vcf.gov

LIZADR08

25,000 register for Sept. 11 victim fund so far

zadroga - Patrick Triola - cropped

The next big change in the World Trade Center site landscape will be addition by subtraction as fences that have blocked much of the site from tourists, residents and area workers for some 12 years will be removed. 
 "It is important to shrink the amount of fencing . . . it will make the site more accessible for visitors and neighborhood residents alike," Catherine McVay Hughes, the head of the local Community Board, said. "We are thrilled with the progress in the last year." 
 A significant stretch of that fencing at the southeast corner of the site should come down in November with the opening of 4 World Trade Center -- the first of four planned towers on the 16-acre plot where the Twin Towers stood. The 7 WTC tower that opened in 2006 is on the block just north of the site. 
 Some of the fencing is made up of large plywood sheets -- with holes cut for passersby to peek in. Other stretches consist of cyclone fencing with razor wire along the top to discourage climbers. 
 Construction of 1 WTC, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, is to be finished on the northwest corner early next year, according to the Port Authority. The fencing at that corner will be removed soon after, and much of the fencing along the northern end of the property will come down when the Transportation Hub opens in 2015 and the temporary entrance to the PATH commuter trains is closed. 
 The hub will link 11 subway lines, the PATH tubes, all the trade center buildings and the World Financial Center to the west. Another transit hub, the MTA's Fulton Center, east of the trade center site, will connect 10 subway lines serving six stations. That facility, to open in June, will eventually be extended to the trade center site. 
 "This last year was a year of coming to fruition," said Andy Breslau, vice president of the Downtown Alliance, a business-oriented planning group. "You are really seeing a new World Trade Center take shape." 
 Dara McQuillan of Silverstein Properties, developer of three of the four on-site towers, walked inside the fences recently, taking visitors along a stretch of dirt that will become Greenwich Street, an old north/south roadway that was blocked by construction of the Twin Towers in the late 1960s. 
 Fulton Street, which had ended at Church Street, will open the site with an east-west roadway. And the new Cortlandt Way will be a pedestrian walkway, including an outdoor cafe, to serve as entryway from Church Street to the memorial pools in the footprint of what was One and Two World Trade Center. The Twin Towers were destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. 
 "This whole site will be opened up to reflect the open street grid of the 1960s before the towers were built," McQuillan said. 
 He led the visitors into 4 WTC, where plywood protected the shiny security turnstiles that will be activated next month with the opening of the building. The granite lobby floor is still covered in places by brown paper and plywood. Visitors looking straight ahead see shiny granite interior walls reflecting the memorial plaza and its cascading water. 
 Superstorm Sandy did not affect the construction schedule, McQuillan said, and some increased costs from storm damage was covered by insurance. The Port Authority in May authorized $59 million to mitigate the impact of future storms at its facilities, including the installation of metal panels at PATH stations. 
 Construction on 3 World Trade Center, the next tower to the north, was halted after nine floors of skeletal work but is to resume as soon as Silverstein formalizes a lease with Group M and gets financing, McQuillan said. There is no completion date for Silverstein's 2 WTC on the northeast corner, which, at 1,349 feet, will be the second-tallest tower. 
 Most of the exterior work on 1 WTC is finished, including a 408-foot radio spire bolted to the roof in May. Interior finishing will continue into next year before the first tenant, Condé Nast, moves in, according to the Port Authority. 
 The entrances to the Silverstein towers will face into the plaza, and the retail spaces on the lower floors will face out on Church Street to separate them from the solemn memorial area. 
 The planned memorial museum beneath the plaza is scheduled to open early next year, but the board that runs the museum has been at odds with the families of some victims who object to, among other things, exhibits about the terrorists behind the attacks. 
 The terrorism associated with Sept. 11, 2001, affected much of the site planning. While the street grid has opened up, checkpoints will be in place and motorized entry will be restricted to taxis and authorized vehicles. 
 Delivery trucks will enter the site through a new Vehicle Security Center just south of Liberty Street, pass through checkpoints to underground loading docks. A new, two-block-long park will be constructed atop the structure. 
 Despite criticism about the pace of planning and reconstruction at the site from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the Democrat who represents Lower Manhattan, and others, many involved said the development will be worth the wait. 
 "We always felt the focus on speed was misplaced and that time was necessary to deal with the emotional impact and to get it right," said Tom Wright, executive director of the Regional Planning Association, who started work with the agency the week after the Sept. 11 attacks. 
 "What we are seeing now are the fruits of doing things deliberately and doing things well," he said. "The benefits of that approach are becoming more and more clear." 
<h3> Sites of rebuilt World Trade Center</h3> 
 1 WTC -- Joint venture of the Port Authority and the Durst Organization. Exterior completed. Interior finishing and prime tenant Condé Nast moves in in early 2014. 
 2 WTC -- Silverstein Properties. No scheduled start date. 
 3 WTC -- Silverstein Properties. Foundation and skeleton for bottom floors completed; anchor tenant negotiating lease. Construction to resume as soon as the next round of financing is in place, later this year or early 2014. Scheduled completion in 2016. 
 4 WTC -- Silverstein Properties. Interior finishing in progress. Official opening in November. 
 North and south memorial pools -- Open. 
 9/11 Museum (underground) -- Scheduled to open in early 2014. 
 Transportation Hub -- Scheduled to open 2015. 
 OFFSITE 
 7 WTC to north -- Opened in 2006. 
 Liberty Park to the south -- Will open next year atop the Vehicular Security Center.

NYWTC05

Fencing at WTC coming down, adding accessibility

nyWTC05 cropped

Developers of 1 World Trade Center, formerly called the Freedom Tower, say that at 1,776 feet it will be the tallest office tower in the Western Hemisphere. 
 That claim is being considered by the authority of such matters -- the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. The group's Height Committee will convene in early November and hopes to make an announcement by Nov. 9, spokesman Daniel Safarik said. 
 The designation involves more than just bragging rights. 
 The developer of the tower, a joint project of the Port Authority and the Durst Organization, has hired a private firm, Legends Hospitality, to operate an observation deck, special events space, gift shop and restaurants atop the building, and hopes to attract 3.8 million visitors annually. 
 Legends, a joint marketing effort of the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys, has agreed to pay the developers as much as $875 million over the 15-year term of the lease. 
 At the time of their completion in 1973, the original Twin Towers -- with 110 floors climbing 1,362 feet above Lower Manhattan -- were the tallest in the world. The north tower included Windows on the World, a restaurant complex on the 106th and 107th floors. 
 In 2000, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur held the council's title as world's tallest building at 1,483 feet. This year, the 2,717-foot-tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai holds the title, according to the council's website.

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Carmine Agnello's arrest, for allegedly choking his girlfriend during an argument, comes weeks before he is to surrender to prison on a fraud conviction. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.

'Nothing happened,' Agnello said

Schwally, of Dix Hills, is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 12. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.

Guilty verdict in fatal nail salon crash

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City officials are scrambling to make up the shortfall.

Glen Cove budgeted $3.1M in sales tax. It's not coming.

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The deal will put the logo for Bulovas Restorations, a Ronkonkoma-based fire and water damage resolution company, on Seawolves team jerseys.

Stony Brook team members to wear corporate-sponsored patches this fall

The actor, comedian and rapper will bring a live version of the game show to Barclays Center later this month.

Nick Cannon, of 'Wild 'N Out' fame, performs at Hempstead, Roosevelt high schools

TVs, sports apps and score alerts get shut down shortly after 8 p.m. for the start of the Sabbath — only minutes before the start of Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.

For LI's observant Jews, Knicks' tipoff time Friday conflicts with the Sabbath

Orinoco Drive was closed after the car crashed into a utility pole and knocked down wires, police said.

Driver, 19, killed when his SUV hits utility pole in Bay Shore

The Suffolk County police auction is slated for June 13 in Westhampton.

Suffolk PD to hold vehicle auction with bidding starting at $500

The plan would set aside money to upgrade parking garages on Brewster and Pulaski streets.

Glen Cove fails to OK millions for parking garages, water treatment

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Organizers of a newly formed Long Island group, Catholics Welcome Immigrants, are urging Bishop John Barres, the head of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, to take a stand on the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.

'We want Catholic people to be part of this movement'

The alleged drunken driver who crashed into a Deer Park nail salon, killing three employees and a customer, bought liquor and drove around the area for about five hours before the crash.

Timeline of events in fatal Long Island nail salon crash

'He will be ... coming out of prison in a body bag'

State Attorney General Letitia James's office is investigating Nassau University Medical Center's former executive leadership. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn and Newsday's Nassau County politics reporter Candice Ferrette have the story.

'This is public taxpayer money ... so really, every dollar counts'

Prosecutors say 28-year-old Robert Carragher died in his father's arms. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.

'They attempted to control that bleeding'

Yaphank jail to pilot public health curriculum to help curb gun violence. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.

'The individuals participating will learn about the causes and consequences of firearm violence'

Nassau police said a 22-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 28-year-old man at a Massapequa home.

Fatal stabbing in Massapequa

Emily Kelly, 50, of Bayport, is facing a second-degree murder charge for the alleged abuse that led to Jor'Dynn Duncan's death on Dec. 29. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn has more.

'It just doesn't seem human'

Ring camera footage appears to show Riverhad Town GOP official leaving the scene after she allegedly struck multiple parked cars and continued driving.

Caught on camera: Riverhead GOP official allegedly hits parked cars

Melanie Smith, a Suffolk nurse who allegedly has been harassed by Michal Pacek for 3 years, spoke Thursday about appearing at Pacek's indictment. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.

'It felt surreal to ... see the person'

12-year-old Cesar Albarracin Guncay, a 6th grader in Sag Harbor, died during a rafting field trip in the Poconos after the raft overturned in the river.

'Cesar was a cherished member of our school family'

NewsdayTV's Macy Egeland speaks to actor Gary Sinise about the Wantagh Union Free School District partnering with his foundation to raise money for field trips to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, as well as a commemorative 9/11 statue in front of Wantagh High School.

'To make sure those students never forget'

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On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," Gregg talks with Michael Sicoli and Tess Ferguson about county champs crowned in boys and girls lacrosse, and Jared Valuzzi reports on the Long Island flag football championship.

Sarra Sounds Off Ep 36: Champs crowned in lax and flag football

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