City promotes lower Manhattan's comeback

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a global campaign Thursday to promote lower Manhattan to the world, ahead of an expected flood of tourists to the area in September for the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"A crucial part of the story of 9/11 is how lower Manhattan -- an area many said Osama bin Laden's attack would turn into a ghost town -- has come back remarkably in the last 10 years," Bloomberg said at a news conference in a Wall Street neighborhood. "We want our visitors to see the full recovery for themselves."

The marketing push, designed by New York City's tourism affairs arm, NYC & Company, includes discounts on hotels, shops and restaurants as well as self-guided itineraries for the neighborhood, officials said.

It will launch June 1 with outdoor media ads, taxicab TV spots and a print campaign at Kennedy Airport's international Terminal 4, they said.

"As the birthplace of New York, lower Manhattan remains the proverbial center of our great city and we should rejoice in its growth and rejuvenation," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn), who joined Bloomberg Thursday.

State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was also on hand, boasting that five generations of Silvers have proudly called the neighborhood home. He asked visitors and residents to "be here, come here, stay here, shop here, dine here."

Lower Manhattan, which encapsulates Chinatown, Wall Street, Governors Island and the Statue of Liberty among other tourist favorites, has recovered steadily since the 2001 terror attacks. Census figures early this year showed the population there has swelled by about 23,000 since 2000. And it was announced this week that media giant Condé Nast will anchor the new 1 World Trade Center building, leasing 1 million square feet in a deal estimated at $2 billion over 25 years. Officials did not disclose the price tag of the city-funded campaign.

Bloomberg said he hopes President Barack Obama will attend some of the 9/11 anniversary events, which will include the opening of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

The mayor also addressed security concerns surrounding the solemn milestone.

"Safety will of course be of paramount concern . . . so let me remind everyone now, the NYPD not only keeps New York the nation's safest big city day in and day out, no other police department in the world also has a comparable ability to manage safety at the world-class gatherings that New York has so often hosted," Bloomberg said, joking that he expects a Subway Series this season between the Yankees and Mets to be such a gathering.