9/11 memorial to charge visitors $2 for online reservations

The National September 11 Memorial has started charging visitors making online reservations for their visit, officials said Sunday, but the $2 service charge won't apply to relatives of those killed in the terrorist attacks.

The memorial, in the shadow of the new One World Trade Center tower still under construction in lower Manhattan, remains free to those who wait in line for a ticket, said museum spokesman Michael Frazier.

"Like other, similar institutions, in order to help support the operational needs of the 9/11 Memorial we have implemented a service fee, solely for advance reservations," memorial president Joe Daniels said in a statement Sunday. "Visitors of course may still walk up to visit the Memorial without incurring this fee."

The memorial is a tribute to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center, a field near Shanksville, Pa., where a hijacked plane crashed, and at the Pentagon. The six people killed in the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993 are also honored.

The name of every person who died in the attacks is inscribed in bronze panels edging the memorial pools.

"I don't have a problem with it," said Charles G. Wolf of Manhattan, whose wife, Katherine Wolf, 40, died in the attacks while on the 97th floor of Tower One. "Whatever they need to do to keep the project financially stable. I want the museum to be there for decades and not run into financial trouble."

But Rosemary Cain of Massapequa said she was incensed and disgusted when she found out Friday the memorial would charge the $2 processing fee. She said families of those killed in the attacks were not informed of the decision before the fee was put in place.

SEE PHOTOSClassic images of the Twin Towers

"How much more money do these people want?" asked Cain, whose son George, 35, was a New York City firefighter who died in the attacks.

She said she is grateful people come from all parts of the nation and world to pay their respects to the lives lost, including her son's, at Ground Zero, but it adds insult to injury for families of the victims to have the visitors being charged fees for doing so.

The memorial's website said the reservation system is temporary, until construction projects nearby, such as the trade tower, are finished.

Tax-funded grants have covered about $300 million in memorial and museum construction costs. More than $400 million came from private donations. With Tania Lopez