Families Call WTC Site 'Sacred Ground'
N E W Y O R K, July 15 -- To some, it seems at times to be nothing more than the site of a massive redevelopment project and any memorial to victims of the attacks will be sized to fit the space that remains after office towers, parking garages and shopping malls are sited.
To some, the World Trade Center site seems to be nothing more than a massive redevelopment project. But to the families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the footprints of the twin towers are "sacred ground," and they intend to fight to keep them that way.
Victims' families have enlisted a powerful ally, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, in their effort to keep that ground free — six stories down to bedrock — of a planned bus terminal and shopping mall.
A professional videotape called America's Memorial, prepared by the Coalition of 9/11 Families and featuring Giuliani, is being readied for mailing this week to all senators and congressmen as well as to officials in firefighters' unions across the nation. In all, 1,000 copies of the tape were being unpacked Monday in the coalition's lower Manhattan offices.
"The reason why many of the designs so far fail is that they have the concepts in reverse order," Giuliani says on the tape, which runs 10 ½ minutes. "The major design concept is replacing office space … and the memorial is an afterthought."
Current plans call for the last 30 feet down to bedrock to be the location of a parking garage that will help accommodate tour buses for the estimated 5 million to 10 million visitors a memorial will attract each year.
But family members of victims point out that the vast majority of the 19,938 pieces of human remains recovered from the attack were found in this area. Out of respect for the 2,800 people who died at the site, family advocates argue the ground down to bedrock ought to be free of any infrastructure uses.
From Bedrock Up
With the second anniversary of the attack less than two months away, ABCNEWS has talked to surviving family members and their allies and learned how they intend to alter the development process before it is too late.
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