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CNN Live Saturday

Tribute of Lights at Ground Zero Scheduled to Fade Tonight

Aired April 13, 2002 - 13:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: That's a look at Ground Zero, more than seven months after the World Trade Center attacks. The recovery effort is still underway. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in that attack. Many have not been recovered, but the effort is scheduled to wrap up next month.

And tonight will be the final night for the Tribute of Lights that honors those killed in the attacks. As the sun rises, the lights will fade. CNN's Beth Nissen reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Since March 11th, they have filled the gaping void in Manhattan's skyline, two slender beams of light, ghost images of the Twin Towers rising a block from the ruins of the World Trade Center. What is called the Tribute in Light has filled a void in many memories, many hearts too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's unbelievably beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: And they remind me of the World Trade Center.

SASKIA LEVY, PROJECT ORGANIZER, MUNICIPAL ART SOCIETY: It's been really nice to remind myself of where those buildings stood in our skyline, and I think for me and for a lot of people in New York, it's been a chance to say goodbye.

NISSEN: New Yorkers will say what for many is a reluctant goodbye to the towers of light on Saturday night.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: A lot of people will be looking to see it and then it will be off.

NISSEN: But those who created and developed the project say it was always ephemeral, in both nature and lifespan.

LEVY: One of the reasons that we were able to put this project together was that it was temporary. That was the premise.

NISSEN: Because the Tribute in Light was to shine for only a month, the Battery Park City Authority gave the installation free use of a paved parcel of land. Philanthropists, foundations, and corporations donated $1 million in goods and services for the construction of two 50-foot square platforms, for maintenance staff, for short-term rental of the 88 giant searchlights that beam into infinity, lighting up the blizzard of dust that still fills the air in Lower Manhattan.

Con Edison ran a temporary hookup to the site, and paid the electric bill, $300 per night. GE donated special 7,000-watt light bulbs, costing more than $1,000 a piece. After a month, there has been virtually no complaints or negative comments, although people are occasionally unnerved to see a passing jetliner fly into the Towers of Light. For most, the lights are comforting, even spiritual.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've heard interpretations of it as the sort of metaphor of the souls rising of the victims. I've also heard it referred to as almost window from heaven shining down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It also has a universal kind of hope to it. It's something which is optimistic.

NISSEN: Something which has given a city reason to look up, giving millions a few more chances to see the images revived in memories of those two improbably high towers, so improbably gone.

Beth Nissen, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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