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CNN Live At Daybreak

Neighborhood Around Ground Zero Continues Recovery

Aired May 30, 2002 - 06:31   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The ground zero recovery operation may be over, but other recoveries go on in the neighborhood.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim checks on how local businesses are faring.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just over eight months have passed since crews at ground zero began searching for signs of life and removing evidence of death. Bucket by bucket, load by load, construction workers transformed the massive disaster area into a virtual parking lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This has been amazing watching how quick this whole place was cleaned up and gotten operating again.

OPPENHEIM: Some businesses are operating better than expected. The Marriott Financial Center Hotel, once a temporary home for the Red Cross, is well behind from last year, but things are picking up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there is a determination by the larger companies to really get back down here and to continue to do what they do best.

OPPENHEIM: And there is a determination by the smaller stores to stay too, despite the loss of the big business crowds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I might survive another year, but we hope things will get better by then. I'm not willing to quit, no.

OPPENHEIM: While some shops were forced to quit, others hung in there, and some retailers have been surprised at consumers who returned to businesses that were closed for five months or more.

The question now though is, what will become of the World Trade Center site? As crews somberly removed a 58-ton steel column, the last beam of the buildings, workers and residents of lower Manhattan cope with the end of a demolition project and wait for what will fill a gaping hole.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's no longer a working site, where they are going to recover stuff. That's truly a graveyard, and that's an impact (ph). OPPENHEIM (on camera): The tribute ceremony today will be filled with symbols, and it begins at 10:29 a.m., the exact time on September 11 that the second of the Twin Towers fell.

Keith Oppenheim for CNN DAYBREAK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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