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American Morning

New York Ready to Celebrate 2002

Aired December 31, 2001 - 07:17   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now, let's check in with our Jason Carroll. He's up in the Big Apple, as we said. Lots of preparations under way at Times Square for the Big Apple drop tonight.

Let's check and see how things are shaping up -- Jason, good morning.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you. The Big cold Apple, Leon. It's freezing out here.

A lot of folks are going to be out here anyway, even though it is very cold, to see the big new year's eve celebration. Security a concern for some people out here. But as you know, the New York City Police Department is used to handling big events. They are used to dealing with security.

Let me give you a few examples of what they've done out here in Times Square. If you take a look at some of the manholes out here, you can see this is rubber cement. They have covered the manholes out here. They have sealed them. They've also welded shut any openings. This is the bottom of a light post out here in Times Square. They've done that out here, as well.

In addition to that they're going to have bomb sniffing dogs out here. They're expecting some 500,000 people to cram the streets out here in Times Square. Seven thousand police officers will be out here, will be on hand. They've got security checkpoints for everyone who's going to be heading into Times Square. They're not going to be allowing any backpacks, no large bags. Anyone coming out here is going to have to also probably go through some sort of a metal detector as well. They're really making, trying to make sure that everyone who is out here feels as safe as possible.

But all eyes are really going to be on the top of the tower that you see right over here. I hope you can get a shot of that, on the top of the Jumbotron there. That is where the crystal ball will drop. And this year it's a little bit special. The crystal ball will be encrusted with the names of some of the victims from 9/11 and at 6:00 tonight, Leon, all bells will ring across the city in honor of those victims. The last time that happened was during WWII -- Leon.

HARRIS: No kidding? Interesting.

Jason Carroll, in Times Square this morning, thank you very much. Stay warm out there.

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