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CNN Live Event/Special
America Under Attack: Wednesday in New York
Aired September 13, 2001 - 04:51 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.
JONATHAN MANN, CNN ANCHOR: All this because of what has happened in the United States and in New York at its most destructive where the skyline is ravaged, people find neighbors and loved ones now dead. Grief, anger and a strong sense of solidarity are replacing the first shock.
We return to Garrick Utley in New York where people of a battered city are coming to grips with the horror of Tuesday's attack -- Garrick.
GARRICK UTLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Coming to grips, Jonathan, of course, but also the key questions that we're hearing everyday right now is when is life going to return to normal in New York City? Silly question, when was life ever normal in this -- in this metropolis here of more than seven million people?
On Wednesday there were some signs of some kind of normalcy returning and on Thursday there'll be even more milestones along that path. But we want to take a moment now and get a rather impressionistic look of how New Yorkers have been coping, how they've been coming back. These are people who are not at ground zero down there in lower Manhattan but all over Manhattan today.
Producer Bonnie Bertram and camera operator David Timco offer their view.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BONNIE BERTRAM, CNN PRODUCER: September 12, 2001, New York the day after the World Trade Center was attacked (INAUDIBLE).
People are sticking closely to their cell phones, trying to get any news they can of what's happening.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He doesn't have any identification on him, and we certainly hope someone recognizes him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've heard pleas like this all day long.
BERTRAM: Still waiting to find out how many people are being rescued and what the situation is downtown.
Where you visiting from?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From Spain.
BERTRAM: From Spain.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are so terrified, and we don't know if we can get home again and see our families.
BERTRAM: You went to JFK today and he won't take you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, he can't go there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I'm trying to. They think if they go out they won't be able to get back into the city is what I'm -- I'm like Dorothy in the "Wizard of Oz," I just want to get home. If I could click my heels and make it happen, I would do that.
BERTRAM: Is this your limo?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it is.
BERTRAM: Is you guys -- are you taking it to the airport or somewhere?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Taking it...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, we're taking it to Texas.
BERTRAM: All the way to Texas?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're not flying, I take it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
BERTRAM: All the way to Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's going to take 32 hours.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thirty-two hours.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who knows when they're going to open the airports again, and we could be here until Saturday or since. So we made the decision to go.
BERTRAM: Even though they have their lights on, I'm pretty sure there's not going to be a performance tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight there is no show.
BERTRAM: A matinee today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No matinee today. Our next show is tomorrow night at 8:00.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just contact TeleCharge. I believe your accounts have already been credited.
BERTRAM: When did you buy your ticket?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four months ago maybe, but in England.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's come -- it'll come to London.
BERTRAM: So you might get a chance to see it again?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eventually.
BERTRAM: For Times Square it seems pretty quiet today. It's usually much more packed than this. Theater matinees have been cancelled, basically pretty calm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just like it seems like everybody's walking around in a daze and you're just thinking about it.
BERTRAM: Did you feel scared a little bit yesterday?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not really, I felt it was -- and I ran home and watched the news and it was kind of scary about all these buildings falling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You just feel that the air in the city is different, people are more sober I think, more contemplative.
BERTRAM: So we're in Central Park and we're at a place called Strawberry Fields and there's a memorial here for John Lennon and it always seems like in times of pain New Yorkers tend to congregate here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I knew someone who worked there so it's been difficult, she's missing. We don't know.
BERTRAM: You haven't heard anything yet?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no, no, no, but I don't have a good feeling about it so just sad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
UTLEY: Well, imagine what's coming up now. To answer some of the questions there, if returning to normal in New York City means that Times Square will be filled and the theaters will be open, they will be filled and open on Thursday evening, not far from here up in Times Square. If return to normal life means schools being open filled with students, yes, they will be open tomorrow. If normalcy in New York City means being able to ride the subway system, this vast mass transportation system, yes, the subways will be running tomorrow, all the lines except one which is a minor detail the C line.
Jonathan, guess who rides the C line -- back to you.
MANN: Garrick Utley, thanks very much.
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