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CNN Sunday Morning
New York Residents Discuss Terrorist Attack on World Trade Center
Aired September 23, 2001 - 10:37 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: New York Central Park, several blocks uptown from the site of the former World Trade Center, people were in the park on this Sunday as they usually go there to congregate and to get outside, some and many still thinking about the events of 12 days ago. Maria Hinojosa talking with some of them. She's live with us this morning.
Maria, hello to you.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Bill. Well, you know, a week ago, New Yorkers thought that they were going to be coming here to Central Park to have a huge public memorial for the victims of September 11. But on Wednesday of last week, Mayor Giuliani called off the event, saying that it was too early to have a memorial yet and also raising questions about logistics and security. Was New York City really ready to have a massive event where it would clearly be impossible to control who was coming in and out of the park?
So the fact that it had been called on and then called off kind of shook New Yorkers as they, little by little, tried to reclaim some of the public spaces back into their lives. And it's raised some questions about can New Yorkers come together in huge, massive public events and feel safe?
Now, Amy Barovick who lives just a block from Central Park, you were planning on coming to the event.
AMY BAROVICK, NEW YORK RESIDENT: I was planning on coming. I was a little surprised that Giuliani canceled it. He is telling us to get out there. It makes me wonder if they know something that we don't know, security wise, why we shouldn't go to the park. But you know, you have to get out there. You just have to go.
HINOJOSA: You had a lot of conflictive feelings about coming, but it was about reclaiming this space?
BAROVICK: Yes, I just don't want to be scared out of the city. I did go out of the city. I went to Connecticut. I thought I'd feel better and safer and I needed to come back to the city, to be with the people.
HINOJOSA: But you've also had moments -- it's kind of been a seesaw. You've thought about maybe putting your apartment on the market and moving to island off of Maine.
BAROVICK: Oh, yes. That was my first reaction; let's get out of here. Let's sell it. Let's leave. Let's get out of here; it's not safe for the kids.
HINOJOSA: And then you think...
BAROVICK: That's not realistic. It's -- if it's going to happen here, it could happen somewhere else. You can't run away. You have to stand together with New Yorkers. You really.
HINOJOSA: And it's about the fact that you love this city?
BAROVICK: I absolutely love it. I am concerned about my kids a little bit, but I'm becoming less worried about that...
HINOJOSA: OK.
BAROVICK: ... as the days go by.
HINOJOSA: Thanks, Amy. That's kind of the emotions that a lot of New Yorkers have been having. Yesterday, I was out walking the streets and you're seeing more and more people kind of coming out tentatively. And in a way, it's that moment of tentative; taking back these spaces that seems to allow people to move forward. And a lot of New Yorkers are very happy to see whatever tourism they see. They're applauding them.
Back to you, Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Maria, thank you -- up at Central Park here in New York City.
We talked about that prayer service at Yankee Stadium a bit later this afternoon. For the people who cannot get tickets to go inside, there will be a couple other locations around this -- the New York City area, including Staten Island where they expect at least thousand possibly to show up and watch it from there. CNN's Richard Roth at Staten Island with us this morning.
Richard, good morning to you.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill. That's right; Yankee Stadium is not the only baseball facility where people can witness this multiple faith service. One of the locations in the New York/new Jersey area is here on Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City. Richmond County Bank Stadium, it's a new facility here, home of the Staten Island Yankees, the minor league team of the big club in the Bronx.
Now, hours before the start of this service, police were out in force here, lining before they filled into the stadium. People, they're not yet allowed to go into the facility. Three times the normal amount of police on duty so far at the sight here.
People say that they can fit about 8,000 people comfortably in, including standing room -- comfortably into this new park. One of the very early arrivals here was a New York Emergency Medical Technician, Dominique Sweeney, who lost many friends, fireman in the disaster. She explained why she chose to attend this service here on Staten Island.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOMINIQUE SWEENEY, NEW YORK EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIAN: It's close to home and the police that you see around here and everything, we all know each other. We all work together on the streets and everything. We show up at the same jobs together with the fire department, the police department. We all show up together at the same jobs so we're home. This is our home, you know, and this is where we come to be, with the people we know.
ROTH (on-camera): What is the level of grief you got almost know, almost two weeks later? You've been at the site. It's got to be tremendous.
SWEENEY: It's absolutely devastating. What you see in the papers and what you see on the television, it doesn't compare to what it's like being down that site. The smell stays with me even to this day. It lingers. I'll wake up in the middle of night and still have the smell in my house. And it's not really bad; it's just the smell of the ruins down there. It was awful. And it just -- it's unbelievable. I don't even think it really sunk in yet, the damage and devastation has actually sunk and just busy with cleanup down there and going to a lot of funerals, you really don't have time to sit and think too much about anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: Sweeney, of course, had been helping out in the rescue recovery effort there for the last week and a half. One of the selling points of this Staten Island new ballpark of course, is the view. And the view including the World Trade Towers until September 11 there, one of the major selling points for this park, which will now host another prayer service.
Richard Roth reporting live on Staten Island -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Richard, thank you very much. When we come back here, the changing skyline in New York City, it is different for every New Yorker and they will tell you that -- to every man and woman who lives here. Up next, we'll talk with the president of the World Trade Centers Association, his thoughts and reflections on a Sunday morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: One of the many thousands who witnessed the World Trade Center attacks from a distance is Guy Tozzoli. Guy Tozzoli is the president of World Trade Centers Association. He's with us live this morning, here in New York City.
Good morning to you. GUY TOZZOLI, WORLD TRADE CENTER ASSOCIATION: Good morning.
HEMMER: To our viewers quickly, this is the association comprised here in New York City but also representing more than how many around the world?
TOZZOLI: Three hundred and twenty World Trade Centers in 95 countries. And they service more than 750,000 international companies.
HEMMER: You told me before, I never realized this, the original headquarters for CNN in New York anyway, was in One World Trade Center in 1980.
TOZZOLI: That's correct. We grew up together. And...
HEMMER: We're still growing.
TOZZOLI: ... you are still growing. So are we.
HEMMER: Listen, you've brought us a picture today...
TOZZOLI: Yes.
HEMMER: ... from 1969.
TOZZOLI: Yes.
HEMMER: We're going to put it up on our screen and let our viewers have a look at it. Take us through this. What are we seeing here from 1969?
TOZZOLI: That's a helicopter view from over the Hudson River. The number one tower is on the left hand side and the number two tower partially erected; you can see it on the right-hand side. And those are at various stages of the World Trade Center construction.
The interesting part, on the top of one, are a tangle of cranes that actually erected the steel. And you can see in the foreground of the picture, that is the fill that came out of the bottom of the World Trade Center and created Battery Park City and the World Financial Center.
HEMMER: This gray area.
TOZZOLI: The gray...
HEMMER: Jutting into the water, right, the Hudson?
TOZZOLI: Yes, right here. And that's the first 23 acres of 100 acres that now is in there.
HEMMER: Wow! "Reader's Digest" called it the largest building project since the pyramids.
TOZZOLI: That's correct. And one other thing, looking at the structural steel, the architect wanted the structure to be part of his architecture. So he put the strength to resist the wind in the outside walls. And that one fact probably saved the towers from coming down right away.
HEMMER: And when we look at that picture, you can see the skeleton of steel. And that's what workers are going through time after time, day after day this morning.
TOZZOLI: That's' correct.
HEMMER: They're established as a symbol of stability and peace, peace through trade, the World Trade Center. Talk to us more about that. How did that come about?
TOZZOLI: It came about because we recognized early in the game that people who trade together begin to understand these others' cultures. And if I trade with you, it's not a very good idea to kill you. And that's how it started, very simply. And it's spread all around the world.
When this terrible thing happened I had messages, e-mails from every single part of the world, including much of the Arab world where trade centers are saying this is a bad thing. And the next message was, we must reconstruct the World Trade Center in New York because it's a symbol not just of New York, it's a symbol of stability and peace around the world.
HEMMER: One of the things that I really am amazed by here, with talking to my CNN colleagues up here in New York, everybody's got a story about the towers. Whether they went there to eat or whether they went there to go to the bar on the 44th floor or hang out in Battery City, everybody's got a story. What's your favorite?
TOZZOLI: My favorite story is a sad one in a way. I saw two dolls from my international collection on CNN two days after the tower were hit and that they picked them out of the rubble. And I thought to myself, I hope people are found also. And that's my favorite story.
HEMMER: Thanks, Guy. Guy Tozzoli, head of the World Trade Center Association here in New York City, thanks.
TOZZOLI: Thank you.
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