Results tagged “southtower”

As we mentioned yesterday, this week marked 32 years since George Willig's climb up the World Trade Center's south tower. When he got up there, he signed his name on a piece of metal on the observation deck, and now a reader has scanned in his photo of it, taken in 1983. We like that Willig even drew the two towers!

Phillippe Petit wasn't the only daredevil back in '70s that used the World Trade Center as a stage. Today marks the anniversary of George Willig's climb up 2 WTC, the south tower, in 1977. Also known as "the human fly" or "the spiderman," it took the mountain-climber and Queens resident about 3.5 hours to scale the building. Sport Illustrated wrote a story about the climb shortly after it took place, which you can still read here. In it Willig's brother notes that the Port Authority cops asked him "'Is George sane? Is he doing this for any political purposes? Is he going to wave signs or something? Is he doing it for a commercial reason?' I told them he was doing it for his own satisfaction, no other reason, and that he was as sane as I was, which I think confused them." His punishment? New York City Mayor Abraham Beame fined him $1.10, one cent for each of the skyscraper's 110 stories. Allegedly he signed his name on a piece of metal on the observation deck which was still visible until its destruction in 2001. Sadly, there doesn't appear to be much footage, aside from this 12-second clip (larger image of his climb after the jump).

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is busy trying to rally support in Florida, one of many big states with primaries in the coming weeks. He didn't really focus on the Iowa caucus (where he placed fifth - after Ron Paul) or New Hampshire (so he claims; he managed to place 4th, ahead of Ron Paul) and flew out of the Granite State before the polls were closed.

What is Rudy Giuliani getting for the new year? It looks like he's in for some campaign tactics from families representing firefighters that died on 9/11 that The Post is calling "Swift Boat" like. James Riches, a deputy fire chief who's son James Jr., a firefighter who died at Ground Zero, is organizing the campaign against the former mayor. Riches told The Post that things should be "up and running" for January 1st and that "the purpose is going to be to set the record straight about 9/11. Rudy Giuliani is not a hero."

Jim Riches is the Deputy Chief of the FDNY. He is one of the producers of Urban Legend, a video that doggedly questions the supposedly heroic actions of Mayor Giuliani on 9/11. We recently asked him a few questions about that, today's anniversary and the future of the WTC.

September 26, the New-York Historical Society has an event, Reflections on September 11: Lives Lost and Lives Changed, which includes a reading by Don DeLillo and a discussion moderated by historian Kenneth T. Jackson.Let us know about any other events in comments.

Continue reading "September 11: 6th Anniversary Commemoration Events "

Yesterday, President Bush arrived in New York City for September 11 anniversary rites. He and First Lady Laura Bush went to Ground Zero to lay memorial wreaths at the reflecting pools in the World Trade Center's footprints. They also visited a firehouse near Ground Zero and attended a memorial service at St. Paul's Chapel. Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Pataki, and former Mayor Giuliani, who all accompanied the Bushes to Ground Zero, were also at the memorial, as were Senators Schumer and Clinton. The Bushes will be visiting a firehouse on Pitt Street this morning in the city and will later travel to Shanksville, Pennsylvania where United Flight 93 crashed. Then, at 9PM, the President will be in the White Houes and will address the country at 9PM.

Yesterday, the Fire Department released 1,613 phone calls made to fire and EMS dispatchers, and the calls are just heartbreaking. The Mayor explained why the calls had been withheld by the city - they were only released upon a lawsuit - saying, "The real issue here is to protect the families...[was it] really is worth putting the families through reliving the grief that I think none of the rest of us would possibly imagine." At any rate, he apologized for the delay in the tapes' release, which he blamed on a Fire Department manager (way to pass the buck). But the victims' families are listening to the tapes in hopes that lessons can be learned. The NY Times notes what the Sally Regenhard, mother of Christian Regenhard, a firefighter who was killed at the South Tower, said:

“It took five years to hear a scintilla of confirmed information,” Mrs. Regenhard said, adding that many public officials had demanded fast explanations for Con Edison’s performance during the recent blackout in Queens, but that few had broached the question of the emergency response on Sept. 11.

Melissa Doi, the 32 year old woman whose 911 call was played during Zacarias Moussaoui's trial, and the 911 operator who tried the comfort her are the subject of an editorial in the NY Sun: "Yesterday, [Doi's] voice testified to something else — to the way in which the unique spirit of New Yorkers allowed glimmers of light to shine through even on that darkest of sunny summer days...[T]he operator was New York at its best, both compassionate and pragmatic, and unwilling to give up so long as there was any hope onto which to hold." And Newsday has a transcript of her call. The NY Times has an extensive site about the 9/11 Records.

NY1 will have live coverage of the ceremony; they have also been examining what the status of the rebuilding is, lingering health issues, how WTC Memorial designer Michael Arad feels the weight of responsibility and much more. The NY Times also has their section on "Rebuilding Lower Manhattan", in addition to recent stories about the after effects of September 11; yesterday's story about different companies' and organizations' decisions about keeping an image of the World Trade Center did resonate with us, as we wonder about some storefronts and vans that still have the Twin Towers standing in their logo's sklyines. Also, check out the NY Times' A Nation Challenged section, which includes Portraits of Grief - profiles of victims.