Lower Manhattan Residents RELIEF Coalition

In the NEWSPAPER

Thursday, Sept. 23, 2001
THE VILLAGER / DOWNTOWN EXPRESS

By Josh Rogers

Residents are now able to move back into Tribeca Pointe at 41 River Terrace, which is adjacent to Stuyvesant H.S., Tribeca Bridge Tower at 450 North End Ave., which is directly above P.S./I.S. 89, and 22 River Terrace, located at the corner of Warren St.

Virtually all of the neighborhood's 8,000 residents were evacuated the afternoon of Sept. 11, after hijackers demolished the World Trade Center's Twin Towers.

P.S./I.S. 89, which has been a command site for emergency personnel, and Stuyvesant will remain closed and students at those schools are to begin classes at P.S. 3, I.S. 70, and Brooklyn Technical H.S. starting Sept. 20.

The decision to reopen the buildings was made by Richard Sheirer, director of the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management, according to a press release issued by the B.P.C.A. World Trade Center attack. "It was sort of a heavy experience."

Residents living in the three reopened buildings should cross Route 9A at Harrison St. in Tribeca, and walk along the bikeway/walkway for a block to get to B.P.C. No private vehicles will be allowed into the neighborhood.

In a special combination issue of Downtown Express and The Villager published Sept. 19, James Gill, Authority chairperson, said he thought all of the neighborhood's buildings could be reopened to residents, although he was skeptical any would be reopened before the city had given up hope of finding survivors under the World Trade Center rubble.

"We are simply indicating [to the city] that we are alive and well and we think people can be brought back without interrupting the rescue operation - but it's their call," Gill said in a telephone interview.

The Authority manages and develops B.P.C.'s 92 acres of landfill. The neighborhood was built from excavation debris from the construction of the Trade Center 30 years ago and is on the other side of Route 9A from the Twin Towers.

The neighborhoods south of Canal St. have all been adversely affected by last week's bombing of the Trade Center, with residents of Tribeca, the Seaport, the Financial District and B.P.C. struggling either to gain access to apartments, feed pets, manage without electricity, water, gas or land-line phone service.

Battery Park City

Gill said the area devoted to the rescue effort in B.P.C. could be "shrunk" and residents could be given access to the neighborhood near Bowling Green at the south end of the neighborhood.

Andrew Berman, state Senator Tom Duane's chief of staff, said the Authority's president and C.E.O., Timothy Carey, said it was likely the neighborhood's north section would be reopened before the south.

Berman said Carey told him that the buildings in the north now have water, gas and electricity, but no phone service, and buildings in the south have water and electricity, but no gas or phones.

Rich Casey, who lives in Gateway Plaza, the residential section of B.P.C. closest to the Trade Center, said: "I know it's chaotic, but after two or three days they should have some sort of plan." He and his wife were waiting last week at Pier 40 trying to retrieve their cat. "We were here for six or seven hours yesterday."

Residents of the neighborhood have since been allowed back to the apartments to retrieve belongings and animals but so far have not been told when they will be allowed to return permanently.

According to two Gateway residents, a handful of elderly tenants have been quietly allowed to stay in the buildings, but everyone else left or was evacuated last Tuesday afternoon, the day the hijacked jet planes demolished the towers.

Officially, the only open section of the neighborhood is the New York Mercantile Exchange building, located on the river west of the Winter Garden. Commodity traders have been ferried in since Monday, the same day the New York Stock Exchange opened.

Only a few of the buildings in Battery Park City have suffered damage and none are in danger of collapse, according to city and Authority officials. The Winter Garden and the American Express Building at Three World Financial Center were the two commercial B.P.C. buildings hit the hardest by falling Trade Center debris, and Gateway 600 experienced the most damage of the residential buildings. Most of these Gateway windows facing the Trade Center are broken.

Gill said there have been isolated reports of looting of apartments, "which is abhorrent beyond belief."

Officials did allow the Battery Park Synagogue to hold Rosh Hashana services in the neighborhood and throw the traditional bread into the river from the esplanade. Yesterday, Norman Kleiman, synagogue president, said having the services on B.P.C. soil was important "emotionally for the entire community - for the world to know that we will return to Battery Park City."

It hardly seemed like an exaggeration considering an Israeli television station was among the handful of organizations covering the services.

Like most displaced Downtowners, residents in B.P.C. have been staying in second homes, friends' or relatives' apartments, hotels or shelters. Allan Miller said he was grateful that the Tribeca Grand, where rooms often go for over $300, was allowing displaced residents like his family to stay for $99 a night.

Information about the neighborhood can be found online at the Authority's new emergency Web site, www.BPCMobile123.com or a residents's site, www.BatteryParkCityonline.com.

South St. Seaport

Southbridge Towers, the largest residential complex in the Seaport, has been without phone service and hot water throughout most of the week. The Mitchell-Lama buildings have a high number of senior citizens, many of whom have been struggling to find open supermarkets.

Volunteers have been helping out residents in the community room. In addition, a new group, Lower Manhattan Residents' Relief Coalition, has formed and is going door-to-door, predominantly on Lower Manhattan's East Side.

Noah Rubin, the new group's founder < correction: organizers >, said Project Reach has donated space at One Orchard St. and he encourages volunteers who are being turned away at other locations to show up on Orchard St., between Canal and Division Sts., from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. daily.

"The news is saying there are too many people going to volunteer at 'ground zero' and it's true," said Rubin. "We're trying to divert that attention over to the surrounding communities."

Rubin, who is working with volunteers for City Council candidate Kwong Hui, said so far they have been mostly knocking on doors in Southbridge, Smith Houses and LaGuardia Houses.

The group's phone number is 917-554-8430, its Web site is www.geocities.com/lmrrc911 and its e-mail address is [email protected].

Tribeca

Residents of Independence Plaza's southernmost building did not have electric power and had been evacuated. Residents returned this week when power was restored.Most other Tribecans living above Chambers St. have had access to their buildings if they show proof of address at police checkpoints.

Utility, phone and delivery service in the neighborhood have been spotty and residents virtually salivate when they see a newspaper.

Hudson St. just north of Chambers, has been a favorite gathering spot as visitors and residents take pictures of demolished and dusty cars that have been moved from the demolition site.

Financial District

The neighborhood was once almost uninhabited after 5 p.m., but over the last five years, thousands of people have moved into office buildings converted into apartments under a Lower Manhattan tax incentive program.

Much of the area east of Broadway was reopened to residents over the weekend.

The neighborhood's western quadrant, just south of the Trade Center, will likely be closed for a while. Unlike in Battery Park City, officials have found it difficult to allow residents to retrieve pets and belongings in these buildings.

Carey Hendrickson, who lives on Greenwich and Rector Sts., said last week that she has not been able to get her cat back. One time she sneaked past checkpoints, but she could not enter her building because the fire marshals had it padlocked.

She is just one of many pet owners who have endured long lines to ensure their furry loved ones are safe. As one woman waiting at Pier 40 quipped: "Do they appreciate us? No they just scratch our furniture."