9 11-Being there Counted-Part 2

In 1996 I ran for a State Senate seat in NYC with a district running most of the East and Upper East Side (Silk Stocking District) in Manhattan Though the arcane Political system in New York State tried to keep me off I won two ballot Positions as an Independence Candidate and the Green Party. I lost of course. But whats important here is that during the process of the campaign I was interviewed by many groups including the local 1199 State Employees Union located on Barclay street just down from the Towers.

After the interview I decided to walk around and explore these Gigantic Spheres that rose sometimes up through the Clouds. I had always determined them to be like phallic symbols of the Rockefeller might but on this day while peering over the edge 110 stories high from the Observation deck I was in awe. I was also interested in the structure of the Towers since the attempt to bring them down in 1993 and so traversed as many public areas as I could. Leaving that day and headed uptown it appealed to me that anyone who thought they could destroy those towers were completely our of their minds.

It was two days after 9/11 and now the Towers were gone! Annihilated!! I had watched endless hours of television describing the still un-unutterable horrors of that day,watched as rescue workers found a small group of firefighters trapped in a 3 story corner which had survived the devastation, nearly thrown up a dozen times as the reality of the event trickled down into the far reaches of my being where denial still circled. It was like watching the Kennedy Assassination all over again but magnified with the world itself turned into a Ball as small as those baseball players pitch to opponents

One of the places I liked to talk strategy during my run for office was a Starbucks situated right across the street from city hall on Park Row. Thus this day September 14th I determined that I would take a train into the city and get off at the City Hall stop. Reaching the top of the stairs I walked out into the bright Sunlight on Broadway. And it was there that I stopped dead in my tracks. Two things strangled me simultaneously. The smell of burning debris and the huge piles of white Ash that covered every crack and crevice,cloaking store windows lamp Posts, street lights, stoops and lobbies along with the hideously grotesque figures of some people still covered with ash wandering from door to door. Then there were the military and these guys were not kidding around. In full battle gear with Armed Sub-machine Guns cocked and ready-others just standing as sentries at every corner. Not eyeballing anyone I crossed the street and walked two blocks down to the Starbucks. Well I'll be damned I thought. Though it too was covered in the white ash it was open!! Exulting at this good News I quickly entered to purchase a cup of coffee but was then stopped cold again. Soldiers, Police personnel, firefighters all occupied the place and I soon realized it was a rest zone for the battle wearied searchers. Coffee was free and so I helped myself leaving quickly. I then walked West over towards Ground Zero. Now the stench had become recognizable. It was flesh burning along with a thousand other variants of plastics, computers, electronics and whatever else made up the totality of the innards inside those massive structures. Reaching The Trinity Church which stood on a small hill unscathed I walked around past the cemetery with the hundreds upon hundreds of faces attached of those missing. Pleading notes like "just call....so and so..we are staying uptown along with a phone number. Have you seen this person, that person, Pictures of missing firefighters, Cops Ambulance personnel, ordinary people, a Hispanic restaurant worker, too many to describe. I could only get within three blocks of the Burning Mound with the shrapnel edged building of the Deutsch Bank Building looming along side other destroyed buildings with the plumes of black and white smoke drifting skyward. I sat down along side a huge Federal Marshal's Truck and watched as other people were being cordoned off a few blocks up. Suddenly I realized I was in the Press Area. The television trucks and Cameras all mounted on huge tripods with Journalism Professionals including the famous Ones you see on CNN, msnbc fox ,the local News Celebrities with the white shields set up to protect from the glare of the neumeous Television Klieg lights dotting the street. How I had gotten so deep into this territory without Press Credentials was beyond me but I did not concern myself about that. I watched as the Hoards of Red Cross workers all wearing the Blue and White protective gear walked in large groups towards the destruction while others walked out being hosed down by other volunteers. The hundreds of Fire trucks Federal Emergency vehicles, Red Cross vehicles. I inched my way back up toward Broadway and on down to Chambers street amazed at the Church that had stood its ground with not a single scratch. I reached Chambers Street taking picture upon picture. Every solitary scrap of Poster Paper, flowers on fences people Pictures-all had significant meaning. For it was less than a week earlier when these great many were preparing for the festivities of the last official Summer Holiday. That Holiday had come and gone. And so had they forever. My cameras depleted of film I walked away from the scene up Broadway to the Subway station. Turning I took one last look and tried not to breathe to deep. I had not heard One Siren since my arrival.

P.S. The photos I took were from throw-away Kodak and other Cameras. I can make copies of them in PDF format. But heres the trick. Every single one of those photos have been hidden by my wife and where they are she will not say. This includes a LIFE MAGAZINE about the event which was Printed in limited quantities and available for sale by that Saturday. I also still have the Last Copy of The New York Times I was able to secure the day after. Though it was torn in several places (which may explain why it had not been purchased)