How We Got Here

In October of 2004, after 17 months of discussions, the leaders of 32 organizations representing hundreds of 9/11 family members signed a proposal on how to list the names of their loved ones at the World Trade Center Memorial. The proposal was entitled, "Remembering People’s Lives, Not Only Names." It was submitted to Governor George E. Pataki, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, WTC Memorial Foundation chairman John C. Whitehead and memorial designer Michael Arad. The families requested that the people who were killed in the September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 terrorist attacks be grouped and identified by their affiliations and floors (where applicable), location and age. In addition, civilians would be listed in alphabetical order within their affiliation and uniformed services personnel (including airline crews) would be listed in rank order within their affiliations with their ranks preceding their names.

Despite having the support of the vast majority of families--including 1,700 firefighter and civilian families and the leaders of the uniformed services unions--the politicians ignored our proposal.

When those same politicians realized that the building and operating costs of the WTC Memorial had skyrocketed, they commissioned architect Frank Sciame to revise the memorial design. In April 2006, family leaders met with the WTC Memorial Foundation’s Executive Committee and explained the family name proposal. Calling the names issue the “heart and soul” of the memorial, members of the committee agreed with our proposal. But the politicians would not allow Frank Sciame to resolve the names issue, claiming that it was not a budgetary item.

When the memorial design was revised and moved above ground, eliminating the connecting passageway between the two memorial voids, we modified our proposal in keeping with the new design. Uniformed services personnel agreed to be listed in the south tower and we all agreed that the affiliations and floors would be listed on the new face plates instead of within the ribbon of names.

Still, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki refused to implement the family proposal despite its overwhelming support. The failure to resolve the controversy hindered fundraising, frustrating family members, who were eager to put the issue to rest and assist with the national campaign. Even though Mayor Bloomberg had no official role regarding the memorial, the WTC Memorial Foundation board found itself unable to resolve the issue without angering the mayor, who made it known that his preference was for the names to be listed randomly and without group affiliations.

Worried about the lagging fundraising, the Executive Committee convinced the mayor to take over chairmanship of the foundation and use his considerable resources as a philanthropist, and his status as chief executive of the City of New York, to recharge the moribund fundraising campaign. But, warned by City Hall insiders that accepting the families’ names proposal would essentially mean “going to war” with the mayor, they were forced to take the mayor on his terms. That meant caving in to his insistence that the "heart and soul" of the memorial, the names, be listed his way: random listings, no corporate names, no groupings of first responders, and no military or paramilitary ranks be identified.

News of the mayor’s chairmanship was deliberately timed with the announcement of a new corporate gift, but the fundraising failed to gain new momentum. The controversy lingered.

And so, just before the holidays, without meeting with family leaders, the mayor announced his “compromise” plan to the media as a fait accomplis . The full board had no opportunity to consider the families’ universally-accepted alternative, nor were they allowed to hear and vote for or against the mayor’s plan. In fact, board members learned about the plan the same way they learned that they were “voting in” the mayor as chair, when it was announced by the media the very same day.

The media was given a press release and statements that declared the names problem finally “solved.” According to press reports, almost everyone was happy.

Nothing could be further from the truth.