Union worker leads NYC memorial ride to honor first responders, returning vets

Most New Yorkers have vivid recollections of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But for Gregg Nolan, then a foreman with Local 15 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, the images of working down at Ground Zero are indelibly etched in his mind.

In an effort to temper those memories as well as honor the rescue workers who helped recover the site, Nolan, 56, will return to Ground Zero this September, just as he’s done for the past decade, to lead more than a thousand motorcycle riders on a 42-mile trek from Manhattan to upstate New York, as part of the NYC Ground Zero Independence Ride.

Nolan spoke to Our Town, recalling some of his difficult experiences working at Ground Zero in those first few weeks following 9/11 as well as how his upcoming NYC memorial ride is helping to support veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

How did you end up working at Ground Zero on 9/11?
Gregg Nolan: I was the foreman for local 15 of the Operating Engineers and I was at a contractors meeting when the planes hit. I went home at first to be with my family because I didn’t know what was going on. I got home and we were watching it on TV and I just decided to go back that night and help out any way I could. I’d been working in construction in NYC my whole life, so it seemed that I could probably be of use there.

What did you see when you first got to the “pile” or Ground Zero?
I got there about midnight or 1 a.m. and all I saw was fire and devastation. We were completely astonished. There was nothing left of the trade center—it was a mountain of rubble. It was just unbelievable.

What was your key responsibility at Ground Zero?
In the first day we were down there, our big job was to organize the chaos … obviously there was death everywhere, but to get this thing under control—it had to be taken under control—and that’s pretty much what we were doing.

In the first few weeks, we worked with the National Guard to set up a perimeter around the whole site because there were people at the site who were unknown. At first, we thought there could even be terrorists still at the site to try and do secondary damage—we just didn’t know until we set up security. And, bringing in a union workforce that was known was a plus.

Who else was down at Ground Zero, and how dangerous was it working there?
There were so many people down at the site that didn’t belong there and didn’t know what they were doing. Many of the volunteers down there were getting hurt because they had no idea what they were doing. It was office workers and non-construction workers and even some of our own guys got hurt—it was just such a dangerous place to be, we had to get rid of any people who didn’t know what they were doing. And, at the same time, we’re recovering bodies—looking for people who may still be alive.
For more information on the NYC Ground Zero Independence Ride or to participate, visit groundzeroindride.com

A survey of how New Yorkers will observe the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks

Sunday, Sept. 9

9/11  2012
Icahn Stadium, Randall’s Island, 911heroesrun.com;
9 a.m., $35 per person
The Travis Manion Foundation is sponsoring a 5K run on Randall’s Island to honor the heroes of 9/11. Half of all race proceeds go toward charity.

9/11 Memorial Community Evening
9/11 Memorial, Albany Street (betw. Greenwich and Washington streets), 911memorial.org; 6-8 p.m.
In commemoration of the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the 9/11 Memorial will be open to lower Manhattan community members for the evening. Passes are reserved for lower Manhattan residents only and can be picked up at CB1 offices or via email prior to Friday, Sept. 7. Email community@911memorial.org for details.

Premiere of ‘9/11 Dust: A Healing Journey’
Kraft Center Gallery at Columbia University, 606 W. 115th St. (betw. Broadway & Riverside Dr.), 911dust.org; price TBA.
Filmmaker Penny Little will premiere her film 9/11 Dust: A Healing Journey in conjunction with the Pause Press Play Project on Sunday evening prior to a Sept. 11 news conference at 1 p.m. Additional film times will also be announced.

Monday, Sept. 10

9/11 Exhibit at the Trinity Museum
Trinity Church, Broadway at Wall Street, trinitywallstreet.org; Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Sat. and Sun., 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Free.
Artifacts from the eight-month-long 9/11 ministry at St. Paul’s Chapel will be displayed in the exhibit. According to the church’s website, “St. Paul’s, part of the parish of Trinity Wall Street, became a place for Ground Zero recovery workers to eat, sleep and try to understand what had happened on Sept. 11, 2001.”

9/11 Remembered at the New York City Police Museum
New York City Police Museum, 100 Old Slip at FDR Drive, 10 a.m. daily, $8 adults $5 seniors and children
This exhibit explores the NYPD’s response to the disaster, featuring testimonials and artifacts. Children under 6 and members of the NYPD get in free.

Tuesday, Sept. 11

September 11th Commemoration Ceremony
WTC site in lower Manhattan, cityhall.nyc.gov; 8:46 a.m. first moment of silence
The September 11th Commemoration Ceremony is for the family members of Sept. 11 attacks and features a reading of all memorial names with six interspersed moments of silence and a music program in the background. The program is scheduled to conclude around noon.

Steve Reich: Complete String Quartets Performed By ACME
Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St. (betw. Sullivan & Thompson streets), lepoissonrouge.com; 6:30 p.m., $35 table seating. $30 standing room
The American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) will perform, with composer Steve Reich in attendance, WTC 9/11, which was commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by various musical foundations.

By Paul Bisceglio

The South Village lost an iconic friend last week in a gruesome accident along Sixth Avenue. Jessica Dworkin, 58, was struck by a tractor-trailer and dragged for two blocks under its wheels.

Dozens of pedestrians witnessed the collision. On the morning of Aug. 27, Dworkin began to cross Sixth Avenue on a foot scooter at the same time the 18-wheeler was turning onto the road from West Houston Street. The truck’s rear caught her and pulled her into its back wheels. Many onlookers chased the truck and screamed at the unaware driver, Greg Smith, but it took him until Carmine Street to realize that something had happened.

After Smith stopped the truck, he rushed out shocked and began crying, witnesses said. The driver now faces charges of failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to exercise due care.

Dworkin was pronounced dead at the scene.

“She was a real neighborhood character. She gave flavor to the neighborhood,” said Soho Alliance director Sean Sweeney, who had seen Dworkin around town since she moved to her apartment on Thompson Street in the 1970s.

“Everyone knew of her,” a Soho shop owner added. “She was a staple in the neighborhood.”

Locals characterized Dworkin as an artistic eccentric, a South Village icon known for roaming the streets on her scooter, striking up conversations with the trees and changing her elaborate vintage outfits as many as four times a day.

“She was always a little bit disheveled, but had a shabby finery to her clothing,” Sweeney said. “She was very fashion-conscious in her own unique way.”

Sweeney recalled one of his first encounters with Dworkin years ago, when he and his girlfriend were walking back to his apartment late at night. She approached them on the street, and he expected her to ask for money. Instead, she pointed to his girlfriend’s shoes.

“Are those Ferragamos?” she asked.

They were.

“They look wonderful!” she declared, and continued down the street.

Dworkin’s past is mostly unknown. She reportedly said that she moved to the city from Massachusetts and claimed to have written for Interview and Details magazines. She had volunteered at the Judith C. White Senior Center for the past two years, and was described as kind, talkative and generally well-liked by employees at the shops she frequented along Thompson and Sullivan streets.

Many locals were unwilling to go into much more detail about Dworkin’s place in the community, though. “Her death really shook us up,” said one store employee. “The gruesomeness of it, the fact that we’ve seen her every day for years—I think many of us just need some time to work through this.”

A picture tribute to Dworkin was posted near her home. None of her family has been identified, but a local restaurant worker mentioned that a male relative of hers visited the neighborhood last Wednesday.

“Her death is a loss to the community,” said Sweeney, echoing the most common sentiment expressed by Soho, Greenwich Village and South Village residents. “Part of the neighborhood’s unique character went with her.”

Why Cuomo, Bloomberg and even Christie should be talking that day

The plan for this year’s 9/11 commemoration sounds an awful lot like last year’s, especially since word came down that no public officials will deliver remarks. No speeches, especially anything deemed “political,” shall mar the reading of the names of those lost on that terrible day.

This news has been cheered, especially by some newspaper editorial boards that should know better. Newsday, in particular, says the reading of the names has an “elegant simplicity.” That’s in line with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who last year told NY1 that the families of the dead “don’t need political lectures,” as if any speaker would aim to annoy the crowd.

The reading of the names, which at this stage seems to do little to put a still-raw historical act into present-day context, is considered sacrosanct. But our elected officials have been silenced again. Not to mention—although someone should—our poets, academics and religious leaders, probably in order of importance.

The no-speakers stand seems tremendously popular. But it’s also ridiculous.

For eons, and in cultures of all sorts, leaders have been expected to draw conclusions and share them with the people they are elected to serve. It’s one of the responsibilities of leadership, to find words in impossibly difficult situations, to give voice to our common experience.
Sure, it’s hard. And yes, leaders mostly fail to meet the challenge. The exceptions, though, create historical moments. What if someone had told Abraham Lincoln not to give the Gettysburg Address because nobody wanted to hear him tackle a hot-button issue? Can you picture Franklin Roosevelt, during World War II, being given a list of names of deceased soldiers to read and told to say nothing else?
Sixty-seven years after FDR’s death, though, our politicians are terrified of politics, or at least being deemed “political” by the dumbed-down culture that confuses the words “politics” and “partisan.” Ours is a world with little interest in the common good or even the slightest healthy debate about what that might mean. The civics class belongs to another age, not ours. We love our cell phones, not our post office. We outsource wars or figure someone else can volunteer. Somewhere along the line, the Me Decade became a new Me Century. “Don’t be political” is pretty much our only rallying cry.

It’s been this way for a while now, so it is unsurprising to see us privatizing our grief, too, and wrongly insisting that 9/11 events belong only to the deeply affected families. The reading of the names has been a powerful and valuable tradition and should continue if others want it to, but when do our leaders lead and take the ceremonies on that awful anniversary to another level? Never?

The irony is that we have a couple of politicians around who might be able to speak a memorable phrase or two. Gov. Andrew Cuomo gives good speech. Bloomberg has a talent for telling people what they don’t want to hear. That might help inspire something substantial. Give, gulp, Gov. Chris Christie a chance to say a few words. Maybe he won’t even call anyone an idiot during his turn on the dais.
Throw in a few others, knowing that picking and choosing is an admittedly messy business. Then let the speakers dare to give us a slightly new way of thinking of that horrific moment and this anxious one.

The point isn’t the quality, year to year, of the speeches. It is that in decrying politics of all kinds in any sensitive situation, we create a content-free culture. No wonder we wind up with political campaigns about peripheral issues.

There is no getting around the need for politics or political speech. Banning it is a lousy way to commemorate anything in a democracy.

Christopher Moore is a writer living in Manhattan. He is available by email at ccmnj@aol.com and on Twitter @cmoorenyc.

For the last decade, the end of summer has meant one thing to New Yorkers, even subconsciously: the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001. Hard to believe, but this year marks the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, and New Yorkers still haven’t forgotten. Whether they’re celebrating the memory of the victims and the heroism of the first responders via painting, concerts or, in true New York City fashion, down and dirty Downtown cabaret, August and September are filled with chances to pay homage to what happened that day. Here are just a few of the scheduled events.

9/11 10th Anniversary Reflections

The exhibition offers a chance for visitors to sift through the personal reflections of those who lived or worked in Downtown Manhattan on the day the Twin Towers fell. Volunteers are traveling the city collecting the recollections of New Yorkers on Mylar cards, which will be arranged and displayed along the pathways in Battery Park’s Garden of Remembrance on Aug. 4, and kept on display through September.
In conjunction with the exhibit, instrumental artists will hold free concerts Sept. 10 and 11, 2–4 p.m., in partnership with Feel the Music! on the south side of ground zero (at 120 Liberty St.) for reflection and remembrance. For a chance to contribute to the 9/11 10th Anniversary Reflections project, visit www.tributewtc.org.

9/11: The World Speaks

Multitudes of visitors stream through the Tribute WTC Visitor Center sharing personal experiences, tributes to victims and those who responded, and other remembrances. 9/11: The World Speaks is a collection of these visitor cards from the past five years, offering a window into the feelings and memories of local and international visitors to the site.

On Aug. 16 at 6 p.m., Tribute WTC is holding a book launch at its space on 120 Liberty St., on the south side of ground zero. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.tributewtc.org.

Faith Ringgold and young New Yorkers (ages 8-19).“The 9/11 Peace Story Quilt,” 2006. Fabric and acrylic.Three panels, 72 x 50 in. each (approx.) Commissioned by the InterRelations Collaborative, Inc.

9/11 Peace Story Quilt

This special exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, opening Aug. 30, seeks to shine light on the importance of dialogue across cultures in pursuit of peace. The quilt was designed by Faith Ringgold and constructed in collaboration with NYC students ranging in age from 8 to 19. Numerous panels on the quilt seek to tap into the same theme of peace and dialogue, and will be displayed alongside other, related works of art. For more information, visit www.metmuseum.org.

Remembering 9/11

This photography exhibition, on view Sept. 9–Jan. 8, 2012, at International Center of Photography (1133 6th Ave.), shows how firefighters, construction workers, police officers, artists, photographers and ordinary citizens responded on that day 10 years ago when the Twin Towers fell. The exhibition includes a video installation, photos of thousands of artifacts found at the site and other poignant images. For more information, visit www.icp.org.

Sally Pettus's painting "On Granite" 2011 (oil on canvas) on view at KS Art gallery as part of her "Paintings from the Perimeter" series.

Paintings From the Perimeter

New York City-based artist Sally Pettus has collected a series of her paintings in this exhibit, opening Sept. 3 at KS Art (73 Leonard St.), documenting scenes from the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site using oil on canvas. Paintings from the Perimeter catalogs the 10-plus paintings she entered in the World Trade Memorial Site Competition in 2003, from the perspective of an outsider looking down into the site.

In Remembrance and Renewal

A Sept. 10 concert for New York in memory of 9/11 by the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, the program will feature Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Resurrection. For more information, visit nyphil.org.

The 10th Anniversary Memorial Political Cabaret! at the Highline Ballroom

On Sept. 11, at 7 p.m., this three-hour extravaganza at the Highline Ballroom, featuring stars from the Downtown NYC arts scene, promises to be a gritty, politically incorrect celebration of the memories, sense of togetherness and heartache that surrounds the events of 9/11, its aftermath and the way our relationship to “terror” and the U.S. government was forever changed. A potent brew of nudity, poetry, dance, song, comedic commentary and drag, the evening will be divided into three 45-minute acts, rising in political incorrectness. Act 1, “A Love Letter to New York; Act 2, “An America in Transition”; Act 3, “Oh NO you DI-INT!” The event’s promoters promise that the “third act [will be] the most lovingly outrageous thing you will see all year, meant to inspire desire and burn our artistic fire!” All proceeds go to the Uniformed Firefighters Association of New York’s Widows and Childrens Fund.

September 11 10th Anniversary Commemorative Concert

Organized by Symphony Space, musicians from the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera perform a commemorative tribute to the people of New York City on the 10th anniversary of September 11 at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, Sept. 11, 7 p.m. The evening’s program will include specially selected music and poetry from David Amram, Brahms, Samuel Barber, Chopin, Lera Auerbach, Liszt, Schumann, Laura Kaminsky (New York premiere), Astor Piazzolla, Jon Deak (world premiere), Wagner, Drew Hemenger (world premiere), Sean Hickey, Simon Mulligan (New York premiere), Justin Tokke and Franco Alfano (American premiere). For more information, visit www.symphonyspace.org.

In Performance: Commemorating the 10th Anniversary of September 11, 2001

At 5 p.m. on Sept. 11 and 12, The Joyce Theater Foundation will present two free performances at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Park (north end of Battery Park City, west of River Terrace) to commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11. This special event will feature performances by the Limón Dance Company with Voices of Ascension; the Paul Taylor Dance Company with Orchestra of St. Luke’s; and a new work created by Jessica Lang especially for this occasion, among others to be announced. The free event will feature general lawn seating on a first come, first served basis.

9/11 Memorial

Half of the 16 acres at the World Trade Center are dedicated to the 9/11 Memorial, which will be open to the public for the first time on Sept. 12, after a closed ceremony the day before. The names of every person who died in the terrorist attacks of Feb. 26, 1993, and Sept. 11, 2001, are inscribed in bronze around the twin memorial pools that are the heart of the site.

Because of ongoing construction around the memorial, you’ll have to secure a visitor’s pass ahead of time. To do so, visit www.911memorial.org. The entrance is located at the northeast corner of Albany and Greenwich streets.

Assembly Member Micah Kellner was so grateful to see a printed notice on his way to work that morning so he could join us and remember especially, but not only, his friend Hubbell, who perished on that most tragic and horrific of days. Neighbors of a woman not present this year recalled how she not only lost her son on 9/11, but soon after her husband died—“It was believed from a broken heart.”

Remembered was a lost father and son; the father working on the Twin Towers’ first floor rushed up to help his son working on an upper floor. No greater love than a father’s or mother’s, and rarely is grief so deep and enduring when it is felt for a lost son or daughter.

After singing, “America the Beautiful” and “God Bless America,” we greeted one another quietly with, “See you next year and, hopefully, before.” How could I not write about that!

Not unrelated is Grandparents’ Day, which fell two days later on Sept. 13. Too little is said about grandparents and their lasting love for their grandchildren, as well as their grief should one be lost. Too little is said about how important they can be to a grandchild’s well-being (not only the young ones), and to their well-being as well. (Don’t forget nurturing aunts, uncles, cousins—and in-laws!)

But consciousness needs raising about hearing so little about the grandmother in the White House, and also that belittling “Granny” term used when saying Medicare cuts do or don’t mean “pulling the plug on Granny.” The more respectful “grandmother” word still excludes the many non-grandparent elders. Indeed, “elders” is the generally preferred term, and the president knows the importance of terms—of names.

And he surely knows the importance of grand-parenting, since his primary childhood caregiver was his maternal grandmother. Speaking of health care, extended family interdependence is natural preventive medicine and a source of shared care giving for those who will need it.

Many elders still write “real letters,” which underscores the importance of saving the Cherokee Post Office on York Avenue, an issue that drew a standing-room-only crowd at the East 79th Street Neighborhood Association meeting. We all should all write real letters—big time—to deepen relationships and help save our post office and U.S. Postal Service.

“Electronic mail is the foremost cause for the postal service’s financial crisis,” said the meeting’s three postal service guest speakers. They were impressed by the huge number of petitions received to save Cherokee, which serves not only the most densely populated city area, but it’s the one with the most elder residents. Association members are key figures in this all-out drive which has all-out support from elected officials. They are trying…

But we wish those who “came for the post office” had stayed to learn about a serial knife-wielding robber attacking lone men entering unattended apartment buildings late at night.

We wish they’d also learned about 85 East End Ave. tenants’ desperate efforts to save their homes, which are located in the part of the building the Brearley School wants to convert into classrooms. Losing one’s cherished home is often a loss second only to losing a beloved person.

Attention must be paid—to building “the village it takes”—to make a just, caring, non-violent and G-rated society.

–
dewingbetter@aol.com

The Speedie memorial includes quotes, photos and admonishments to always wear a helmet. Photo By: Jeremy Willinger

“The memorial is my way of making people happy,” Johnson said.
In late August, almost a month after Speedie’s disappearance, a memorial service at the scene of the crime was held in honor of the bike, which Johnson notes, “Carried [her] through a breezy dreamland.” Twenty of Johnson’s closest friends noshed on Rice-Krispie treats as a Tibetan monk spoke about non-attachment. Someone even left a memorial candle, though in typical New York fashion, it was stolen, too.
The memorial has become a local attraction. “I can’t tell you how many people I see taking pictures of [it],” said Dorian Yeager, a bartender and server at Malachy’s. The memorial and the reactions it elicits is, for Yeager, “The most fun I’ve had with a tragedy for 30 years.”
Now, two months after Speedie vanished, Johnson has purchased a gold 10-speed christened “Goldini,” to transport her around town from her home in the Bronx. Besides the subway, the bike is her main form of transportation. While she still mourns her lost bicycle, the memorial creation process has paid karmic dividends.
“It has brought me more connections and friendships, and I feel I am spreading happiness,” Johnson said with a broad smile.