WTC Museum - Cash Cow

The World Trade Center Museum has been hijacked. Not physically. Financially. The City of New York, along with the Port Authority have both resisted the efforts of many American’s; including the families of the victims; to have the Museum taken over by the National Park Service. You have to wonder why since they have been complaining about the cost of operating it since before it even opened.

Last week the WTC Museum Commission asked for the okay to charge $24 for admission to the hallowed grounds where terrorists struck in 2001. So, I began to look into who the people were on the Commission itself. It’s a long list, many of whom are nothing more than political donors. I called and asked to speak with someone about the museum and the admission price. I was transferred to a Mr. Quido. I am not making that up. I am also still waiting on that return call.

I happened to voice my concerns to a friend of mine in New York and the very next day he ran across the following Letter to the Editor in a paper called “The Chief”, a paper which caters to Civil Service Employees in NYC.  The letter speaks volumes, and summarizes my concerns so well that I am posting it here. 

Decide for yourself what you think is right. Personally, I think that when you realize the game of extortion being played out by the Commission you will agree that the Museum needs to be taken over by the National Park Service, just like the USS Arizona in Hawaii.

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To The Editor:

In the latest example of money-grubbing by the excessively high-salaried management of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, it now appears they are demanding a handout from NY City and State for millions of dollars to satisfy their bloated salaries and fiscal mismanagement.

According to the Wall Street Journal ("9/11 Memorial to Seek Funds From  New York's Mayor," 1/15/14), the memorial and museum foundation (which is chaired by Michael Bloomberg) is asking Mayor de Blasio and the city to pay for nearly a third of its bloated budget.

We agree with Mayor de Blasio's spokesperson, Marti Adams, that the Federal Government must play a "central role" in funding. However, instead of a handout, we insist that the well-respected  National Park Service take over the complete control of the 9/11 memorial and museum and bring the professionalism and fiscal constraints that this out-of-control situation at Ground Zero so desperately needs.

In addition, it appears legislation is yet again being prepared for introduction in the U.S. Senate to provide Federal funding for the memorial and museum. This comes on the heels of a failed attempt in 2011 by the memorial foundation to "allow" for the Department of the Interior (National Park Service) to accept a "gift" of the property of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in return for a $20 million annual stipend.

Many 9/11 families continue to oppose a bailout plan- they do not feel the Federal Government should pay for an enormously-expensive memorial and museum in which the Federal Government- as well as the families of the victims- had virtually no role in the nearly one billion dollar design and planning.

We therefore petition Senators Charles Schumer and Kristen Gillibrand, Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo, to support fiscal responsibility and patriotism, and advocate for a bill in which the National Park Service can assume complete control and operation of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum at Ground Zero.

This is the least that the victims of 9/11, their grieving families, and the American public deserve.

Chief Jim Riches

FDNY (retired)

Chairman, 9/11 Parents and Families of Firefighters and WTC Victims

Black Friday and Hotel Rooms

Black Friday; this is what it’s all about; camping outside in the pre-dawn hours for that extra special, super-duper, early bird, smart shopper deal. Ah, the camaraderie, the sense of community and holiday cheer as you wait in line. Then the doors open and you trample over the old lady with the walker in front of you to save a few bucks. Don’t look for me there!

This year Sue and I went to Chapel Hill to have Thanksgiving with our daughter Sarah. Dinner was great; it was good to see Sarah and her husband, Michael. But, Sue and Sarah have a holiday tradition of meeting one another at the mall on Black Friday, so we spent the night at a local historic hotel; supposedly haunted; so that they could meet one another early today. I’d rather have gone home. The ghosts don’t bother me; I’d just rather be at home.

But, “home” is where you lay your head; and so, accordingly I brought along a few things to make my time in the hotel room more enjoyable, providing I don’t annoy the ghosts. So, with guitar in hand, an I-pod in my pocket, along with a good book to read, I’ve settled in for a comfortable morning while Sarah and Sue go shopping. Sue left at the ghostly hour of something like 6 AM, which didn’t bother me as I am usually awake at that hour anyway, getting ready to take a nap.

After a light breakfast and reading the morning paper, I will probably play some guitar; providing the ghosts are not annoyed; and listen to some music while I shower. Then I’ll work on my blog, looking for something suitable for tomorrow’s weekly cartoon. By the time I finish fooling around with all of this; once again provided that I have not annoyed the ghosts; it will be about time for Sue to return and we’ll check out. Then we’ll head home, stopping along the way to eat and look at stuff. That’s what we do.

So, don’t look for me in the crowds today. You won’t find me. I do my shopping at about 2 PM on weekday afternoons, when the stores are virtually deserted. But, I have to admit, there is nothing as relaxing as being in a hotel room; where you can’t possibly run into something you forgot to do around the house. And, even if you do, there’s not much you can do about it.

Zucotti Park - A Truth Lain Bare

Zucotti Park in New York City, formerly known as "Liberty" Plaza; that’s true, you can look it up; is the site of recent protests against what many Americans view as corporate greed. It's officially called "Occupy Wall Street." That greed was underscored, and a truth defined, this past week when the owners of Zucotti Park first demanded that the protestors be removed by New York Ciy’s Finest. These owners have received over $700,000 dollars of your tax money since 2001 for what is, essentially, a private park. This attempt to evict the people from the park for which they have been forced to pay, only serves to underscore the very point the protests are all about; corporate greed and the re-distrubution of wealth, through tax grants and loopholes, to those who need it least.

Think about the gall it takes to accept tax revenue, generated mainly by the people who can least afford it, to build a private plaza, change the name from “Liberty" Plaza, name it after yourself (John Zucotti - Chairman of Brookfield Properties in Canada) and then attempt to bar from its premises, the very class of people who provided the funding for the park in the first place. It’s patently absurd.

It's like the photograph above of three policemen clubbing a young man for "stepping off the sidewalk"; I remember the protests against the war in Viet Nam; same place, only 40 years earlier. That time, you couldn't find a cop, who didn't have his back turned, as the riveters threw down hot iron on the protestors. I was there. I remember.

So, let’s not forget, for one second, as we watch these events unfold, that the loudest protests against the protestors come from the bankers and the neo-cons, who are usually the first to decry the “redistribution” of wealth, but only when it comes to a program designed to help the neediest among us. And therein lies the truth – they just don’t care.