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The reason this website was created:

As a resident living two blocks south of what used to be the World Trade Center since June of
2001, I was slow in coming around to thinking that gawking suburbanites on my doorstep was
acceptable. On Sept. 16th when we first attempted to visit our apartment (or what remained of
it, we had no idea at the time), tourists were flocking to the periphery of Ground Zero looking
for that opportune vista that would allow them a quick, gut-wrenching snapshot to show
incredulous gawkers back home. People took photos of themselves standing next to the dust
and debris on deli signs near Wall Street just to say "I was at Ground Zero." My initial
motivation was to snatch cameras from people's hands and chuck them against a building.
Where was their sense of propriety? Had they no respect for the rescue effort that was going on
here, nor the horrible tragedy that just happened? I myself felt hesitant about going to the
area, even when simply trying to rescue a few changes of clothes and some personal
belongings.

It was only after a great deal of discussion with other New Yorkers that I understood and came
to some kind of peace with the tourists. People had to see Ground Zero. The horrific imagery of
the attacks on CNN seemed like unedited footage from next summer's big-budget action flick.
Hollywood's computer generated roller-coasters of destruction have neither a sense of human
scale nor a valid hint of humanizing empathy; the images are hyper-real cartoons that elicit
"ooh's" and "aah's." The terrorist attacks approached this level of hyper-reality for people living
in and outside the city. Seeing in person the smoldering remains of the World Trade Center was
the antithesis to the surrealism that unfolded on everyone's TV on Sept. 11th. Bearing witness
to the aftermath, one could grasp the magnitude of the act even for those who had never been
to New York and marveled at the size of the twin towers.

The cottage industry that has crept up around Ground Zero, however, is a different story.
Booklets, pins, flags, postcards, and gold-plated crosses like the one that is propped up on the
World Trade Center site are just an offering of what can be bought at Ground Zero. Crass
opportunists think of this flowering of blood-stained capitalism as a means of "healing" and
"regenerating" the area. It is simply disrespectful and heartless, and by no means do residents
feel comfortable passing the Disneyland-size crowds and lines around our neighborhood.
Regardless of the lip service that's being paid, I'm sure none of the proceeds of any of these
enterprises are going to charities or funds associated with the 11th and those families and
businesses affected. Caveat emptor.

In a perfect world, people would come to Ground Zero and walk amongst the freshly opened
streets and thoughtfully consider what happened on Sept. 11th. A sense of the human tragedy
and a respect for the astounding loss of life is the only souvenir anyone should take away.

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