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NYC, Day 4
Here is a second report by Michael Stern. The first is here. — DS It has become clear that the odds that somebody died in Tuesday's attacks depended not only on what tower they were in (WT2 = better, WT1 = worse), and what floor they were on (lower = better), but also on what their job title was (lawyer = good, securities trader = bad). Jobs mattered because they determined who showed up early for work. Traders start early, have meetings, read the paper, and otherwise ramp up before the markets open. Lawyers can show up later. All three factors combined to destroy the trading firm of Cantor Fitzgerald. They were at the top of WT1, floors 101 through 104, and 700 of the firm's 1000 employees were at their desks at 8:45am when the first plane hit. Their CEO, Howard Lutnick, described arriving at the towers shortly after the first plane hit. As people streamed out the staircase, he fought his way upwards, asking "what floor are you from?" He knew that if he met even one person from over the 100th floor, his people had a chance. Lutnick kept fighting his way up until WT2 collapsed, then gave up. When interviewed by the press, he cried and clutched a list of 700 names, a list which included his own brother. All dead. Most of the people I knew, or friends of mine knew, who were lost, worked for Cantor. The only other group which has suffered in the same way is the New York City fire department. Every station you pass displays a list of the firefighters they lost when WT2 collapsed. My local station in Brooklyn has lost 12 of their 20 men. Many police officers died as well, but on a percentage basis, nothing like the losses that the fire department has taken. Also, firefighters enjoy a much purer public image than the NYPD does. There is no Amadou Diallo or Abner Louima in their past. Pedestrians passing the makeshift memorials in front of fire stations stop walking and, looking at the photographs of the missing men, weep. We have about a dozen different kinds of law enforcement in the streets now -- New York City police, New York State, Army MPs, National Guard, etc. The regular army stands out; they're in HUMVs and they don't slouch around. I think their current alert status requires the drivers to be behind the wheel at all times while on duty. I walked past one today on 38th street who was sitting ramrod-straight in his HUMV, sternly pinching chunks off a loaf of bread and tossing them out the window to pigeons. He had been there for a while, and dozens of birds had gathered. New Yorkers have turned out in massive numbers to help. There are at this point more people trying to help than there is work for them to do, and people have donated supplies in such quantities that there is no place to put it all. Any call for volunteers is met with a scrum of people who feel, as I do, that their memories of this week can be lightened a bit if only they're able to do something to help. The most valuable workers at ground zero, and the only group in short supply, are ironworkers. Anybody who can weld steel is thrown into the back of a truck and taken south. So many others want to help that a significant number of volunteers are needed just to manage the crowds of would-be volunteers. "Give us your name and phone number," they say, "We'll call you." Groups of people with common skills and concerns have set up all kinds of strange relief centers -- Rescue Massage Therapy, Rescue Bicycle Couriers, Gay Rescue Chefs, they wear badges and wait around the relief centers. My EMT badge and SAR experience got me into the main Chelsea Piers relief center today. They had asked for an EMT but chose an MD at the last minute. Thereafter I could only sort piles of bandages and pill bottles, none of which were being asked for by any of the rescue workers. Crowds stood along the West Side Highway, cheering trucks of men returning from "ground zero". Tonight, these crowds held candles, participating in a redundant national vigil to show support. Meanwhile, heading south on the Highway, convoys of trucks rolled towards ground zero. These came in waves from a rallying point somewhere to the north. First we had a half mile of garbage trucks, flying massive American flags and roaring south at 50 mph. For a New York City garbage truck driver, that's like Warp 7. Then came ambulances, dozens of them, some from cities hundreds of miles away. Some of the convoys inspire warmer feelings than others. The Army Corps of Engineers is very good at moving lots of dirt quickly. This is the order of the day here in New York. FEMA on the other hand, is a Federal agency that was in charge of setting up bomb shelters for government officials during the cold war. They continue to exist only because of bureaucratic inertia and a suspicion on the part of Congress that Commies are still out there somewhere. Anyway, they're in New York now. ConEdison ran a convoy of electrical trucks and one-man bulldozers. They were cute but slow. It's a good thing the garbage trucks had already passed; they would have crushed these things flat. New Yorkers have been more forebearing of the Arab community than I had expected. Most of the Arabic stores on Atlantic Avenue and in Brooklyn Heights are open for business. I have seen no anti-Arab grafitti. In all parts of New York City, newsstands are run by Arabs. This means that people lining up to buy the morning's paper for news about the bombings are forced to look an Arab in the eye every time. The atmosphere is strained, but polite. Perhaps the frequency of every New Yorker's intercourse (in the old-fashioned sense) with members of other ethnic groups helps. That didn't help the Jews in Germany in 1938, or Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994, but maybe it helps here. Meanwhile, Jerry Falwell has blamed the attacks on homosexuals. It's like a little piece of the Taliban grasping for power right here at home. I will try to volunteer again tomorrow, but I don't expect to be needed.
Michael Stern
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