By Shams Tarek

Local residents, elected officials and uniformed service personnel gathered under the flag pole at St. Albans Park on Sept. 11 for a memorial service to honor the victims of and responders to last year’s terrorist attacks.

The two-hour service, attended by about one hundred people, featured a name reading of the approximately 300 victims from the World Trade Center known to be from Queens, a prayer led by Rev. Charles Norris of the Southeast Queens Clergy for Political Awareness in which everyone held hands in a circle and a group performance of “Amazing Grace,” led by singer Rosetta Glenn.

Local youth leader Donald Murray, 27, read a Sept. 11-inspired poem called “Love and Hate,” about the need for young people to be kinder and more understanding in a world threatened by terrorism.

Borough President Helen Marshall, Councilman Leroy Comrie, former Councilman Archie Spigner, State Senator Malcolm Smith, State Assembly members William Scarborough and Barbara Clark and County Clerk Dora Young led the memorial, which was also attended by officers from the 113 Pct. and the Postal Service.

By Shams Tarek

In the memory of the nation, Sept. 11, 2001 started at the World Trade Center, 8:46 in the morning, with the image of jets striking, flames, smoke and terror.

Sept. 11, 2002 started in Queens at the Nassau County border, one in the morning, with the sound of drummers and bagpipers, marching through the borough in a 19-mile procession to where the World Trade Center used to stand.

The procession, one of five that marched through each borough of the City, started in the darkness and silence of night, waking residents along the way with the sharp cadences and mournful strains of public ceremony by drum and bagpipe.

Crowds gathered near Ground Zero to pay tribute to those lost on Sept. 11, 2001. PRESS Photos by Shams Tarek

From Northern Boulevard and Glenwood Street in Little Neck, about 30 bagpipe and drum marchers, led by officials from the Port Authority Police Department, stepped off and gathered civilian marchers as they went. About 50 civilian marchers from the borough joined the procession at its start and hopped on and off as it made its way down the length of Northern Boulevard.

During the first few blocks of the procession, several families with candles and flags cheered the marchers on.

Port Authority Pipers on the march to Ground Zero. PRESS Photos by Ira Cohen

At the end of the seven-hour journey, which went over the Queensborough Bridge and down the east side of Manhattan, the Queens marchers met processions from the other boroughs, which started between 1 and 3 a.m.  The citywide delegation then marched in unison down a ramp into the seven-story pit that now marks the spot where the buildings of the World Trade Center once stood.

The wind was the only sound at 9:59, when a moment of silence marked the fall of the South Tower.  The silence was broken by the morning’s first tolling of bells, and a poem read by a young girl who lost her father on Sept. 11.

At 10:29, when more bells tolled, a ship’s horn blew in from the Hudson and another moment of silence marked the fall of the North Tower, the wind gusts reduced, also for a moment, to a whisper. 

When the reading of victims’ names, started by Mayors Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani at 8:50 a.m., continued, so did the wind.

A brief and slight sunshower fell at 11:18, just as the last victim names were read and New Jersey Governor James McGreevey read from the Declaration of Independence, ending a 10-hour memorial, one year in the planning, for people lost in 103 of the most difficult minutes this country has ever experienced.

By Shams Tarek

Matilda Samuels was a World Trade Center security officer and is a survivor of both the 1993 and 2001 attacks on the buildings – and she’s trying to forget.

The Jamaica resident still has the high blood pressure and chest pains that started a few days after last year’s attacks.  She also still can’t sleep or eat properly.  And she still hasn’t found a job.

“I’m still going through my phases off and on,” she said.  “I lost a lot of friends and coworkers.”

Samuels’ family is back home in Puerto Rico, and she lives alone.  She relies on her own strength to get by.

“Even if I did have family here,” she said, “I would handle this on my own.  That’s just how I am.”

She saw some counselors shortly after the attacks, but they didn’t help.

“They were more bothered than I was,” she said.  “They weren’t helping me.”

Like many people who were very close to the attacks, Samuels, who left the North Tower and returned three times while escorting people to safety on the morning of Sept. 11, would like to forget about what happened.  She copes these days by reading and making music  – singing, writing and playing the keyboard and lead guitar.

“I didn’t come down completely,” she said.  “I’m coping okay.  I’m trying to bounce back.”

Samuels added that she is actively looking for a job, and would even work in a rebuilt World Trade Center.

“It’s just another building,” she said.  “An attack could happen anywhere.”

Samuels started working in the World Trade Center in 1988, and left shortly after experiencing the 1993 bombing there as a tour guide.

“It was scary,” she said of the day her job turned from casual host for the excited to critical life-saver for the terrified.  “You could disappear but I couldn’t because I worked there.”

Work brought Samuels back to the World Trade Center in 1998, then as a security officer.  Her two stints there, especially after the 1993 bombing, trained her in terrorism, public safety and emergency management.  But nothing, she said, could prepare her for the next disaster.

“I was right in it,” Samuels said of last year’s attack, which the survivor referred to as “this year’s.”  “Every time the elevator door opened, fireballs flew out.  There were people jumping out of the windows, exploding in front of my face.  After being in the middle of all this I felt like I was on a mission.”

Samuels did have a difficult time at home after the attack, not eating or sleeping for several days, she said.  But she also went into action.  She spent the next few days visiting her surviving coworkers and the families of the ones she lost.

“I couldn’t just sit here and mope,” she said.  “I had to find something to do.  I had to keep busy.”

These days, Samuels is bothered by all the memorials and media attention focused on last year’s attack.  In an interview on Sept. 10, she said she expected the memorials to give her flashbacks of bodies jumping and smashing on cars, which she witnessed firsthand.

“It kind of bothers me,” she said.  “It’s just too much, back to back.  It’s a constant reminder.

“But I’m sure it helps a lot of people,” she added.

From Maria Hernandez, Ozone Park:

Today I took the train just like any other day not expecting to see what I was going to see. Unbeknownst to me, this morning was different. As the train took its normal route, the conductor announced that it was an A train going express to Brooklyn and local to Manhattan.

As we got to Manhattan, the conductor said, “We will not be stopping at Broadway/Nassau & Chambers St.” Normally, the announcement would have been Chambers St./World Trade Center, but there was no World Trade Center.

As we rode through Broadway and Chambers Street, the train passed very slowly as if it was mourning our fallen brothers and sisters, our American Family.

There was an eerie feeling in the air – a newsstand bearing witness to the unforeseen tragedy as it displayed its newspapers with their front covers full of sadness. The stairs were covered with soot; it looked like a station in the desert. Everyone engaged in a conversation stopped suddenly in silence. Some people looked, others bowed their heads and yet others closed their eyes. It was as if everybody on the train was in a silent prayer paying tribute to the fallen.

We were mourning them. What got my attention was that there was a distinct odor. It wasn’t an odor like previous times. It was different, indescribable. It was so silent and so sad. I thought, “What do I tell my children?” How do we explain to our little ones what has happened so that they can understand how sometimes people can be so evil and hateful? I don’t think we will ever be able to convey and explain it to our innocent children. How do we explain to them that in a country where we can talk freely and live freely without breaking the laws of the land, things like this can happen? Just how do we explain?

We Americans will stand together and stand tall. This terrible act will not bring us down. On the contrary, it will make us stronger than ever. We will never forget our fallen heroes or the people who lost their lives that terrible Tuesday, Sept. 11. Our flag with its stars and stripes will shine brighter and fly higher than ever.

God bless us all, especially the families of the missing, the hurt and the perished.

I am proud to be an American!

This photograph of the “Tower of Light” tribute by Astoria resident Peter Basich was selected for the Cover of the Super Pages directory.

By BEN ABELSON

When your fingers do the walking on the SuperPages in Manhattan, it’s the image captured by a Queens photographer that will capture the spirit of New York City since Sept. 11, 2001.

Astoria resident Peter Basich received a unique honor when Verzion Information Systems announced that it would use Basich’s photograph of the World Trade Center’s “Tower of Light” tribute on the cover of the SuperPages Community Magazine inserted in its 2002-2003 Manhattan SuperPages directory.

Basich’s photo features the light display offset by an illuminated Brooklyn Bridge, symbolizing New York’s loss and resiliency in the wake of Sept. 11. 

“It’s a very spiritual image,” Basich said.  “The light reminds me of all those lost souls whose lives were sacrificed by these terrorists, and [yet] there is still connection to the earth – those who are left behind will always remember them.”

Basich, a Department of Transportation (DOT) bridges office manager, said he took the once-in-a-lifetime shot when he went out to the bridge with his boss one night in early April and stopped at a restricted area. “He had the access to that location, which is closed off…he sort of became my assistant that night,” he said.

Since Basich took the photo during the course of his duties with the DOT, he won’t receive any money for its publication – it’s officially City government property.  However, that doesn’t seem to bother Basich, who said he wouldn’t accept any money offered for the picture.  “I’m just happy to share this with anyone who has an interest in it…[it] reminds us of what we went through, the fact that we’re still standing, and [that now] we’re moving forward.”

According to Basich and DOT officials, the picture is also likely to be featured on the cover of Time Inc.’s 2003 World Almanac.

After serving in the army in the early 1960s, Basich studied photography at the now-defunct Germain School of Photography.  Soon after that, he began working in commercial studios around New York City.  When slowing business and new technologies caused him to join the DOT 12 years ago, he thought he’d hung his camera up for good.  However, ever since his photographic background was discovered, he’s served as an impromptu photographer for DOT engineers, brochures, and government awards ceremonies.

By Susan Lee

A concert commemorating the anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks was held in the Queens Theatre In The Park on the evening of Sept. 10, featuring the creativity of children, music from the borough, and the U.S. Marines.

A flag found at Ground Zero in Tower 2 and later flown by the Marines at the Kandahar Airport in Afghanistan was also paraded into the Theatre and displayed.   

Representatives from Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s office and Borough President Helen Marshall shared their reflections, but the night was mostly occupied by the music of local and national artists, among them singer and songwriter Todd Shea of Maryland, who had recently performed at a special Mt. Rushmore concert where President George Bush was in attendance.

Shea and co-writer and humanitarian Dan Panitz offered what they could to the recovery efforts for the initial five days after the attacks. They visited CVS, Walgreen’s, and other stores asking them to donate products, which most of the stores all readily supplied, taking with them saline, bandages, socks, and masks to rescue workers down and near Ground Zero at the piers.

Shea performed songs from his upcoming album, “Songs Carried On Angel’s Wings”  written after Sept. 11. The album was described by Panitz as music that  “transcends the decades but a familiar sound with a spiritual feel and rock base” with themes of “love and peace.”  Shea and Panitz said that their music combines sounds of the 60s and 70s, and are influenced by James Taylor, Jim Croche, and southern blues and rock.

P.S. 75 art teacher Ken Bell stood by a ceramic mural made by around 15 of his students that features the names of the 449 firefighters, police officers and Port Authority personnel lost in the attack.

“This was their way of helping out.  Everybody wanted to do their part,” Bell said of his students, among them Brian Muniz who lost his mother Nancy, who worked at the Port Authority, in the attacks.

As part of the day of memorials organized by the Mayor’s Office, a candlelight vigil was held in each of the City’s boroughs, and the resilient nature of New York was clearly present in the heart of Queens on Sept. 11 at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. While some borough residents solemnly held candles, others chose to shout out their patriotism, to the smiles of local officials. Borough President Helen Marshall was photographed riding with Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Administrator Estelle Cooper and former Borough President Claire Shulman who attended with her husband, Mel.
Photos by Ira Cohen

By Shams Tarek

Members of the Muslim clergy and worshippers at the Jamaica Muslim Center memorialized Sept. 11 with a “Night of Remembrance” this week to denounce terrorism and memorialize the victims of last year’s terrorist attacks.

The public event, which started at 8 p.m. with a Muslim prayer service and was followed by 13 speakers, was meant to be a clear, strong and united statement from the Southeast Queens’ Muslim community to promote peace and disassociate the religion and its followers from terrorists who are Muslim or come from Muslim countries.

Dr. Mohammed Billah, president of the center, said “We will always remember these victims as they belonged to our great American society, and in their deaths we will always remember that a devilish attempt was made to spread fear amongst us and break our humane spirit.”

This sign at the Jamaica Muslim Center this week clearly stated the congregation’s loyalty to the county and desire to see justice after the Sept. 11 attacks. Press Photo by Ira Cohen

Billah also praised local elected officials and uniformed services for supporting and helping to protect the Center and its members.

“In our neighborhood,” he said, “the 107th Precinct did an excellent job by keeping a watch at the mosque so that no hate-mongering or any untoward incidents might take place.  The Jamaica Muslim Center is also thankful to our local leaders who constantly kept in touch with us and made it sure that everything is all right with us.”

Councilman Leroy Comrie discussed the importance of voting and working with the government at an event at the Jamaica Muslim Center this week. Press Photo by Ira Cohen

Immediately after last year’s terrorist attacks, Commanding Officer Patrick Heaney worked with the Center, Executive Secretary Abul Rafiuddin told the PRESS, to deploy a 24-hour police watch to protect the Jamaica Muslim Center.

No hate crimes have been committed at the Center, at 85-37 168th St., in its immediate neighborhood, or towards its members, Rafiuddin said.

That report was confirmed by the police department and Councilman Jim Gennaro, who represents the area where the Center is and gave an emotional speech that caused to audience to shout “Thank you!” during their applause.

“I’m home,” Gennaro said to the crowd of about 80 worshippers and visitors.  “This is my house, because God-lovers worship here.  I can take that back to my own house, to my own house of worship.”

Gennaro praised the Center for representing the Muslim community positively during the threats of anti-Muslim violence and militant Islamic fundamentalists.

“You are teaching us — and the City at large — how we can get past this hatred,” Gennaro said.  “I’m going to have to keep coming back here, because I need to come here to get filled with that God love that you guys give me.”

Councilmen David Weprin and John Liu called on the Center and its constituents to support the government and its efforts to battle terrorism, and Councilman Leroy Comrie talked about the importance of voting and government involvement in order to further the community’s goals.  State Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin, also at the service, offered his help to his Flushing constituents.

Most of the clergy and residents who spoke did so along the same lines, denouncing terrorism, honoring last year’s victims and defending Islam as a religion of peace.

Aziz Bilal, an African American imam who descends from slaves in this country, told the mostly Bangladeshi crowd of the need for non-Muslims to better understand the religion.

“We can’t believe the people who have hijacked our religion,” Bilal said.  “They have portrayed Islam as a religion of violence and terrorism.  We need to show people it is a decent and civilized religion.”

From Aldona Senkus, Jamaica:

I wrote this poem last year after the 9/11 attack. The poem was written for my friend, who lost her cousin, and my neighbor, who lost her son.

Will I ever hear the songbird, or the whistle of the train?
Or the siren at midnight, or a sweet song’s refrain?
            No my friend, never again.
Will I ever see the ocean? Or the stars bright at night?
Or the snow on Christmas morning, or the burst of new daylight?
            No my friend, not ever again.
Will I ever touch a dewdrop, or a flag flying high?
Or a soft cuddly baby, or a tower in the sky?
            No my friend, never again.
Will I get to smell the flowers, that grow wild in the sun?
Will I ever smell the earth, after the summer’s rain is done?
Will I ever smell a fresh orange, as it’s picked off the tree?
            No my friend, not ever again.
Will I feel your warm hand, as we stroll in the park?
Will I feel your heart beat, as you hold me in the dark?
Will I feel the earth vibrate, as the buildings start to rumble?
Will I feel the terror, as we start to run and stumble?
            No my friend, never again.
You have served your country now, there is blood on your brow;
Your hands are stilled forever, your eyes are towards heaven, your ears no longer hear.
As you lie there torn and battered, your body parts all scattered
Your family is grieving, your heart you are leaving.
You found peace at last, from the terror in the sky,
Never again to see, feel, hear, or touch,
All you ever loved so much!
            No my friend, not, not ever again…..!!!

By Susan Lee

The Queens families of Sept. 11 victims and their neighbors joined together at LaGuardia Community College on Aug. 29 to add their voices and their imaginations to the planning of the future of the 16-acre site that used to be home to the World Trade Center.

Officials from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey listened as some families suggested cultural amenities like a museum be included, and others said that the site should be left as a cemetery. 

Many victims’ families that attended expressed anger at the LMDC and the PA for giving precedence to plans that have commercial and retail space and less consideration for their visions.

Patrick L. Cartier Sr. of Jackson Heights, who lost his son James in Tower 2, had harsh words for past proposals, saying that the greed of business owners had enveloped the planning of the site. “This has just become all about money, that’s all it’s become,” he said. 

Maureen Santora, mother of 23-year old firefighter Christopher Santora, agreed that the families have not been included much in past planning, but she felt the Long Island City meeting was a step in the right direction. Santora also noted that it was only this week that she received a letter from Mayor Bloomberg inviting her to memorial services and expressing his condolences.

“[Bloomberg] has not given families advanced notifications . . . We are not being dismissed and not really being considered an important element.”    

 Andrew Winters of the LMDC assured that public involvement would be key in the request for proposals this time around. At the Queens meeting, the LMDC presented very broad plans for a memorial that would include the footprints that were found at Ground Zero, a change of the street grid, a connector over West Street, parks and recreation, commercial office space, and retail space.

LMDC’s plan is to expand the design efforts and draw input from the design community.  Up to five teams are going to be selected for design plans by LMDC on Sept. 30 and final drawings and plans have to be submitted by Nov. 30.

By Susan Lee

One Saturday morning some time after Sept. 11, producer Joseph Gabriele walked south from the zoo at Central Park to Lower Manhattan and embarked on a quest to find New Yorkers that could capture the spirit of the City in song.

He then put in calls to various outlets seeking out talents that “spoke to the feelings” he had at the time. The talents Gabriele unearthed became a 14-track CD spanning dozens of New York voices called “Voices of New York: An Odyssey, Volume I: Rising,”  which features everyday New Yorkers from the Upper West Side postman to the security guard at Radio City Music Hall singing renditions of popular songs — among them a key Queens voice, firefighter Ken Voisin. 

A native of Glendale and once a professional performer before he joined the ranks of the FDNY in 1989, 41-year old Voisin sang three songs, two of which his wife, Patty, and five children participated in.  One particular Gershwin rendition of “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” directly pays tribute to his “brothers” and speaks of the camaraderie shared by  firefighters in the house, he said.   

“It was an overwhelming situation, but you contribute,” said Voisin of Sept. 11 and the recovery efforts at Ground Zero, attributing the power of prayer and his family in helping him to cope with the tragedy.  “Life is full of change…that’s the nature of the job,” he continued. Even now, Voisin said he is involved in that change, after he voluntarily relocated 11 months ago from a Glendale fire house minutes from his home to Engine 23 near Columbus Circle in Manhattan, a fire house that lost many of its men. “You miss [firefighters], their experience and their friendship,” he said.

Describing his time recording as “a good experience” and a challenge that his whole family, and especially his wife, who is a Leader of Songs at Holy Child Church in Richmond Hill, really enjoyed. He said he was happy when Gabriele approached him with the idea. Gabriele, who picked and arranged the songs, said, “I had a conviction that people around us in New York are pretty extraordinary after what happened… I found sustenance and solace in people around me from my postman to the firefighters and from my community and I thought that from the community I could pull together something extraordinary.”

Powerful, according to Gabriele, is “Unforgettable,” which Patty and Ken perform together, and “Someone To Watch Over Me,” in which his five children perform.

Astoria’s-own Marina Fattore, a music teacher formerly at Cathedral High School in Manhattan, is also featured on the CD.  She performs Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” and “A Heart of New York.” Additionally, Audra Chambliss, wife of former New York Mets coach Chris Chambliss, sings “Take the A Train,” originally sung by Duke Ellington.  

These and other songs acclimate a city that is rising, according to Gabriele, and feature voices “whose humanity, passion, resilience, and capacity for self-expression reveal the remarkable community of New York City.”

In a separate endeavor, local musician Leigh Harrison of Rego Park will release her own CD commemorating the events. Trying to cope with the tragedy in some meaningful way, she said she turned to music.  She said, “As a native New Yorker, I was overwhelmed by the events of Sept. 11, and I wanted to do something to express my feelings after the terrorist attack in some way that transformed them from anguish to art.”

Upon hearing the explosions described as “hideous grey blooms,” Harrison said the result was the song “Grey Roses,” and will soon be an album with a similar title.   For more information on how to obtain a copy of the single or to find out the release date of the album, email songcrew@aol.com.

“Voices of New York” is available now at Barnes and Nobles nationwide, and can be purchased by calling (866) 800-VONY.  For more information or to listen to audio clips, visit www.voicesofnewyork.com.

By Shams Tarek

The clergy of Southeast Queens have always been an integral part of the community, but more so than ever since the events of Sept. 11, 2001 shook the City and the nation, and now they are urging their followers to continue life as they always did.

Executive Vice President of the Southeast Queens Clergy for Political Awareness Rev. Charles Norris said, “We’re still encouraging people to not be fearful.” Speaking before this week’s first anniversary memorial vigil, he added,  “People need to go about their daily responsibilities and not be afraid.  We can’t let that dastardly act keep us from going about our lives as usual.”

Churchgoers may already be heeding the call.  Norris noted that while attendance at churches he’s familiar with went up immediately after last year’s terrorist attack, it has since gone back down to average levels.

Norris also warned against hatred as a response to the attacks.

“We’ve been trying to encourage our people not to paint Muslims with a broad brush,” Norris said.  “That just isn’t the American way.  There are bad Baptists just as there are good Baptists.  There’s good and bad in all of the groups. This is the ideal time for us to come together as Americans.”

Rev. Henry Simmons, president of the Southeast Queens Clergy for Community Empowerment, had similar words.

“This is not a time for renewed feelings of hatred because of the acts of a precious, precious few,” Simmons said.  “This is a time to act on our responsibility to look to one another as one.”

Simmons added that Sept. 11 and its aftermath are not the first things on area churchgoers’ minds these days.

“Most people right now are worried about domestic issues,” he said on Sept. 10.  “They’re worried about the economy.  There is not as much worry about some massive terrorist attack.”

From Grace Alexander, Rochdale Village:

Like everyone else, I have been saddened by the World Trade Center tragedy. I, too, had to walk miles before I could get a bus. It took me seven hours to get home. But, I did.

I came home and I cried as I watched from my window the endless streams of smoke coming from where the Towers once stood.

The only thing I could say over and over again was, “all those people.” The sheer horror of it still brings tears to my eyes.

As a craft artist/designer, I wondered what I could do to express my feelings . . . I have worked in many mediums. This time I wanted to do something that let me touch those who lost their lives.

They were doing exactly what so many of us do. They went to work in an office setting. There should be no danger there. It is a place where the most serious thing that should happen is a paper cut.

Suddenly, a way to touch each and every victim of that tragic day occurred to me. I could write their names! The gentle act of forming each letter became a way of holding each person. Reciting each name became my quiet prayer.

It has taken about 75 hours to complete this art piece.

There are almost 3,000 names as listed in Newsday. This list has since been revised by officials. The piece is entitled “The Loved” and is made up of five 24” x 36” pieces of framed ink on parchment panels. They are accompanied by a mixed media collage on canvas measuring 12” x 36”.

This is my gift to the families of those precious children and our everyday heroes.

It is for the maintenance workers, security guards, electricians, plumbers, dishwashers, busboys, temps, receptionists, secretaries, file clerks, messengers, mailroom workers, and bookkeepers. It is for these and all of the other people who, just like me, after picking up their morning paper, coffee, and pastry, set down at their desks ready to seize the day.