Families reach deal with Mayor over 9/11 anniversary

Relatives of World Trade Centre victims upset by plans to move this year’s September 11 commemoration away from ground zero have agreed a deal with New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg, allowing them to mourn at the site where their loved ones perished.

Bloomberg said he met the families yesterday and agreed to their proposal that they be allowed to descend briefly into the seven-storey pit that was the trade centre’s foundation to pay their respects.

The city announced last month that the sixth anniversary ceremony could not be held at the 16-acre trade centre site, as it had been each year since the 2001 terror attacks, because the building work there made the area too dangerous.

But Bloomberg said yesterday that the families’ proposal passed muster with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the site.

“We will work with the Port Authority to allow family members to safely descend the ramp in a single-file stream that keeps moving into a limited area below grade to pay respects and to then ascend back to street level,” he said in a statement.