Steel Beam Returns To Ground Zero
WCBS-TV 8/24/09
It
became a makeshift memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11
attacks. Now a massive steel column has been returned to ground
zero as a symbol of rebirth.
After more than seven years in storage at a hangar at Kennedy
International Airport, the 58-ton, 36-foot-tall beam was
delivered before dawn Monday to the World Trade Center site.
Column No. 1,0001 B of 2 World Trade Center, as it's officially
known, will become part of the planned National Sept. 11
Memorial & Museum, according to the Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey, which owns the site.
Dubbed the "Last Column," it became the final standing steel
column removed from ground zero, and a steel canvas for tributes
from recovery workers and victims' families.
It was adorned with firehouse patches, police logos and union
stickers, and spray-painted with the shorthand messages "PAPD
37," "NYPD 23," and "FDNY 343" in honor of Port Authority and
city police officers and firefighters who died in the 2001
attacks.
It was cut down, wrapped in black muslin and an American flag,
and taken out as part of a ceremony marking the end of recovery
efforts on May 30, 2002.
Construction at Ground Zero has been plagued with delays,
prompting Governor David Paterson last week to give World Trade
Center site developer Larry Silverstein an ultimatum in
prolonged talks over his ground zero lease.
The governor said rebuilding could go ahead without Silverstein
if necessary.
But the governor says he has told the Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey to draw up new plans so the Sept. 11 memorial and
other public projects can be finished without Silverstein. The
Port Authority owns the site.
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