By Patricia Alex, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) –
NEW YORK — Some families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, opposing a plan to have unidentified remains of victims incorporated in the museum at the site, are appealing a decision that denied them the names and contact numbers for other victims’ families.
The group had wanted to poll the families of all 2,749 of those who died during the attacks to see if they favored the plan by the City of New York and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum to place the remains 70 feet below ground at the site.
Nearly 10,000 body parts from victims that day remain at a trailer at the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office, said Bill Doyle, whose 25-year-old son, Joey, died in the attacks.
Doyle and others want the remains returned to the World Trade Center site, but in a location that is separate from the museum and above ground.
“Why can’t this be like the tomb of the unknowns? ” said Doyle, whose son’s remains were never identified. “Many are upset that the city and the memorial commission makes decisions without consulting the families.”
Doyle said an informal poll of 300 families found overwhelming opposition to the current plan for the remains.
“The belief is that many, if not most, of the 9/11 family members do not agree with the plan,” said New York lawyer Norman Siegel, who filed a lawsuit on behalf of 17 families asking the city to release the names of the other victim’s families. “This is another example of the (Bloomberg) administration and the museum making decisions without any meaningful consultation.”
The group had asked that those names be released to a retired judge who would then contact each of the families. However the court held that release of the names and addresses was private, Siegel said. An appeal of that decision is expected to be heard this fall, he said.
Remains were not recovered for about 1,100 victims, and many of their families are hesitant about the site in the museum being the place to finally memorialize their loved ones, Doyle and Siegel said. Family members have noted that they don’t want to go to a museum and navigate crowds of tourists and a gift shop to visit the remains.
Doyle said the memorial, which has attracted tourists from around the world, is not always the most reverent place. “The site is not being managed well,” he said. “There are people sitting on the names, bringing coffee in.”
“The museum is a commercial venture,” Siegel said. “I don’t think the city and the museum people understand the depths of feelings of the 9/11 families.”
