With ad campaign, families seek more details to names



The memorial won't be finished until 2009.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Family members who are upset that details such as their loved ones' ages will be left off the Sept. 11 memorial created a television ad campaign in protest, and said Wednesday they could not support a private fundraising drive for the project.
The debate over how to list the names of the 2,979 people killed Sept. 11, 2001, and in the 1993 trade center bombing is the latest and most divisive issue surrounding the memorial. Other disputes in the past year have centered on its cost, a design that once had the names of the dead listed underground and whether to build on the spots at the base of the towers where many victims' remains were found.
Construction on the memorial only began last spring, and the project will not be complete until 2009.
Family members created a 60-second television ad that was to begin airing today on the NY1 cable channel. They said more ads may be launched later in other markets.
The ad mixes images of the fliers that families posted for missing loved ones after the attacks with words calling the latest proposal "a cold, random list of names."
"A memorial in name only is no memorial at all," read the commercial, which encourages opponents to sign a petition on a new family Web site.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who took over as chairman of the foundation building the memorial last fall, said Wednesday that the latest arrangement of names will not change.
"We've addressed the issue. As I said, you can't please everybody," Bloomberg said. "I think the naming issue is something that has been decided."
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.