Plans emerge for 10th anniversary of 9/11 ceremony

Associated Press

NEW YORK

The ceremony at the World Trade Center site marking the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks will be a solemn but stately event that will include former President George W. Bush and a chance for victims’ families to view the names of loved ones etched into the memorial, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

President Barack Obama and Bloomberg will be joined by the leaders in charge during the 2001 attacks, including Bush, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former New York Gov. George Pataki. Current New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will also be there, he said.

Speaking on his weekly radio show Friday on WOR-AM, Bloomberg said the lawmakers will read short poems or quotes. No speeches will be given.

“This cannot be political,” he said. “So that’s why there’s a poem or a quote or something that each of the readers will read. No speeches whatsoever. That’s not an appropriate thing.”

The mayor also revealed a few more details for the ceremony on Sunday, Sept. 11. It will take place on the highway to the west of the site, and only relatives will be allowed inside the memorial to look for the names of their loved ones, etched into the railings at two huge waterfalls built in the footprint of the World Trade Center. The falls descend from street level down into a void.

The names of the nearly 3,000 victims — including those who died at the Pentagon and aboard United Flight 93 that went down in Shanksville, Pa., — will be read aloud for the first time.