On 9/11, 2001 I was Director of Priority Capital Programs, responsible for program management and implementation of AirTrain JFK, AirTrain Newark and the Goethals Bridge Replacement. Our main office was in One WTC.
On that morning, when the first plane hit Tower 1, I was still at home. I had a scheduled meeting with NJ Transit regarding AirTrain Newark for later that morning, so I had planned to go directly to that meeting rather than commuting to my WTC office and then back- track to Newark. I often wonder about my good fortune that day.
My son, who was driving to work that morning, called me from his location on the NJ Turnpike to tell me he saw smoke pouring out of Tower 1. I immediately turned on the TV, learning that a plane had hit the Tower, and realizing its location and fire intensity, I tried to contact my office to direct staff to immediately vacate the Tower. Having lived through the experience of vacating the smoke-filled Tower after the previous bombing, I knew the risks. As I was watching TV, I saw the second plane plow into the South Tower and knew immediately that this was a far more destructive terrorist attack. Then in shock and horror, as I continued to watch, I saw the South Tower collapse followed a little later by the North Tower.
I spent the rest of the day trying to reach my staff on cells and pagers but with no success. Luckily, all my staff had evacuated safely.
The next day we convened at JSTC and, in the following days, at the Tech Center. Our immediate assignment was to try and find personal/home contact info for missing PA staff and compile lists of the safe and missing. Much of these first days are somewhat of a blur for me as we were all still in disbelief and shock, but I do recall standing on the JSTC roof that following day viewing smoke rising from the burning and smoldering Site and then visiting the Site two days later. Lower Manhattan looked like the aftermath of a limited nuclear attack.
Once the task of compiling the employee lists was essentially as complete as it was going to be at that time, I decided to gather the now unassigned and idle staff from various departments, but primarily from World Trade, to form a core WTC Recovery Group. Our first efforts involved finding office facilities in Lower Manhattan, and working with various other departments, and with City, State, Federal and private transportation entities to coordinate returning temporary public transit to Lower Manhattan, starting with ferries and buses. Subsequently we also assumed management of the Site once NYC had completed its Recovery efforts. This Priority Capital Programs core staff, soon augmented by additional staff and by a dedicated group from the Engineering Dept., went on to plan and implement the return of PATH to Lower Manhattan with restoration of the flooded PATH tunnels and a temporary WTC station.
We also led the PA’s efforts to plan the permanent Lower Manhattan transportation restoration and improvements with State, City and Federal transportation agencies, and to work with the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to coordinate with the many interested parties and stakeholders to develop and evaluate the many alternative plans for the memorial and for redevelopment of the Site. These also included the Families who lost loved ones, the Downtown business and residential community, Silverstein Properties, the two Governor’s and NYC Mayor’s Offices, and the planning and design consultants. It was at times a very painful and difficult process, with many close calls and false starts, before we could reach agreement with all the stakeholders on the WTC Redevelopment Master Plan, including the Permanent PATH Station, the Memorial, the Office Towers and the other Site and transportation improvements.
I had the honor to work with a totally dedicated PA team, not only in Priority Capital Programs and Engineering, but in all involved departments and with two Executive Directors and several Commissioners, during this entire Recovery and Redevelopment effort, until my retirement in January 2006.
I also recall the many Memorial services I attended in months following 9/11 for PA staff who perished on 9/11. Many were my coworkers and friends, who I will never forget.
