Wordsmith.org
Posted By: of troy Zeitgeist - 10/26/01 11:50 AM
I was asked in a PM if "things are getting back to normal" – and the poor person was flooded with information. I wanted to post this, but since it is so off topic (Words that is!) I am hiding it here..

the answer is No, and yes. well there is the irish in me coming out... you never get a straight answer !
No, things are not back to usual.. But yes there has evolved a new usual.

NYC is always difficult.. There are great things about the city, but there are always difficulties.. Now there are new difficulties, and some of them are trifling, and some are almost unspeakable.

Take the subway.. 3 subway lines, and path trains have been disrupted.. Stops are closed, and lines that were express, are now local, and service is different. And what is worse, the service changes all the time. So its not like you can just resign your self to local service only.. Some days, there are expresses.. But figuring out when and where and which train is running local, and which is an express, as is the express going to stop where you want it to? fugetaboutit!

The other thing is, for us, the attack is still "present tense". I have mentioned this at least once before..and if you don't live or work here, it might be hard to understand, but the fire is still burning.. And its over 6 weeks. And the anthrax cases? NJ postal workers and NY news reporter are heading the list for numbers of cases.

Another part of the new normal is the traffic. Parts of Broadway are still blocked, and the side streets too, but the side walks in a lot of places are blocked (more on that later) so you can't jaywalk.. Jaywalking to NY's is as natural as breathing! Not that you can breath easy these days.. the streets are washed 2 or 3 times a day.. So there are always puddles about.. But the recovery teams move things, and stir up dust and the heat from the smoldering fires raises the dust in the air, and it blows all over..

Its not just that the streets are closed–traffic is different.. There are these little trucks all over.. Golf cart/ mini tractor/ I don't know what to call the.. The kind of things you see in semi-rural areas.. NY had them for big parks.. But now they are on the street! Weird!

And sometimes, its almost festive.. Its like a giant convention. Wednesday, I stop at the local fire house.. (engine 1, ladder 7, thankfully, no one was lost from my firehouse) and there were fire fighter there from NY, and Phily, Seattle, and looking very lost, Texas forest rangers! There are firefighter from everywhere! And red cross people, and FEMA people, and cops, and so on, and so on.. And as bad I think the subway system is.. They find it fascinating!

other big change with the sidewalks – all over, there are chase ways.. Wooden chase ways, about 18 wide, (not quite 0.5 meters) and 6 or 7 inches high (oh, what 0.2
meters?) They are running electric power into the WTC area.. Since the electric substations were all destroyed. And there are these new cart all over.. Utility work carts, with telephones since telephone service still hasn't been restored to many, many areas. They offer free calls.- and amazingly, no one is abusing the service! (Local and long distance calls for free!)

for the more rural folks, some scales.. The WTC complex, just by its self, is 16 acres.. The no go zone keeps shrinking, but its still about 2 square miles.. (which is bigger than a lot of cites total down town area.. ) It is about the size of chicago's "loop" –

meanwhile, just out side the no go zone.. We are back to work. Back to our usual complaints about the subways, the traffic, the dirt. One of the interesing observations is, that for the most part, at the site, its hard to find a piece of concrete bigger than a "concrete block" – this from 200 floors of poured concrete. Pulverize is an understatement.

The final thing– just might be too much for some.. So its white.. Think about whether or not you want to read.

it still smells. the fires are still burning.. Jet fuel, and paper, carpet and wiring insulations. And bodies. Fewer than 10% (500 of over 5000) have been recovered. The bodies where pulverized; the smell, the fire, the smoke, the dust– all of it, is the is bodies of the victims.

Posted By: Faldage Gesundheit - 10/26/01 03:45 PM
Thanks for the report, Helen. I think for some of us for whom NYC is something of an unreality, the whole tragedy is a little unreal. Thanks for giving us a close up view. It helps us empathize with those for whom it is more real.

>Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitaenskajuetenklinenputzergehilfe

Well done Helen and what a good idea of Keiva's!

Oh dear - I thought it was long words in German!

Posted By: of troy Re: Zeitgeist - 10/30/01 08:33 PM
this is a huge-- and i do mean huge-- if you have an old, or slow system be wary, it might overload your system picture.. of WTC site --aerial view. the building i work in is in lower right hand corner.
http://kill-9.com/wtc-photo.jpg

it give you an idea of the damage, and how extensive it is..


Posted By: Anonymous Re: Zeitgeist - 10/30/01 10:11 PM
Goodness, that *is large. it was difficult for me to get a good perspective, but i have a fairly small screen.

in case anyone wants to see a scaled-down version, there's one here: http://www.geocities.com/oftroyaerial

Posted By: of troy Re: Zeitgeist - 10/31/01 01:12 AM
thanks gymhkana-- but if you can open the large image, please look at it.

some of the buildings look bright Orange that is constructions netting, the facades where damaged, and loose material was falling and injuring workers..

one advantage of the full size version, is there is so much detail. in the upper left hand quadrant, you'll see a building with domed top, (world Financial center building, and next to it, a pedestrian bridge. look at the road its crossing. (which is hard, it has so much debree.. it is an eight (8!) lane highway. that gives you some scale for the the mess.. an eight lane highway is lost in the photo..

In the upper left corner, is a boat basin..there is were all the concrete is being transported to, and then loaded on barges.

in lower left quadrent, there is a wedge shaped park, with two small building the southern one (south is to left, top= west, and it is Hudson/North River.) is city hall. just behind it, is old tammany court house.

there are AP photos, from the 11th, of people being enveloped in dust, labeled "city hall" and in the photos, you see the not the building but the park.

below city hall, at the edge of photo, there are is a mess of roads, the are the entrance and exit ramps to Brooklyn bridge. at this point, Manhattan Island is only about 1.5 to 1.8 miles wide, and you see about 90% of it.

the green patch to right (north side) of Bright Orange buildings, is St Pauls Chapel.. a pre-revolutionary war partially wooden building.. the green is the church yard/cemetary. Alexander Hammilton is buried it the yard. the fire cheif chaplin, lost at WTC, was also laid in the chapel till his body could be removed. several photos have shown fire fighters/ rescue workers sleeping on the pews in the chapel.

the green patch to south of Bright Orange buildings is Trinity church and grounds.

i hope this helps-- if you have an old map of NY, you'll be able to find some of these sites. (even very, very old maps will have trinity church and st pauls chapel!)


Posted By: of troy Re: Zeitgeist - 05/14/02 12:21 PM
this weeks New Yorker has a gallery of photos of the WTC.
the on-line photos are smaller, and not well labelled (the just have a date.. the text refers to the photos-- but not in a clear way..
the last photo is way to small, in the magazine it is a fold out, 3 page spread.. but still..
http://www.newyorker.com/online/covers/?20520onco_covers_gallery

© Wordsmith.org