ONLINE EDITION FRIDAY OCTOBER 12, 2001

Opinion

Our neighborhood in lower Manhattan used to be known as Battery Park City; nevertheless, since the Sept. 11 tragedy it's most commonly been referred to as "Ground Zero". On the nightly news, in the newspapers and magazines, and on radio programs nationwide, our little community has been renamed. "Ground Zero" is the term to describe the epicenter of a bomb blast. It should not be the label of a vibrant little community that boasts clean parks, beautiful views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the New York Harbor and the home to the Heisman Trophy.

Before I discuss some of the scenes and emotions that I am currently witnessing at "Ground Zero", AKA Battery Park City, I'd just like to extend a little bit more into "What's in a name?" to relate why this change of moniker is as striking to me as the military checkpoints we pass to enter our building every day.

I remember being embarrassed as a youth to admit when asked that I lived in a town called "Hicksville". It seems inane to swallow one's civic pride over a name, but I did it. Now I'm sensitive to it and I regret it, since Hicksville, Oyster Bay, Battery Park City - any name is better than "Ground Zero". Pride in our community is a lesson to be learned from this tragedy along with pride in our country.

Unfortunately now pride is an emotion sorely lacking in Battery Park City. Once a premier pioneer community in Manhattan, it is now in flux. As I walk around the streets of a confused and devastated community, I am witnessing a wide range of negative emotions: fear, sadness, bewilderment, anger, discomfort, denial. The song is correct both literally and figuratively, "The Bronx is up, and the Battery is down." Way down.

Many residents are leaving, unable to live in the shadow of the horrors that lie only a few blocks away. They are concerned about the air quality and their physical health. Since many of them were witnesses to the massacre, they are also taking flight out of concern for their mental wellbeing. Furthermore, the military camps which line the walk home from the Bowling Green subway station raise additional psychological concerns for many parents in the area. The soldiers have been friendly and reassuring, but military outposts are probably not what you want your kids to see on the way home from school.

Businesses down here are reopening slowly and taxi cabs have now returned to the vicinity. These are great signs in order to get back to life as usual. Nevertheless, the massive recovery mission at the World Trade Center effectively cuts off traffic from the West Side Highway so the community is more isolated than ever. Furthermore, the damage to the subway lines has forced BPC residents to seriously change commuting habits. People are having a difficult time both coming and going.

Tourists who used to visit Battery Park to take the ferry to Ellis Island are few in number now. The ones who do visit come to pay their respects to "Ground Zero". What they are also visiting, is a town, not unlike their own, and not unlike Hicksville, which is grappling with an identity crisis, both literally and figuratively.