taking on the politicizing of a tragedy

On the eve of the ten year anniversary, NYC is in complete tribute mode even while there was a 'credible terrorist threat' warning yesterday.    I'm not anti 9/11 by any stretch but I am very much against how politicized the entire day has become.  Everything that this city has done since 9/12/11 has been done to make sure the elected officials have a platform, Silverstein got his money and the construction companies have work.    It's never really been about the victims or their families, it's never been about the first responders who were the real heroes of that day, it's never been about making sure the people who went into that hell-hole breathing those fumes after they were promised it wasn't fatal.   It's never been about the ordinary people who saw their lives change for ever.. it's always been about giving a platform for those who least need it.

I'm not saying that this is a GOP vs. Liberal issue as much as it's just another example of every politician in the country trying to prove their patriotism.     On Sunday morning there will be a ceremony and the guest list includes senators, congressmen, elected officials, past and present mayors, governors, state assembly men and women, commissioners and other elected people, sadly it will probably be thin on actual people.    If Mike Bloomberg had any guts he would have banned every person with any political motive –including himself- from the site and leave that day and that ceremony for the families of the nearly 3000 people who perished that horrific day.   

What the families of the victims have after 10 years is downright criminal.  I've driven past Ground Zero every single week for the last two years and I get a pit in my stomach every single time I drive by it and sadly it has less to do with the events on that clear Tuesday morning as I walked through Times Square and more to do with the fact that after 10 years it is still a gigantic open pit.     I know they threw together a small park but as anybody who has walked past you will tell you, there is no serenity or rest there.   It's a couple of trees set in the middle of a billion dollar construction site surrounded by foul mouthed construction workers, wall-street guys on a smoke break and tourists snapping pictures like they are cruising down the Walk of Fame.  After 10 years there has been nothing these politicians have done but stonewalled every sensible decision that could have been made.