By Emily Ngo New York Newsday
Recovered after the 9/11 attacks, these structural steel “tridents” rose from the base of the original World Trade Center. They are now at the entrance of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. (Credit: Craig Ruttle)
A memorial roll call of the nearly 3,000 9/11 terror attack victims will again be the focus of the anniversary at Ground Zero, organizers said yesterday of preparations for next month’s commemoration.
The 13th anniversary event is intended to be “exclusively” for victims’ family members. As in years past, six moments of silence will be observed to mark when the World Trade Center towers were struck and collapsed, when the Pentagon was attacked and when Flight 93 crashed, National September 11 Memorial and Museum spokesman Anthony Guido said.
The annual “tribute in light” — two columns of light projected into the sky representing the Twin Towers — will take place at sundown on September 11 and stay lit into the next day, Guido said.
This year’s anniversary is the first since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office, the first since the 9/11 museum opened and the first since the National September 11 Memorial became accessible to the public without tickets.
It will likely be the last before the 104-story One World Trade Center tower at Ground Zero is open. A Port Authority spokeswoman said the tower is scheduled to open by the end of the year but she could not confirm a specific date or month.
Other ceremonial aspects the city has come to associate with the somber marking of the anniversary will also take place, with additional details yet to be ironed out, organizers said.
A spokeswoman for de Blasio said he will attend the reading of the names, which in past years has lasted about four hours. Ceremony organizers did not name the other elected officials attending.
The first moment of silence is to be marked at 8:46 a.m., and houses of worship are encouraged to toll their bells at the time, organizers said.
