Leftist Strategy: Cost for "learning about our enemy" likely to deter many

01.25.2014

9/11 Museum entry fee raises questions


First came the 9/11 attacks and the price in lives lost. Now comes the price tag to remember them and the dilemma of finding a peaceful way to resolve the sticker shock.

JIN LEE

Visitors to the 9/11 Museum will be confronted by scenes of destruction — and a $24 admission price.

The announcement by the 9/11 Museum to charge a $24-per-person admission fee was greeted on Friday by the equivalent of a loud and mournful groan.

But, despite criticism that the price was too high, no major political figure on either side of the Hudson River stepped forward to try to block it — or even resolve the nettlesome quandary over museum finances, which has simmered for years beneath attempts to preserve the legacy of the 9/11 attacks.

If anything, the official confirmation of the long-rumored ticket price — and the prospect that a family of four would have to plunk down almost $100 to enter the museum — was more ammunition for the continuing battle for control over Ground Zero and how to memorialize the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

That conflict, which has divided victims’ families and museum organizers for several years amid a vicious war of words, now seems certain to continue as the museum prepares to open its doors this spring.

Indeed, on Friday, supporters and critics of the museum were openly sniping at each other.

A coalition of victims’ relatives and first responders that includes former Waldwick Deputy Fire Chief Glenn Corbett issued a statement calling the $24 price a “disgrace” that would fund “a revenue-generating tourist attraction” with a “bloated” budget.

“The rich will visit the museum, but the poor and middle-class families won’t be able to afford it,” said the group, which calls itself 9/11 Parents and Families of Firefighters and WTC Victims.

A museum spokesman, Michael Frazier, dismissed the group’s comments, saying the museum would continue its efforts to gain federal funding to offset an estimated $63 million annual operating budget. And Charles Wolf, who lost his wife in the collapse of the trade center’s Twin Towers and has often been an outspoken supporter of the museum, declared he was “100 percent in favor” of the $24 fee.

“I want this museum to be on a firm financial footing,” Wolf said, labeling the critics as just “one small group.”

“At this point, there is no federal help whatsoever,” Wolf said. “I don’t want this thing to open and run into financial trouble.”

Governor Christie’s office did not respond to email and telephone requests for comment. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also remained mum.

“They don’t want to deal with it,” said Sally Regenhard of Yonkers, whose son, a probationary New York City firefighter, was killed on 9/11. She has become a leading critic of the museum, calling it a “no-man’s land for politicians.”

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, who joined her colleague, Sen. Charles Schumer, also a Democrat, in co-sponsoring a failed attempt to push through federal funding for the museum, declined to comment specifically about the $24 fee.

But in a statement issued by her office, Gillibrand said, “Nobody should be denied the opportunity to visit this sacred ground to honor and reflect upon the heroes we lost because they can’t afford it.” She declined to say how someone who can’t afford the $24 price would gain admission to the museum.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference on Friday that he supported efforts to gain federal funding for the museum and the adjoining memorial park.

“I don’t think we’re getting what we deserve,” de Blasio said. “If we can get that federal help in, we’ll get that admission down as much as possible.”

De Blasio stopped short, however, of criticizing the museum and its ticket price — or suggesting how the price could be lowered.

“I’d like to see them do better, but to be fair to the museum, they could do a lot better if the federal government would hold up its end of the equation,” said de Blasio, who also declined to speculate on what a fair admission price might be or whether New York City should contribute funds to offset costs.

“I don’t want to conjecture the specifics of the admission structure,” de Blasio said. “I’d like to hear from the museum what they think is right if they had the resources.”

Meanwhile, the National Park Service, which oversees a number of important memorials, including the Gettysburg Battlefield, also declined to enter the debate. Jane Ahern, a park service spokeswoman, said her agency would have no comment until such time when it might be formally ordered to take over the running of the 9/11 Museum and memorial park. She said such an order would require congressional approval.

“Our only time to comment would be if Congress put forth a bill for the National Park Service to step in,” Ahern said. “That’s when it becomes our place.”

What seems to be evolving is that the 9/11 Museum, while clearly a national landmark, will continue to be run by a non-profit foundation until politicians figure out whether the government should play a role in its administration.

But the ticket price announcement re-focused attention on the operation of that foundation — in particular the fact that its president, Joseph Daniels, and its director, Alice Greenwald, are each paid more than $354,000 in salaries and benefits.

In addition, another 10 top foundation staffers each receive salary-benefits packages valued from $185,364 to $291,096, according to the 2012 financial figures posted on the museum’s website. The figures are the most recent to be made public by the museum.

Museum officials took great pains on Friday to say that victims’ families would receive free admission and that the general public could enter free of charge from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays.

Frazier, the museum spokesman, said “there’s a system that is being developed” to allow free admission for first responders and recovery workers who participated in the nine-month cleanup of Ground Zero. But he declined to say what that system would be.

On Friday, the museum scheduled a special preview of “never before seen exhibition images.” It also released several studies showing that the museum had incurred some unusual costs, including a $10 million annual bill for security and another $7.5 million to pay for utilities in its cavernous space beneath the 9/11 memorial plaza.

But the release of the images and details of the museum’s costs did little to stifle the debate over the ticket price — or the unsettling feeling about the ongoing conflict among victims’ relatives like Thomas Acquaviva of Wayne.

Acquaviva, who lost his 29-year-old son, Paul, at the trade center, said he supports the museum in general. But when asked about the ticket price, he said: “I think it should be free.”

He paused, then added one more sentiment: “The federal government should pitch in.”



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