Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

9/11 Museum Worth More Than a Movie, Bloomberg Says

By Julie Shapiro | June 17, 2011 10:12am | Updated on June 17, 2011 10:11am

By Julie Shapiro and Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Staff

LOWER MANHATTAN — New Yorkers who already pay $12 to see a movie shouldn't mind paying twice that to visit the 9/11 museum when it opens next year, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday.

"Given people pay 12, 15 bucks to go to the movies in a lot of parts of the city, if you have a nominal charge that helps pay the bills, I certainly have no objections to that," he said.

Bloomberg, who is chairman of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum's board, was responding to an announcement on Thursday that the museum may charge up to $25 admission. The museum has not yet set a fee or decided whether it will be a suggested donation or a requirement for entry.

"Well, the money’s got to come from some place," Bloomberg said during his weekly radio interview with WOR's John Gambling Friday morning.

Bloomberg added that the foundation has raised close to $400 million privately to fund the construction of the 9/11 memorial, set to open in September, and the museum which will open next year.

"People that gave all that money, I think you can certainly say maybe they should be able to get in for nothing,” Bloomberg said. “And maybe [you] can make the case for family members. It’s, you know, just a compassion kind of thing, has nothing to do with what they can afford to pay.”

Joe Daniels, president of the 9/11 museum foundation, said Thursday that 9/11 family members would never have to pay admission to the museum.