By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN — Ten years after 9/11 tore the downtown community apart, residents hope to commemorate the anniversary by creating an enormous human chain ringing the neighborhood.
Called "Hands Across Lower Manhattan," the proposal by Community Board 1 Chairwoman Julie Menin calls for thousands of residents to join hands along lower Manhattan's waterfront on Sept. 10.
"It's a symbolic act to unify our community," Menin said Monday night. "This is a beautiful and very dignified way to commemorate the anniversary."
After the handholding event, Menin hopes to bring everyone together to plant a new tree somewhere in lower Manhattan.
CB1's newly formed 9/11 Commemorative Task Force supported Menin's proposal at a meeting Monday night. The next step is to look into the permits and logistics required to execute the event, Menin said.
Menin said she proposed Hands Across Lower Manhattan after hearing from many residents who wanted to honor the anniversary but were unsure how to do so. Menin hopes to create a gathering that will be both solemn and uplifting, focusing not just on the memories of those who were killed but also on lower Manhattan's booming recovery in the years that followed.
The Sept. 10 event would follow up to a week of volunteer activities downtown, from gardening in the neighborhood's green spaces to helping out at senior centers, Menin said.
Although residents were glad to hear Menin's suggestions Monday night, many board members are still upset that they are not allowed to host a commemoration ceremony at the new 9/11 memorial on the anniversary itself.
The city and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum decided that the official 9/11 commemoration will be only for the families of those who were killed in the attacks, just as it has been in past years.
Menin said she expects CB1 to pass a resolution later this month asking for residents to either be included in the main ceremony or to have their own ceremony later on Sept. 11 at the memorial.
