UNION SQUARE — New Yorkers strolling down Fifth Avenue near Union Square on Friday morning were greeted with an odd sight: red plastic cups filled with pieces of chalk and notes encouraging people to scrawl their thoughts about 9/11 on the pavement.
The cups were spaced evenly along the sidewalk, beginning at 14th Street and heading north 1,368 feet, the height of the taller of the Twin Towers. Each cup and posted note represented one of 110 floors.
Illegal Art, a group of artists who have collaborated on public art pieces for the past 10 years, took credit for the project, which took place just two days before the 10th anniversary of the attacks. The end result was a smattering of sad, philosophical and hopeful statements written along Fifth Avenue.
“Fear is not an answer. Paranoia no substitute for hope,” one phrase read.
“Once you act out of fear and hate, terrorism has won out,” read another.
“Lost friend,” read one near what would be the tower’s 21st floor.
“Glad you got out Danny,” read yet another, in a spot just a few “floors” down.
By early afternoon, many of the chalk pieces had been crushed under foot and some of the phrases blurred from too much pedestrian traffic. But many still stood out, and people continued to stoop down, grab a piece of chalk and write.
“A girl just finished writing ‘We miss you,’” said Ivonne Castro, who was standing along the sidewalk with several coworkers reading some of the phrases.
Castro was working downtown at 80 Pine St. on Sept. 11, 2001.
“I saw those buildings come down,” she said. “I walked [home] to The Bronx.”
Ten years later, Castro is 44, a number she was reluctant to reveal.
“I’m happy I got to see it,” she said. “I’m sure a lot of young people perished that day."
A few people used the chalk to scribble obscenities or write things like “Dylan is cool,” but most took the project as an opportunity to say something profound before the anniversary on Sunday.
As Linda Cardona walked along Fifth Avenue on Friday afternoon, she stopped and grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote “always in our hearts.”
“[The chalk memorial] is something that will keep us focused and remind us that we’re New Yorkers, and we’re here and we’ll survive,” said Cardona, who is in her late 50s.
Ten years ago, Cardona was on her way to work near Sixth Avenue and 27th Street, she said. She still remembers the smell and the taste of the smoke billowing out of the towers.
“I will never forget that because it was very sad and scary at the same time,” she recalled. “After a while, you were seeing the fire trucks weren’t red anymore. They were white. They were all white.”
At one point that day, Cardona said she rubbed her hand across a debris-coated fire truck and saved the dust that came off. She keeps that sampling in a frame in her home.
“Just talking about it makes me feels so sad,” she said.
Despite the traumatic events 10 years ago, Cardona said she wasn’t concerned about the new terror threat that has emerged in advance of the anniversary.
“New York has the greatest police force and police department in the world,” Cardona said.
“I will always be a New Yorker,” she added. “I will never leave New York.”
