By Suzanne Ma
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
GREENWICH VILLAGE — If moving the 9/11 terror trials from lower Manhattan to Governors Island isn't feasible, local officials have four other options in mind — none of them in Manhattan.
There's the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, a federal courthouse in White Plains, Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh and a federal institution in Otisville, all upstate. Community Board 1 passed a resolution Tuesday night asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to consider holding the trials of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other terror suspects in one of these locations.
The resolution also asks Holder to meet with CB1 chair Julie Menin to discuss the issue.
The federal government "looked at federal courthouses but clearly they could look at military installations and still have a federal civilian trial," Menin said Tuesday.
She echoed a request that Holder conduct a feasbility study to examine the impact the trials will have on lower Manhattan.
"I think there's a very strong case for Governors Island," Menin said. But "in light of City Hall's view on Governors Island, I want us to offer a pragmatic solution."
Last week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the suggestion of moving the trials to Governors Island "one of the dumber ideas" he's ever heard.
Local politicians and Chinatown residents were quick to criticize the mayor, calling his comments "callous" and "insensitive." On Tuesday night, Chinatown residents showed up in force to show their support for CB1's newest resolution.
The trials, which are expected to last several years, will lock down parts of Chinatown and lower Manhattan and cut the neighborhood into security zones bordered by metal barriers and armed guards.
The tightest security zone would heavily restrict pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the heart of Chinatown, where residents say the trials will destroy local businesses and wreak havoc on their day-to-day lives.
TriBeCa parents also spoke out at the meeting. Many worried that the controversial zoning of four Lower Manhattan elementary schools will move students to schools within the NYPD security zones.
"My children from East Tribeca will be walking by the terror trials, including military convoys and snipers," said one parent. "Has anyone thought about the psychology safety to children being put in such a position? Does anyone think about a small child walking by guns on a daily basis?"
