After 13 years, the 9/11 Museum will finally open today beginning with a dedication ceremony to be attended by President Obama and the First Lady, Mayor Bill De Blasio, former mayors Rudy Guiliani and Michael Bloomberg, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Gov. Chris Christie, and the Clintons.
From NBC News:
The exhibitions include tens of thousands of photographs, testimonials, audio and video recordings that tell the story of 9/11 and the days that followed through the experiences of survivors, responders, area residents and eyewitnesses. “It is a museum about people and about stories,” said museum director Alice Greenwald. “You can hear from the people who were there, when they were there.”
Some object to the $24 admission price for the public, including 9/11 families who have said it makes the museum a “revenue-generating tourist attraction.” (Victims’ families and several other categories of visitors are allowed to see the exhibit for free.)
Revenue generated by the museum, which has a projected $60 million annual operating budget, allows the Memorial fountains and plaza to remain free and open to the public, museum officials have said. Meanwhile, the museum, a private, not-for-profit institution, is still fighting for federal funding. Efforts to secure federal funding for the 9/11 museum have been blocked in Congress.
The museum directors had hoped to open three years ago, for the 10th anniversary of the attacks, but the project has endured funding disputes, building delays and even a flood caused by Superstorm Sandy. When asked what the most contentious issue has been, museum director Greenwald answered, “Everything.”
Watch below as Patricia Reilly visits the exhibition which includes memorabilia of her sister Lorraine Lee, a 37-year-old administrative assistant, who was working on the 101st floor of the World Trade Center’s South Tower when it was attacked.
