Governor Hochul: "I'm proud of New York. I'm proud of what occurred back 20 years ago. I'm also proud of what we're going to do next. As we take the lessons of that strength, that resiliency from that time, when people said it could not be done, I know we're going to come back after this pandemic, and we will come back even stronger than before, because we showed we did it 20 years ago."
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks at the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the formal end of recovery operations at Ground Zero.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of the event is available here.
PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning. My thanks goes out to Alice Greenwald and all the stewards, the keepers of the flame. To ensure that visitors and residents and all who see this site understand, not just the historic significance of it, but honor the lives lost and think of the lessons learned as we go forth. So to Alice Greenwald, I thank you and everyone involved.
We are represented by individuals in Congress who also have been champions for this. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Congressman Jerry Nadler. You'll be hearing from them briefly. I also want to recognize State Senator Brian Kavanagh, who's joined us here today. And John Feal, the Founder and President of FealGood Foundation, an extraordinary individual who has been championing this cause for literally two decades to make sure that the survivors and their families gets their due.
I thank NYPD, the FDNY, the Port Authority Police, who protect this land every day, and every single person that Alice mentioned. It's an extraordinary reminder, that as you go through the list of people who showed up unprompted, just showed up here to help restore and to heal, and to bring us back together, the common denominator for most is they were New Yorkers, because it's in our DNA. When we get knocked down, we fight back and we come back.
And we must never, ever forget that lesson. That is the story of this hallowed ground. At one time, this was a gaping hole. That hole has healed with this beautiful shrine, this place of solemnity. A place people can come. But that doesn't mean the hole in our hearts have healed. As you look upon the family members who cannot believe that 20 years have lapsed already, my God, that's almost a lifetime. And yet it has, and their fear may be, "Are we going to forget?" And as Alice said, we will never forget this. Never, ever forget this attack on U.S. soil, unprecedented in its scale.
But for many, the devastation, the loss occurred on that day, 9/11, but there's so many who know the bigger story. That for 260 days, people showed up here, exposed to toxins and contaminants. So the loss of life that occurred on that day, we did not know it then, but there would be an effect for every single year, as I speak at the firefighters and police officer's memorial in Albany. More names are added from 9/11, because people succumbed to the illnesses that they had no idea that they were exposed to, their families had no idea. They may have lived a long time with survivor guilt, but ultimately that day took them down as well. That is what we don't forget.
The brave people, the sanitation workers who showed up and had endured the unthinkable, what they saw. The private contractors, the city agencies, everybody who showed up and made sure that everything that was drawn from this site was honored in place in a hallowed ground at Fishkill. That's what we remember. That's what you remembered today. But I'm also going to remind us of that incredible resiliency. People said we could not come back, "Close it down. Lower Manhattan is dead now because of that day." But if that had happened, that would have meant the terrorists would have won.
And by our strength and determination to bring this city back, we demonstrated no, they did not win. We won and we'll continue to win the fight against terrorism, whether it's domestic or foreign terrorism. That is our message here today. Because this is New York. I'm proud of New York. I'm proud of what occurred back 20 years ago. I'm also proud of what we're going to do next. As we take the lessons of that strength, that resiliency from that time, when people said it could not be done, I know we're going to come back after this pandemic, and we will come back even stronger than before, because we showed we did it 20 years ago.
That is my faith in this city. That is my faith in the State of New York. And that is my faith in all New Yorkers. I leave here with a heart full of gratitude, a sense of awe, remembering those, yes, we lost. But those who survive with those memories who still come year after year to honor the lessons of that day. Thank you everyone.