What did Metropolis Corridor learn about post-9/11 air high quality, when did they realize it, and why didn’t they inform the general public?
The Metropolis Council management is demanding solutions to that important query almost 25 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist assaults destroyed the World Commerce Heart, killed greater than 2,800 folks, and left lots of of firefighters and different restoration staff uncovered to toxins that might later take their lives.
Metropolis Council Member and former Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) and Metropolis Council Speaker Julie Menin (D-Manhattan) on Thursday stood with different advocates for 9/11 survivors on the steps of Metropolis Corridor on Thursday demanding a Division of Investigation (DOI) inquiry into post-9/11 air high quality data whereas additionally urging the Mamdani administration to take fast motion towards transparency.
The demand comes after attorneys unearthed a memo this week revealing that the town had been getting ready for lawsuits associated to air high quality results within the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist assaults. The memo, obtained by New York News, was uncovered by attorneys who’ve lengthy been pushing the town to launch paperwork associated to post-9/11 air high quality, a few of whom have been at Thursday’s press convention, the place Brewer and Menin made their calls for.
“It’s shameful, shameful, that the city hid this information, refused to disclose this information,” mentioned Menin, who lived close to Floor Zero when the assaults happened and performed an instrumental function in serving to Decrease Manhattan rebuild within the years after. “It is unconscionable that the City of New York did not take responsibility for basically lying to not only first responders but to the whole downtown community.”
Why so many 9/11 firefighters, restoration staff turned unwell
A gaggle of firefighters search the stays of the destroyed World Commerce Heart in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. Greater than 400 firefighters have died of 9/11-related diseases almost 25 years after the assaults.REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
The impacts of two hijacked airliners — American Airways Flight 11 and United Airways Flight 175 — into the World Commerce Heart’s 110-story twin towers set off fires that precipitated the collapse of each buildings inside 102 minutes on Sept. 11, 2001. The collapses despatched plumes of mud full of asbestos, pulverized concrete and sheet rock, heavy metals, and different toxins into the air, masking Decrease Manhattan and filling the lungs of rescue staff and others close to the positioning that turned referred to as Floor Zero.
Subterranean fires below the rubble of the Twin Towers burned for weeks as firefighters, cops, iron staff, volunteers and different rescue staff dug by and cleared away particles searching for lacking victims. Investigators later decided that the air high quality at Floor Zero was far worse than officers on the time claimed.
Within the years that adopted, lots of of people that labored at Floor Zero turned sick from most cancers and different diseases tied to their publicity to the toxins that have been within the air. In reality, extra firefighters have died from 9/11-related diseases (over 409 as of Sept. 11, 2025, in keeping with the Worldwide Affiliation of Firefighters) than within the precise 9/11 assault itself (343).
Andrew Ansboro, the president of the Uniformed Firefighters Affiliation, the union “representing the health, safety and interests of New York City Firefighters,” mentioned he hopes the town will carry transparency to firefighters and the general public.
“They lied to limit their liability, and then they hid the records. They made a conscious choice to hide it instead of enforcing [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] rules,” Ansboro mentioned on the press convention, accusing the town of not being “proactive” within the public well being disaster that adopted 9/11.
Metropolis Corridor handed the buck for years, pols say
“The importance of ethical oversight of city government has been front and center over the past few years,” Metropolis Council Member Gale Brewer mentioned, urging Mayor Mamdani to allot extra funding to DOI so it will probably full its inquiry, which was authorized by the Metropolis Council final 12 months.Emil Cohen/NYC Council Media Unit
Brewer spearheaded laws in 2024 that aimed to disclose how a lot the town knew about deadly toxins within the air following the assaults. The union representing FDNY firefighters has known as on the town to launch paperwork associated to post-9/11 air toxins.
The council handed that laws in July 2025, ordering a two-year DOI probe, however Brewer raised issues on Thursday that the division is under-resourced. Former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, and his predecessors, had refused to launch the paperwork, pushing the deadline into Zohran Mamdani’s time period.
“The importance of ethical oversight of city government has been front and center over the past few years,” Brewer mentioned, urging Mayor Mamdani to allot extra funding to DOI so it will probably full its inquiry, which was authorized by the Metropolis Council final 12 months.
Spokespeople for Mayor Mamdani didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. In earlier statements, spokespeople for Mayor Mamdani have mentioned the administration will have a look at the toxins data “more closely,” however didn’t decide to any official strikes towards transparency.
Bins of hidden secrets and techniques proper below metropolis’s noses
Andrew Ansboro, the president of the Uniformed Firefighters Affiliation, the union “representing the health, safety and interests of New York City Firefighters,” mentioned he hopes the town will carry transparency to firefighters and the general public.Emil Cohen/NYC Council Media Unit
Metropolis officers mentioned in November 2025 that 68 beforehand undisclosed containers had been found in a Division of Environmental Safety facility after Brewer and the Metropolis Council enlisted the DOI to probe the matter.
The unearthed memo, despatched to Deputy Mayor Robert Harding someday in late 2001, reads that “there are approximately 35,000 potential plaintiffs as a result of the events of Sept. 11 and it is estimate (sic) that 10,000 would file a claim.”
The memo listed potential claims towards the town, together with “health advisories causing individuals to return to the area too soon (causing toxic exposure).”
But, the town’s public stance on air toxins on the time was starkly totally different. Metropolis and federal authorities officers assured New Yorkers that the air at Floor Zero was secure to breathe within the aftermath of the assaults.
The memo additionally raises issues that “Rescue workers were provided with faulty equipment or no equipment (i.e., respirators).”
Jim Brosi, president of Uniformed Fireplace Officers Affiliation Native 854, the union that represents FDNY fireplace officers together with lieutenants, captains, and chiefs, mentioned on the press convention that the union “couldn’t be more grateful” for the strain from the electeds.
“[The memo] only revealed what we already knew, they were well aware of the toxins, they were well aware of the liability, and they were well aware of the impact it would have on us,” Brosi mentioned, noting that the FDNY members are nonetheless dying from most cancers associated to post-9/11 toxins.
He urged Mayor Mamdani to do “the right thing” and launch the paperwork which have lengthy been stored from the general public.
Tom Hart, president of Native 94 Working Engineers, which represents HVAC staff, seconded the calls for at Thursday’s press convention.
“The people that are getting sick need the proper answers,” Hart mentioned. “It’s time for our new mayor to step up and do what he needs to do to get the information out to the people who really need it.”
U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn) spoke in help of the investigation, hoping for “closure” for these impacted by 9/11-related air toxins.
“The idea that monetary and financial concerns would dictate the actions of the City of New York for 25 years is repulsive,” Goldman mentioned. “The victims, the survivors, deserve to know what they went through, what they endured, what air they breathed.”
Goldman known as on Mamdani to “do the right thing by the survivors and the victims, not by the financial coffers.”
