[img]2742|right|Fire Chief White||no_popup[/img]On a ravishingly beautiful 9-11 morning in Downtown, on the sunny grounds of Fire Station No. 1, new Fire Chief Dave White pondered the question just ahead of the brief, speech-free commemoration ceremony that started at 6:55:
Thirteen years later, do people care as much about 9-11 as they should?
“I think they do,” Mr. White said.
“I can’t generalize about everybody. But it’s certainly true in the circle I travel in.”
Has 9-11 changed the thinking of you and your friends?
“Before Sept. 11, unlike in many countries, a terrorist attack was not on our radar. Living with that probability, there was an awareness that probability exists. It was almost an inevitability.”
Before 9-11, did you think there would be a terrorist attack?
“For a lot of people in the public safety community, because of the World Trade Center attack in 1993, it was on the radar of some. But it seemed like an anomaly, not a probable happening. And the scope of what happened on Sept. 11, the coordination and scope were shocking,” Mr. White said.
The city departed from its tradition of memorializing 9-11 in the Courtyard of City Hall and set ceremonies instead at each of the three firehouses to be more accessible to community members.
Chief White, why do you think 9-11 still is important to ordinary people?
“We get comments and inquiries about what kind of service we will have today. I know the interest is out there. I would venture to say that for the majority of people it is a significant event. They remember the day when it rolls around each year.”
Can/should law enforcement raise the profile of 9-11?
[img]2705|right|Police Chief Bixby||no_popup[/img]“Tough question,” Mr. Bixby said. “We should just do the best we can in the most professional way we can. That would be a tribute to the officers and firefighters who died that day. That is the best way to honor them.”
Retiree Bill Gallagher, who formerly worked in security, was the first person to arrive at Fire Station 1 this morning, sharply at 6:34.
“I am here to honor the fallen, the people who gave their lives on 9-11,” Mr. Gallagher said.
Shocked when the bombings struck, he said he hopes the feeling of shock never leaves him.
Equally new Police Chief Scott Bixby said “Frankly no, I don’t think” 9-11 is as important to Americans today as it was 13 Septembers ago.
“The new generation coming up doesn’t have any recollection of it like most of us. Just like the Kennedy assassination. Everybody knows where they were.
“It is important,” Mr. Bixby said, “that we do make sure that the generations coming up remember and understand the significance of the event.
