The impact of the attack on the World Trade Center is still felt 15 years later in Queens, where streets have been named for people who died that day and families gather quietly to remember the loved ones who perished. The shock wave that shattered Queens after two planes hit the Twin Towers ripples through our neighborhoods again on every anniversary as a reminder of the more than 200 firefighters, police officers and workers from Queens we lost when the buildings collapsed.
Fifteen years later more names have been added to the list: the first responders who worked on the pile at the World Trade Center searching for remains of the victims without knowing that the dust could be lethal. The Zadroga Act finally passed in Congress this year, extending by 75 years the health benefits and compensation due to those who have developed cancer and other illnesses from their rescue work at the site.
As Sept. 11 approaches, Queens prepares for a number of observances that have become a tradition in the borough as a way for communities to honor their heroes and tend those left behind. These now familiar rituals help all of us mark the darkest day for the borough and mend.
Friday, Sept. 9
Flushing
State Sen. Tony Avella places wreaths for fallen 9/11 heroes,Iraq War heroes at over 25 sites
Start: 8: 30 a.m., 9/11 Memorial Park
154th St. and 26th Ave.
Maspeth
11 a.m.
9/11 memorial service
Maspeth Memorial Park
8:30 a.m., 9th St and Grand Ave.
Astoria
2 p.m.
Street co-naming, New York State Court Office Lt. Theodore Leoutsakos, Corner of 29th St. and 21st Ave.
SATURDAY, Sept. 10
Glendale
3 p.m.
Day of Remembrance
9/11 Memorial Garden
Dry Harbor Playground, Myrtle Ave. and 80th St.
Woodside
5 p.m.
9/11 – Patriot Day candlelight gathering
Doughboy Park Patriots
Corner 56th St. and Woodside Ave.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 11
Flushing
11:30 a.m.
Memorial Service and flag placement
Free Synagogue of Flushing Religious School
136-23 Stanford Ave., Flushing
Ozone Park
1:30 p.m.
9/11 Motorcycle Run in memory of Richard Allen Pearlman
Resort World Casino
110-00 Rockaway Blvd., Ozone Park
Forest Hills Volunteer Ambulance Corps
College Point
1:30 p.m.
Memorial Concert
Poppenhusen Institute
114-4 14th Road
GLEN OAKS
2 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Sept. 11 Memorial Community Gathering
Tribute Triangle Park
75th Ave. and Little Neck Parkway
Ridgewood
4 p.m.
Memorial Concert
St. Matthias Church
58-15 Catalpa Ave.
Middle Village
7 p.m.
Juniper Park Civic Association Candelight Vigil ballfields -78th and Juniper Blvd. South
Bayside Hills
7 p.m.
Bayside Hills Civic Association
Memorial Garden
Horace Harding Expressway, Bell Blvd.
