First the horror, then the grief and anger. Then the need to see New York, like an old friend back from the brink, and make sure that she's gonna be all right. So that we can be all right.
Paradoxically, travel has never been more or less appealing. For those who remain homebound, the flight of the mind will soon find a landing in Chicago when a piece of New York sets down for a stay. For others, pictures can't replace the real. They need to be there, and see it, or to be near there, and choose not to.
In the meantime, we're processing the past few months. Wounds are becoming history; the crime scene is becoming a tourist memorial. The tackiness is back.
We're healing.

From the Lincoln Memorial to the Martin Luther King Civil Rights Monument, Pearl Harbor to Oklahoma City, memorials are a way of life for Americans.

In this context, the case of the Ground Zero Viewing Platform, though seemingly morbid, is par for the course, the major differences being distance and location. Four months later we've coped with the occurrences of September, but with the fallout still a daily fact of life, it's difficult to put everything into proper perspective. And, in any other city, it's entirely possible that a system of ticketed admission to view the site of a recent disaster simply wouldn't fly. But, if it were any other city in the country, the impact of said disaster probably would not have been so universal.

This reckoning between disaster site and memorial space has never been quite so public. In Oklahoma City, out-of-the-way locale that it is, one day we were looking at debris and two years later we were looking at an artistically designed monument. But in New York, where the media lives and people flock to visit, Ground Zero already looks a bit like Great America, with lines stretching out and signs letting everyone know that they're one hour from the site. It's New York's newest tourist attraction.

There's solid evidence that New York isn't ready to see it this way. At the New York City Convention and Visitor's Bureau, questions about the site are greeted with silence—the entire operation is being run by the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management. Arlene, a representative from the Visitor's Bureau, wouldn't answer Ground Zero questions, but does note that New York City tourism is "still down from last year."

With the type of ticketing system they're using at Ground Zero, it's certain that, though many residents are going, a large number of those flocking to the platform must be tourists. The ticket booth, which is run from the South Street Seaport Museum, is open from 11am-6pm daily. At 11am the booth begins giving out tickets for the same-day noon viewing slot; 250 tickets are handed out per half-hour viewing block. Wait times vary wildly. "Some people are here in the morning at like 9:30 and waiting for an hour and a half for the booth to open," our operator says. "Or, usually people come throughout the day after the booth is already open and wait for however long it might take."

"If you're one of the first 250 people standing in line and getting tickets, you'll get to go at noon. The next 250 people will go at 12:30. And so on... until the tickets run out for the day. At that time, they will start giving out tickets for the next morning, for the 9-11:30am slots," the operator says.

It's entirely possible that, for New Yorkers who have visitors coming into town, going to Ground Zero is like a visit to the Statue of Liberty (which remains closed)—a place they might not have gone but for the out-of-town influence. And how does the Ground Zero platform stack up to other New York tourist attractions?

The South Street Seaport Museum can hand out up to 6,000 tickets per day. Normally, the operator tells us, they give around 4,000 daily; weekends run out while weekdays are more flexible. If they hand out an average of 4,000 to 5,000 tickets each day—28,000-35,000 per week—and the platform stays up for a year, it will rank among New York's major attractions, luring somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 to 1.8 million people. In comparison, the Metropolitan Museum of Art pulls in 4.6 million per year, The Statue of Liberty 4.2 million, and the Empire State Building 3.5 million. Chances are slim, however, that the platform will remain up that long. "There isn't a specific end-time yet," our operator says. "It will at least extend throughout the summer."

The Ground Zero spectacle rubs a few New Yorkers the wrong way. Visitors to New York's Citysearch.com offer a number of commentaries on the situation.

"Hoards of tourists are flocking to this site of devastation and death," writes a native. "Many do not come to mourn. Pity those who live only a few blocks from this sacred site and have to endure the throngs of camera-happy tourists, some looking gleeful that they have 'been there and done that.'"

For others, who are traveling there anyway, the chance to see the site offers some chance for resolution.

"I had planned a shopping trip last fall, but in the wake of the tragedy, postponed it indefinitely," writes one visitor, on their way to the Big Apple last week. "Now the great deals on air and hotel made it impossible to pass up... I plan to see Ground Zero, not for a gawkish 'drive past the accident' look, but as a way to pay my respects. I need closure... I was, 1,100 miles away, deeply affected by 9-11. I am very glad there is a way to view the site; I want to see it first hand. I need to see it."

With additional reporting by Julie Banashak & Rick Rucker.

Also by Elaine Richardson

FIGHT THE POWER
Twenty-four hours after the Bears lost their shirt to the Philadelphia Eagles, Soldier Field was in full-on transition. Seats yanked, the field ripped up and an army of workers going like gangbusters to kick the controversial $606 million renovation plan into gear. In fact, it seemed like a little too much work, considering that a pending lawsuit could kill the project.
(2002-01-24)

TALLYING TURNSTILES
In the bleakness of the weeks immediately following September 11, the city's cultural strongholds seemed doomed to end the year in downturn. Or not. The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum reported last week that attendance topped 27,000 in December alone, tripling the numbers from the year before and boosting them to a level unseen since the museum's new facility opened in October 1999.
(2002-01-17)

COSELL & CO.
It's not quite the textbook definition of mayhem—no real maiming going on—but it's damn entertaining. Not into football? It doesn't matter—we're talking TV history and pop culture iconography here, not sports.
(2002-01-10)

IT'S ALIVE!
The mutations area offers a look at mutant white-eyed flies, while the genetic engineering area offers frogs from the University of Virginia, which have been "engineered" to produce green fluorescence in the eyes.
(2002-01-10)

BALANCING ACT
(2002-01-10)

HOT AIR
(2002-01-10)

FILM VAULT
(2001-11-22)

THE GIFT GUIDE
(2001-11-15)

ALL ABOARD
(2001-10-18)

BRAIN FREEZE
(2001-09-13)

ANALYZE THIS
(2001-09-06)

THE GOOD FIGHT
(2001-09-06)