Ground Zero, September 28, 2001

At 8:40 a.m., fifteen people were waiting patiently in a line behind a police gate at the New York Stock Exchange. Men and women with briefcases -- and the occasional white painters’ mask -- were showing security guards picture I.D.s to get inside the pillared landmark of American capitalism, now draped in a hundred-foot American flag.

“It’s particularly bad this morning, isn’t it?” said one woman, coughing, as she went by one of the guards.

*

It’s usually an easy walk down Broadway for Sandra Ramos, 26, a sales associate at National Securities. But there have been detours these days. “I had to walk an extra block because of the police barriers,” she said. “But I don’t mind because it’s for safety.”

She was at work when the first plane hit, though she managed to make it out before the building collapsed. “I saw the fire,” she said. “There was smoke everywhere. People were running away. They were crying and getting sick.” She went back to work on Monday the 24th, finding that the building has upped its security. Although guards had not asked for a photo employee I.D. before, they now made it a point to check everyone entering the building.

“You can still smell the smoke,” she said. “It’s depressing, but it’s getting better.”

Ground Zero, September 28, 2001

5,000 stories

Story Index

Part one | Monday, October 8, 2001
Part two | Tuesday, October 9, 2001
Part three | Wednesday, October 10, 2001
Part four | Thursday, October 11, 2001
Part five | Friday, October 12, 2001