Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: If I could ask you just to join me in another round of applause for Commissioner [Lillian Bonsignore]. Your description of grief as a vest that some can never take off - I think it's something that will stay with many of us for quite some time. It is an honor to be here with so many of the commissioners who lead our city and to be here at the 9-11 Museum and Memorial as we approach the 25th anniversary of the darkest day in our city's history. I want to recognize, in addition to our 37th fire commissioner, Lillian Bonsignore, also our FDNY Lieutenant James Dowdell. If we can have a round of applause. As well as Beth Hillman, for welcoming us here at the 9-11 Memorial Museum as the president and the CEO, for hosting us time and time again. Thank you.
It is hard to believe that this September will mark 25 years since the horrific terror attacks. The loss, as the commissioner shared, is still fresh. The grief never fades. The city may have rebuilt, but the memories of that day endure. And yet for so many New Yorkers, when they remember that day, what comes to mind first may not be the fear that they felt or the grief that they have held with them. But it is the heroism of those who answered the call that day and all the days that followed. Some of whom are right here in this room. Those who, as the commissioner said, ran towards fire so others could run away. Those who climbed what seemed like endless flights of stairs so others could escape. Those who returned to the pile week after week.
Twenty-five years later, what endures is the immense resilience and selflessness shown by New York City's first responders. I think of Lieutenant Dowdell's father., Lieutenant Kevin Dowdell of Rescue 4 in Woodside, Queens, who, as we heard, even as others poured out of the stairwells of the South Tower, rushed in to save those he could before being killed in the collapse. I think of our own fire commissioner who was sharing her memories as an EMS instructor at the time. The decision in that moment, when so many were paralyzed by fear, to turn instead to the question of service, to go towards that fire. I think of the NYCEM employees working at 7 World Trade Center, who immediately jumped into action and worked 24 hours a day for so much of that next year. In a landscape of ruin and unspeakable loss, our first responders showed us that even among the flames and rubble, our shared bond as New Yorkers could not be broken. They made it possible for this city to rebuild.
And I know that many in this room and across this city still mourn parents and siblings, friends and mentors - colleagues who never came home. And we know that the shadow of grief cast by those horrific terror attacks is long. That nearly 47,000 survivors, first responders, and those who worked at Ground Zero or sorting through debris have since developed cancer. We heard from the commissioner that even when it comes to the Fire Department, there are more we have lost since that day than on that day. More than 8,000 have died. And as your mayor, I feel the weight of those numbers and the immense responsibility that comes with them. And I want to make clear that one of the chief responsibilities I see myself as having as the mayor of this incredible city is to advocate for victims and first responders to receive the benefits that they deserve. That commitment is the very least that we owe them.
And as the commissioner said herself, while there may always be an attempt to distill any of this through a political lens, the fact is that to advocate for those who served on that day and the days since, it is not a question of partisan politics, it is a question of New York. It is a question of loving and supporting the city that we hold so dear. Because we must repay their sacrifices with the solidarity that they merit. We must make clear that there is no burden too heavy when carried together. And we saw that time and time again in the actions of our first responders and the strangers who opened their doors to displaced New Yorkers and the volunteers who sifted rubble side by side. And as we mark this 25th anniversary, let us, the leaders of this city, return to that unity. This milestone, it asks something of all of us. It will ask us to ensure that we do not simply remember those that we lost, but that we also build a city that is worthy of their courage and of their sacrifice.
And I know that will take something of each of us, in each of the departments that we serve, in each of the many ways in which we lead this city. And I tell you that as the mayor of this city, it will be our focus to ensure that we honor that sacrifice, not just on the day itself, not just on that anniversary, but on every day that leads up to it and every day after. Because New Yorkers deserve nothing less from us. And some of the most moving memories that I have in these few months that I have served as our mayor has been to meet those who lost loved ones on that day. And to understand how they carry that loss with them each and every day. It is an honor to represent them and to learn from them as they have shown us what it means to contend with that grief and still to believe in this city. So, I look forward to working with all of you in the weeks and months and years to come to ensure that we do exactly that together. It's an honor to be here. Thank you again, commissioner.
