New York City - Where the Streets Are Paved With People

The complaints about the handling of the debris from the 9/11 attacks go on:

NEW YORK (March 24) - Debris that may have contained bits of bone from victims of the World Trade Center attacks was used to fill potholes and pave city roads, according to court papers filed on Friday.

The charge was made in an affidavit filed in Manhattan federal court in an ongoing case filed in 2005 by family members of those killed in the attacks against the city. They say the city did not do enough to search for remains, denying victims a proper burial.

Eric Beck, a construction worker employed at the Fresh Kills landfill in the borough of Staten Island, where the rubble was taken after the Twin Towers fell, said in his affidavit that the process of sifting through the debris was rushed.

Beck said he saw sanitation workers removing small pieces of debris containing possible bone fragments and loading them "onto tractors, and using it to pave roads and fill in potholes, dips and ruts." ...

Some relatives of victims have opposed any effort to rebuild on Ground Zero , calling it sacred ground and saying it would disrespect those who perished there.

Construction of the planned memorial and skyscraper has repeatedly been delayed, in part due to concerns expressed by victims' families.

The remains of about 40 percent of the victims were never recovered, and hundreds of bone fragments have been discovered in and around Ground Zero in the last six months, the lawsuit says.

I feel for the terrible loss the families experienced, but I wonder what they really expected the city to do that all that stuff. Most of the victims were atomized - turned to dust - by the forces involved in the collapse of the buildings. Firefighters sifting through the wreckage commented on how in two 110 story buildings they didn't find a single desk, file cabinet, or other item of furniture. If a large desks or metal file cabinets were turned to powder in the collapse, how much worse would a human body fare?

No one wants to think their loved ones simply disappeared, and everyone would hope to find something...anything... to bring closure, but I think continuing to beat up New York City officials serves no real purpose. They did what they could do and now it's time to move on.