BREAKING: Mamdani Releases 170,000 Pages Proving New Yorkers Were Misled About 9/11 Air Quality, Standing With Jon Stewart and 9/11 Families
Zohran Mamdani is giving 9/11 families something they’ve been fighting for since the towers fell: the truth.
His administration released more than 170,000 pages of air quality records Tuesday, documents that had sat hidden in 68 boxes in a city office for over two decades before being discovered last year. Mamdani made the announcement flanked by Jon Stewart and 9/11 family advocates, timing the release to the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
The documents show that ten months after 9/11, health officials were still finding asbestos as far as half a mile from the site, even as city and federal officials, including then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani and EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman, publicly insisted the air was safe. Records tied to buildings like 15 John Street and Deutsche Bank’s offices at 130 Liberty Street show asbestos, benzene, heavy metals and other contaminants at hazardous levels for months after the attacks.
More people have died from 9/11-related illnesses in the years since than were killed in the attacks themselves. Denise Verzi, whose husband Michael was a firefighter who died of lymphoma linked to his time at ground zero, said he and his colleagues were told the air was fine to work in. “I don’t understand hiding it to begin with,” she said. “That was horrific. But 25 years in, there’s people that are still getting sick.”
“The very least our city owes the families, survivors and first responders whose lives were forever changed by the horrific terror attack of Sept. 11 is transparency and accountability,” Mamdani said.
The release resolves a lawsuit brought by 9/11 Health Watch and comes with a $34 million commitment from the city to review and publish more records over the next year.