A city unchanged, yet changed forever

Jen Palchinsky is shopping for something to wear to her engagement party.

It would be nice if that special dress had a designer label, but one that "an ordinary" person could afford as well. So she has arrived at the Century 21 Department Store, a discount apparel outlet.

Just two weeks ago, the store was still closed. It sits directly across the street from the open pit where the World Trade Center once stood.

"I couldn't wait for it to reopen," says the MTV producer. "I used to shop here all the time, and it means we are going back to something like normal."

Not far away, Orlando Franco is putting the final touches on his construction-paper model of a memorial for ground zero. He glances out the window of his fourth-grade art class and looks at the empty sky where the World Trade Center once stood.

"I thought I saw it there, and I was like, 'What's a matter with me?' " he says. "Then, I looked again, and it wasn't there."

Six months ago, Orlando sat in the same seat, transfixed as the second plane hit, and black smoke and fire billowed from both towers. The memory, he says, is "still in my eyes." But he's also rebuilt them in form of his construction-paper memorial. And the process has helped him "feel good again."

Across New York, six months after the attacks, such rebuilding and healing is under way. Employers like American Express are returning as inspectors pronounce their old financial-district accommodations fit for habitation. Streets around ground zero are reopening and shrinking the "frozen zone." New hotels are opening their doors, and Broadway is back.

"New York is still reeling a little bit, but it's also back to normal," says Kenneth Jackson, head of the New York Historical Society. "We have changed, but the basic elements that make New York New York - its peculiar genius and creative mix of people - remain the same."

Yet the aftereffects of the trauma still resonate. Orlando, for all his enthusiasm, is "still a little scared." And he's not the only one. According to a Marist Institute for Public Opinion poll released last Friday, 55 percent of New Yorkers are still worried about more attacks.

Although that's down from 73 percent last October, "clearly the lingering effects are very pronounced," says Lee Miringoff, director of the poll.

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The economic impact and day-to-day problems in getting around are two of the most tangible effects of Sept. 11. More than 100,000 people lost their jobs - a combination of the economy slowing down, businesses relocating elsewhere, and mom-and-pop shops buckling under the challenges. The absence of some workers is palpable at corner restaurants and neighborhood newsstands. Many of those still working downtown face longer, more expensive rides to work because of disrupted train service.

And then there's the air. Some people are still concerned about its quality, despite official assurances. Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently joked that it was hard to walk around downtown without walking into an air-quality monitor.

All the while, at ground zero, rescue workers and their dogs are recovering remains. At the same time, the city, developers, and families of the victims try to figure out what to do with the 16-acre site - considered by many to be sacred.

But even with those challenges, the mayor and the governor are pleased with the city's recovery so far. The excavation of the site is ahead of schedule and is costing less than anticipated. The construction crews have removed 1.4 million tons, or 83 percent, of the debris, in one of the biggest engineering feats of its kind.

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