‘The Life of the City Goes On’

An entire metropolis seemed to pause for a collective deep breath Sunday, six wrenching days after an attack that forever altered life in the city.

In churches, people bent low and prayed. In parks, they meditated. And less than two miles from the ruins of the World Trade Center, grieving firefighters were awarded battlefield promotions after several of their leaders died.

Then, as night fell, the time came to prepare for a difficult test: the reopening this morning of the damaged financial district, an important measure of confidence and stability as New Yorkers attempt to resume their daily routines.

“The life of the city goes on,” said Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who made a series of public appearances, evoking the wartime leadership of Winston Churchill and exhorting New Yorkers to achieve their own finest hour.

“New Yorkers have conducted themselves as bravely as the people of Britain during the Battle of Britain,” the mayor said at a ceremony for firefighters promoted to succeed top officials killed in Tuesday’s attack.

On Wall Street, workers vacuumed the sides of buildings to remove the gray dust that has spread across lower Manhattan since the trade center attacks. Subway lines were up and running into the financial district, and generators and power cables were in place for the reopening of the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the New York Mercantile Exchange.

“This has probably been the most complex week the city has ever had,” Giuliani said. “The most tragic thing has happened, and the greatest heroism has been displayed. I think the city comes out of the week stronger than it entered.”

Giuliani, saying he missed holding his daily meetings, promised to convene with his staff first thing this morning at City Hall, which also reopens today.

“I can’t promise everything will work, but we’ll try,” he said. “If it has to be adjusted, we’ll do it.”

Giuliani offered a suggestion to volunteers who have outstripped the city’s capacity to absorb their help. “If you want to help,” the mayor said, “come to New York and spend money.”

In preparation, the Empire State Building was lit up Sunday night in red, white and blue. It is now New York’s tallest building.

In a late night news conference with Giuliani, New York Gov. George Pataki said he had called a special session of the Legislature for today. He said it was expected to pass laws giving state and local police expanded powers to investigate suspected terrorists, including broadened telephone wiretap authority.

The Legislature also was expected to make it a felony to issue a bomb threat, the governor said; the city has been plagued by bomb threats since Tuesday.

The city’s attempt to right itself was all the more difficult Sunday in the face of new reports of petty crime and opportunism around the disaster site. Police said several people were arrested for trespassing, stealing supplies, making bomb threats and soliciting money for a phony disaster relief fund.

City Police Chief Bernard Kerik pointed out, however, that overall crime last week was down 30% compared to the same period last year. “Manhattan is very well covered right now when it comes to policing,” he said, noting the added presence of National Guard troops and New York state police.

The drumbeat of casualty statistics continued Sunday, relentless and numbing--and certain to grow worse each day. Sunday, the death toll reached 190, with 115 victims identified. The number of people reported missing was 4,957. The figure has fluctuated, the mayor said, because of duplications in counting.

City officials have warned that some remains probably will never be recovered. They also have told families there are no unidentified patients in the city’s hospitals.

The families were further disheartened Sunday morning, when Giuliani said reports of rescuers hearing trapped victims knocking somewhere in the rubble were “regrettably not true.”

Also, Fire Commissioner Thomas Van Essen said: “There is a lot of fire very deep, and there is no way to put it out until we can move the debris . . . so we are just putting water on it.”

He added that the more time he spends at the disaster site, “I realize less hope. There is still hope in the mall area and below ground.”

Beginning today, families of the dead and missing will be interviewed by police and city officials at a new city Family Assistance Center to open this morning at a pier on Manhattan’s west side.

Families will be interviewed in private rooms by city police officers and will be asked to provide saliva swabs for DNA testing of recovered remains.

All services were donated and will be provided free, including long-distance and international phone lines, Internet connections, a cafeteria, a day care center and private “grieving centers.”

Nearby, a U.S. Navy hospital ship, the Comfort, was docked at a Hudson River pier, providing food, water, laundry and beds for exhausted rescue workers. A U.S. Marine Corps anti-terrorism unit was stationed on board. Soldiers with M-16 automatic rifles patrolled the ship’s perimeter, a jarring sight for a vessel marked with the red cross that is the international symbol of noncombatants.

Aboard the ship, someone had posted a letter from a young girl named Kristina Clark. It read: “Dear Firemen. Thank you for trying to find people. if you can, please find my aunt. Her name is Donna Clarke.”

At St. Patrick’s Cathedral, people began lining up at noon for a special 5 p.m. Mass to mourn victims of the trade center attack.

First in line was Greg Packer, 37, a highway maintenance worker from Huntington, N.Y, who wore a T-shirt that said “May God Bless N.Y.” on the front and “This Shall Not Stand” on the back.

“I’m Jewish, but this is the USA and this is my chance to say a prayer for the missing in all these posters,” he said, staring at photos of missing trade center workers plastered on street signs outside the cathedral.

On Wall Street, workers put the finishing touches on repairs designed to end the New York Stock Exchange’s longest suspension of service since the Great Depression.

The exchange pronounced its electronic trading systems ready to go after a weekend test of its communications links. An immense American flag has been draped in front of the building.

The all-electronic Nasdaq also will resume trading at 9:30 a.m. EDT today.

Government officials urged investors to refrain from dumping stocks. Financial experts fear the market could fall sharply when trading begins.

“I hope people will face the market opening with more confidence than you sometimes read about,” said Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.).

The NYSE building was not damaged, but communication links between the exchange and Wall Street brokerage firms were broken.

Verizon Communications Inc. said its preparations, though frantic, were on track.

Verizon’s disabled switching center is based in a West Street building next to the World Trade Center. It has been flooded and damaged by falling steel beams and has been frequently evacuated because of ongoing fires and safety concerns since Tuesday’s attacks.

“We’re working very closely with all of the major financial houses to get them ready. . . . We’ll have all the right stuff in place to get them up and running,” said Mark Marchand, a Verizon spokesman.

There also are questions about how investors will reach the financial district. Some arteries leading to Wall Street are closed. The NYSE has rented buses to transport people to its facility.

Giuliani said the city will begin operating a new ferry from Brooklyn to lower Manhattan today.

At the firefighters’ promotion ceremony Sunday afternoon, the mayor told assembled firefighters: “Our hearts are broken, but we will go on.”

He added: “Those who are lost and missing would want us to continue. They have invested their lives and their love in this department.”

Van Essen told the firefighters that the operation at the trade center site was still a rescue mission. But, he said, it was “increasingly difficult to believe we will recover as many of our men as we would like to.”

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Times staff writers Tony Perry, Jon Peterson, Elizabeth Douglass, Charles Ornstein, John J. Goldman and David Zucchino contributed to this story.

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At a Glance: Updates in Aftermath of Attacks

Ultimatum to Taliban: Pakistani officials will visit Afghanistan to warn the Taliban that it faces a massive assault if it does not surrender Osama bin Laden.

Deadly policy: The White House considers lifting an executive order banning U.S. involvement in assassinations overseas.

More powers: The Justice Department wants expanded rights to detain foreigners suspected of plotting attacks in this country.

Stadium security: Professional sports resumes today. The chief concern will be protecting fans.

Airport security: Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta names two security rapid-response teams to report by Oct. 1 on specific measures to revamp airport security.

Back in business: The New York Stock Exchange reopens today.

Long cleanup: It will take six months to a year to clear away all the rubble, estimated at 450,000 tons by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

WTC toll: At the World Trade Center, there were 190 reported dead, 4,957 missing.

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“A great way to help is to come here and spend money.” -- New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani

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