So here was something else I saw for the first time on Saturday evening. Funny that my two firsts were something as old as a classic Movie Palace and something as new as this.
I don't make it down to the World Trade Center site that often, but the PATH train to Jersey City is here, so here I was. I had no idea how much progress they'd made.
As usual, there were a couple of vendors illegally selling stuff right across the street from the site, and I'm going to post a request here that I posted earlier on Facebook - this is not so much for any of the regular visitors here as for anyone who might somehow stumble across this searching for "visit World Trade Center", "visit WTC", or even "visit Ground Zero NYC" (no one I know calls it that, though, we all call it the World Trade Center) -
If you ever visit NY, and you go to see the WTC site, and you are standing across the street from where the towers used to stand, and somebody walks up to you and tries to sell you a souvenir, please don't buy from that person. There is a rule against selling in the immediate area that was put in place after an absolute flock of vultures descended for the selling feast as soon as the area was reopened. after 9/11. Most vendors respect the rules - if you need a trinket or a book, please walk a couple of blocks away and patronize one of their stands or shops.
Don't know if this will do any good, but maybe I'm just venting. Every time I see somebody haggling for a souvenir book right there where it all happened, it just rankles, I always want to say something and I never do.
7 comments:
That's really tacky. I would hope visitors would tell them so before walking away.
Don't say anything to the vendor. Telll the nearest police man!
Dennis G
Sightseeing in NYC can be an experience in overload - I suspect that some tourists end up at the WTC because it's on their list of things to do, and by the time they get there it's all starting to blur together and they just aren't thinking. I think the illegal vendors have a nose for the people who just aren't going to have a clue that this isn't right.
And Dennis, you're probably right - the people who ARE still vending right there are going to have the sensitivity of a rhino.
and a similar willingness to respond to a challenge with belligerance.
hm, work is already progressing.
Good advice. I work right across the street from the site.
The funny thing is that people are already finding this through web searches. Posting about this here might not actually have been such a bad idea.
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