Downtown Alliance Declares 'Lower Manhattan Has Prevailed' 10 Years After 9/11
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Nearly 10 years after the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001, the Downtown Alliance is hailing what it calls a "renaissance" in Lower Manhattan.
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In a report release Thursday, the Downtown Alliance says that the area is "thriving as never before." The group says that Lower Manhattan is one of the fastest-growing residential neighborhoods in New York City, adding the population has more than doubled to 56,000 over the last ten years.
The report also notes that while thousands of residents were displaced and hundreds of stores and restaurants closed down, "an influx of diverse new businesses" have contributed to the "neighborhood's resurgence."
LINK: To Read The Full Report, Click Here For PDF
Jeff Simmons, Vice President for Communications at the Alliance for Downtown New York, spoke with 1010 WINS Thursday about the findings in the report.
"Many people wrote off Lower Manhattan after September 11 a decade ago, wondering 'would we be this resilient?' And there have been a number of factors -- there's been a dramatic commitment from state, city and local elected officials, there have been people who were living here before September 11 that remained just as committed today," Simmons said.
According to the report, about $30 billion from public and private entities was invested into Lower Manhattan, helping the area rise up from the circumstances of 10 years ago.
Simmons said that while the neighborhood is known for financial services businesses, it simply wasn't "your father's Wall Street anymore."
"Of the 307 companies that moved to Lower Manhattan since 2005, 27 percent of them have been in professional services, 18 percent in creative services and 15 percent in the non-profit sector," he said.
"Ten years after 9/11, Lower Manhattan has prevailed once again," declared the report.
Share your thoughts on how far Lower Manhattan has come since 9/11 in the comments section...
