If New York is the city that never sleeps, then these days, it also remains ever vigilant and intensifies the closer a person gets to Ground Zero. It is a place of police, and bomb sniffing dogs... especially Friday, in the midst of a new terrorist threat.
When you ride a train, strangers talk about it.
"I mean, you can't stop living your life because a terror threat happens, right?" said New York subway rider Lindsay McKenna.
If you take a ferry, New Yorkers tell of personal experience. One woman said, "I lost a nephew on 9/11. It's very sad."
It seems everyone around New York has a Sept. 11 story. Even in New Jersey. That's where we met Michael Kazickas.
"I was on my way to New York, like every other day," said Kazickas.
On Sept. 11, 10 years ago all mass transit from New Jersey to New York City stopped. Those commuters had to overflow somewhere and the ferry plaza was one of those places. Thousands of people shared the experience of staring across the Hudson River, watching the Twin Towers fall -- they had a front row view.
"It felt like slow motion and people started to scream. And the thing that struck me wasn't what you might think of as a gender thing, it was men that were crying. It was women that were cursing," said Kazickas.
It was only chance that spared some people. Kazickas worked in the World Trade Center. On that fateful morning 10 years ago, he left home a few minutes late. If he hadn't, he might be one of those names etched in bronze above the falling water of the Ground Zero memorial. As it turned out, three of his friends, are. So yes, when authorities issue warnings, around here, he takes them seriously.
"I tell you what. You cannot take this lightly. This is really serious. I mean, we lost 3,000 people in that location in the space of an hour," said Kazickas.
And with one less than what might have been.
Special Coverage:
ABC7 News will carry special coverage of the nation's commemoration of 9/11. Beginning Friday, Wayne Freedman will report live from New York City and Lilian Kim from Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
On Sunday, ABC News begins our live coverage of the September 11th ceremonies with a special edition of Good Morning America from 5 a.m. - 8 a.m. and that will be followed by ABC 7 Morning News from 8 a.m. - 10 a.m.
