In Tribute -- September 11, 2001

Mark Green versus Mike Bloomberg? I'd feel more comfortable with Ted Green and Jeff Bloemberg. Moe Greene and Moe Berg. Anthony Edwards (Mark Green from ER) and Hank Greenberg. (And three of those guys are dead.)

The greatest crisis in the city's history, and one of the greatest mayors the City has ever had is forced to go home. And we can thank Ronald Lauder for that.

Correction. Let's blame Ronald Lauder for that.

Like Bloomberg before him, businessman Lauder spent lots of money trying to become mayor. He lost in 1989 because there was a worthwhile politician named Rudy Giuliani running against him for the Republican nomination. Ticked off, he then spent even more money and duped the City into voting for term limits in 1993. City office holders would now be limited to two terms, and every incumbent at the time would be tossed out on his rear after 2001, if he wasn't tossed out before then.

Giuliani won the mayoral election in 1993 and became, after a love-hate relationship with many citizens over the next eight years, one of New York's most beloved leaders ever with his strong and storied handling of the World Trade Center disaster. A hero to some before that, he became a hero to many more in its aftermath.

Still, Giuliani could be Christ, Solomon, LaGuardia and Washington rolled into one, and he'd still be dumped out of City Hall at the stroke of midnight beginning the New Year of 2002. Term limits aren't only undemocratic; this year, they're downright destructive. Thanks to Lauder's egotistical success eight years ago, the city will be deprived of its leader when it needs him the most.

As it turned out, Ronald Lauder spent a million dollars in 1993 to defeat Rudy Giuliani this year.

Congratulations. And thank you ever so much.

Then, the toughest time in my hometown's history got ratcheted up a couple dozen times. How could we sit there and listen to the destruction, even if fictional, of the City after they tried? How could we sing "I watched the mighty skyline fall" when we did?

Its author showed us how on the night of the Concert for New York City on Oct. 20, singing it just as loud and defiant as he did when he recorded it.

"I wrote that song 25 years ago," Joel said that night. "I thought it was gonna be a science fiction song. I never thought it would really happen.

"But," he added after a pause, "unlike the end of that song, we ain't going anywhere."

Please consider supporting The Twin Towers Fund. It's run by the City of New York to benefit the families of the City and Port Authority rescue workers who died trying to save others.

Amen, brother. It used to be a little defiant. Now, it's angry. They can try it, they can give it a go, they can even bring some of it to pass, but we'll always keep the memory alive.

You get to appreciate those little glimpses of the past all the more. There was that beautiful Major League Baseball promo ("We play... We heal...") that featured the World Trade Center from the Hudson, with the words "But We Never Forget" across the bottom of the screen, a sight sure to prompt some fist-pumping in our house. There's the opening sequence to HBO's The Sopranos, which shows the Twin Towers poignantly in the passenger's-side mirror of Tony Soprano's car. Would that they only were closer than they appear. Every sighting makes you grateful that its presenter didn't airbrush them out.

Then there's the new video by Ryan Adams for his song New York, New York, a pleasant enough ditty on its own merit. At a time like this, who wouldn't sing along with a line like "I'll always love you, New York." But the video makes it. Interspersed with time-delayed, fast-forward scenes from life in the Big Town are shots of Adams playing his guitar in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, shot over several hours on Sept. 7, 2001. Over his shoulder in just about every such shot are a pair of beautiful 110-story buildings. Enough to bring a tear to your eye, and worth seeking out, whether on MTV or at www.ryan-adams.com.

Anchored the Boring Homepage, 11/6/01-3/19/02.

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