9/11 trials will “wreak havoc” on nabe: REBNY

From left: Robert Douglass, chairman of the Alliance for Downtown New York, and Steven Spinola, president of REBNY

The Real Estate Board of New York is urging the move of the September 11 attack trial out of Lower Manhattan. REBNY said in a statement today that holding the trial there would degrade the value of the neighborhood, attaching a negative stigma to the region. “Holding the terror trial in Lower Manhattan is like proposing that a nuclear power plant be opening there,” Steven Spinola, president of REBNY, said. “The trial will wreak havoc on the surrounding community with the extensive security requirements and massive disruptions like permanent street closures.” Robert Douglass, chairman of the Alliance for Downtown New York, has also spoken out against the planned Lower Manhattan location for the 9/11 trials. Douglass said in a statement that the neighborhood already bears the burden of heightened security measures and that holding the trials there would bring additional inconvenience to the area. “The community has suffered enough,” Douglass said. TRD