My 9-year-old granddaughter knew that yesterday was the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. Her class read it in their history books and discussed it during the day, including the fact that two of the fatal flights took off from Boston’s Logan Airport.
Boston, like the rest of the country, paused to remember September 11, 2001.
Apparently, Massport could use a few 9-year-olds on their payroll, because nobody at the agency, it seems, remembered what got started on their own tarmac 12 years ago. Officials at Logan planned an emergency exercise simulation complete with smoke and first responders flooding the runway. It was a scene that shook up a few travelers already on edge about flying on 9/11 and brought near-universal condemnation of Massport for being tone-deaf on a day that exposes many still-raw emotions.
In a bipartisan beatdown, Gov. Deval Patrick called the timing “just dumb” while legislators such as Republican state Sen. Robert Hedlund said choosing this day for training exercises is “just plain stupid.” Families of victims said they could not believe an agency so deeply entwined with the incident could have such a lapse of sensitivity.
“We’ve spent the last 12 year trying to get people not to forget 9/11,” said Christie Coombs of Abington, whose husband Jeffrey Coombs was on one of the planes that struck the World Trade Center. “You read the bumper stickers and the T-shirts that say ‘Never Forget.’ Clearly, whoever decided to plan this forgot.”
Some passengers at Logan said because of incidents and threats around the world that have occurred on the anniversary over the years, they were already leery of flying on September 11. Seeing smoke and fire on the runway did little to calm their nerves.
“It was not a good idea to do [a fire drill],” said Teresa Larman, who had just flown in with her husband from Oklahoma. “I was a little paranoid flying today anyway.”
Massport had sent out a notice of the impending drill on its social media sites but that, apparently, wasn’t on many people’s radar screen. “Who is Facebook friends with Massport?” Coombs asked.
Massport used the same social media sites to quickly issue an apology, while noting they did, indeed, grasp the solemnity of the anniversary by holding memorials in the airport. “Safety and security is our top priority and constant vigilance and readiness is critical, but the exercise should not have taken place on the anniversary of 9/11,” said the statement.
It’s not like Massport is the only one with judgment lapses around 9/11. Keller@Large points out that AT&T used the moment to do some branding, sending out a tweet showing a smartphone emitting twin beams of light over the New York skyline. The company quickly took down the picture and issued an apology.
“We apologize to anyone who felt our post was in poor taste,” said a post on Twitter. “The image was solely meant to pay respect to those affected by the 9/11 tragedy.” And that respect evidently is best shown with a new Galaxy S4 and a two-year commitment.
There were other tasteless promos, including a golf course that offered nine holes for $9.11 and a Marriott franchise hotel that offered free muffins and coffee between 8:45 and 9:15 a.m. – the time frame within which the two planes hit the towers – “in remembrance of those we lost.”
Many companies try to show their sensitivity on the anniversary by issuing statements or commercials tied to their brand. More is expected from an airport and an agency so central to what occurred. Not everyone was upset by the timing, though.
“September 11 happened 12 years ago, and it was a horrific event in America’s history,” said Boston City Councilor Sal LaMattina, whose district includes the airport. “My East Boston neighborhood was shaken. But now we . . . and the airport, must move on. The firefighters, those are our first responders, and so it’s only fitting that they train today.”
It’s a given that as time creates distance from the events, 9/11 will become somewhat like December 7. And if that date doesn’t live in infamy in your mind, then it won’t be long before September 11 is just another date on the calendar.
–JACK SULLIVAN
BEACON HILL
Shirley Leung wonders why Deval Patrick was asleep at the wheel during the computer service tax mess that he’s now woken up to and is trying to fix. The Globe’s Michael Farrell and Michael Levenson take a look at the new muscle-flexing in the state’s tech community that pushed Patrick to reverse his stand on the tax.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
The Lawrence City Council approves 20 people nominated by Mayor William Lantigua for city board posts, but rejects a city hall receptionist because he “didn’t seem to know anything about the Airport Commission,” the Eagle-Tribune reports.
Westport officials are seeking to place language into deeds that carry conservation restrictions that would trigger some payments to the town to recoup some of the lost taxes when the property becomes exempt.
The state awards $11 million to Middlesex Community College to transform a railroad depot into an arts center, the Lowell Sun reports.
A jury awards $500,000 to a former North Attleboro municipal employee who sued a town selectman and a former town police chief.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
The House Ethics Committee ends its review of US Rep. John Tierney, with the panel concluding that it could not determine whether payments to his wife were improperly reported, the Lowell Sun reports.
The city council in Richmond, California, votes 4-3 to use eminent domain to acquire mortgages with negative equity, Governing reports. CommonWealth looked at this idea, which was being considered in Brockton, earlier this year.
The Northeast is much grayer than the rest of the country; with that population of seniors growing rapidly states are trying to attract more young people to expand the tax base to pay for the elder services and care.
Slate digs into the nerd fight between Nate Silver and Public Policy Polling.
ELECTIONS
Jim Aloisi, writing in CommonWealth, begins his series on pivotal Boston mayoral races from the past and what they tell us about today’s contest.
Eleven of the 12 mayoral candidates go at it on education issues at a forum at the Boston Teachers Union headquarters in Dorchester.
The Globe does its best not to portray Charles Yancey’s dual runs for mayor and reelection to the city council seat he’s held for 30 years as quixotic and vanity-driven.
Margery Eagan allows that the “electricity” in Boston’s minority neighborhoods “seems more and more to be lining up behind John Barros,” but she nevertheless gives Charlotte Golar Richie ample room to pitch her mayoral come-from-behind story. Richie is counting on heavy support from female and black voters, but New York’s Democratic mayoral primary offers a cautionary tale, given tall white guy Bill de Blasio’s full-spectrum victory.
David Bernstein notes that the Herald endorsed two mayoral candidates without meeting most of the field.
With most of Boston’s attention focused on the mayor’s race, The Bay State Banner looks at the contests for city council.
Gail Collins explains New York’s weird mayoral race to the good folks of Des Moines. The Wall Street Journal begins the moneyed hand-wringing over de Blasio’s rapid ascension.
CASINOS
Businesses flock to Salem to learn about opportunities to become a vendor for the Caesar’s casino proposed for Suffolk Downs, the Salem News reports.
Boston mayoral candidates Dan Conley and John Connolly take a hard line against Everett’s proposed casino. The casino would border Charlestown, a neighborhood that, as coincidence would have it, is fertile territory for votes.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Marissa Meyer, the CEO of Yahoo, says she and others faced imprisonment if they revealed what information the NSA was pursuing, the Guardian reports.
EDUCATION
Framingham school officials suspend a Harvard study that aimed to look at communication with families as a way to increase student performance and class attendance after complaints from parents who never heard about it in the first place.
UMass Dartmouth, which earlier this year had to make cuts to close a $15 million budget deficit, is planning to buy the Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center in Fall River for $11.4 million if the university board of trustees approves the purchase.
HEALTH CARE
An 83-year-old Milton woman is fighting Medicare’s denial of a $7,000 bill for rehab services because Beth Israel Deaconess-Milton placed her on “under observation” status rather than admitting her even though she was in the hospital for four days.
The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization will put local health care executives on the hotseat next week over rising health care costs.
TRANSPORTATION
A survey by a New Bedford bus rider advocacy group says lack of public transportation is contributing to the violence against the city’s seafood plant workers, most of whom are immigrants, who have to travel in early morning darkness to get to their jobs.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
A Lynn elementary school special education teacher is charged with running over her estranged husband’s girlfriend, the Item reports.
Brockton police have arrested a 35-year-old man and charged him in the brutal beating death of an elderly pastor who was riding his bike last month in a crime that sent shock waves through the city.
MEDIA
The byline of Vladimir Putin appears on the op-ed page of the New York Times as he argues against US intervention in Syria.
Tina Brown says she is leaving The Daily Beast to form her own company focused on “theatrical journalism,” the Beast reports.
