NEW YORK, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- The site of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks continues to draw visitors great and small, but the recovery and rebuilding of the area will be an expensive proposition, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Wednesday.
At a news conference with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the latest visitor to Ground Zero, Giuliani said he didn't know how much it would cost to clean up the World Trade Center but that he was confident that the city would get it.
"I don't know what the correct amount is, it isn't a matter of $20 billion or $15 or $25 billion," Giuliani said. "It's the amount of money that it costs to actually do the cleanup. That's the amount that we need. So I have no reason to believe that we're not going to get that as we need it."
However, many members of the New York state congressional delegation are convinced that while the White House promised New York $20 billion to deal with the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, less than $10 billion will be forthcoming.
Vice President Dick Cheney was meeting Wednesday with Reps. James Walsh, R-N.Y., and Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., in an effort to head off their effort to get the full $20 billion promised by the White House and the U.S. Congress after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The White House's Office of Management and Budget has released a memo that said less than $10 billion is to be allocated to New York but the White House has said that next year more funds would be available.
On viewing the recovery site and talking to firefighters and construction workers Rumsfeld said: "The one word that comes to mind is really 'duty.' The mayor has done his, the people of New York have done theirs and the men and women in uniform are still doing theirs."
According to the city's latest tally, 3,633 people are still missing in rubble of the buildings and 556 victims have been recovered and identified.
Rumsfeld said it was gratifying to see the people of Afghanistan getting their country back but he warned that key Taliban leaders have not yet been found.
He noted that while the Taliban seems to be disappearing, Rumsfeld said, "They may be simply waiting to counterattack at some other time."
Meanwhile, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer, Democrats from New York, want the Queens section where American Airlines Flight 587 crashed as well as the Washington Heights section of the city where many of the people en route to the doomed flight to the Dominican Republic lived, be declared a federal disaster area.
"We believe that the members of these affected communities, including the Dominican communities in Washington Heights, Brooklyn and elsewhere, and the Rockaway neighborhood where the plane fell to earth, should have access to the disaster services that they need and deserve," Clinton said.
The World Trade Center has been declared a federal and state disaster area.
A dramatic memorial to victims of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center disaster was unveiled to the media Wednesday at the State Museum in Albany.
As a tribute to the people lost in the terrorist attacks on America, "The World Trade Center Memorial" and "Windows on New York" will be open to the public Nov. 23.
The memorial features a silhouette of the Twin Towers made up of 4,870 small bronzed elements suspended in two 20-foot high windows that each represent one of the individuals believed lost in the attacks. Light sources from below will illuminate the towers and make them visible at night from outside.
The Windows on New York exhibit introduces visitors to the various regions of the state of New York.
"As we continue to come to terms with the events of Sept. 11, it is important to not only remember those who are lost in the World Trade Center attacks, but also to reflect on the illustrious history of New York City and the Empire State," Gov. George Pataki said.
