Sept. 11 museum may ask $25 ticket fee

NEW YORK, June 17 (UPI) -- A proposed $25 admission price at the Sept. 11 museum in New York at the World Trade Center site is being criticized.

"I represent the third-poorest district in the city, and I can tell you most of my constituents won't be able to afford $20 or $25," Bronx City Councilman Fernando Cabrera said at a hearing Thursday, the New York Daily News reported.

The memorial set to open Sept. 11 will be free but president Joe Daniels said the underground museum, opening a year later, may charge a "suggested donation" like the $25 requested at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

"This will be a world-class museum and it will absolutely need to generate revenue in line with other world-class institutions in New York City," he said. He estimated its annual operating costs at as much as $60 million.

The museum will decide whether to ask for a donation or charge a mandatory fee, depending on how much other funding it gets, Daniels said.

Julie Menin, chairwoman of Community Board 1, which represents the lower Manhattan area, responded: "This is not the Met and it's not an art museum. This is where we were attacked and we don't want to make it cost-prohibitive."