News

NEW YORK, NY February 22, 2008 —A federal judge today pleaded with attorneys for the city and 9/11 survivors to come up with a compromise over bodily remains at the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island.

REPORTER: For years, a small group of survivors has accused the city of carelessly handling what are called “fines,” the small debris left behind when workers sifted out bodily remains. Anthony Ingrassio says he would like to see this debris dug up and moved to a cemetery.

INGRASSIO: I think compromise is an important thing, but it’s not a compromise to build a memorial on a garbage dump, so that suggestion is not an option.

REPORTER: Ingrassio lost his brother Christopher on 9/11. In today’s pre-trial hearing, Judge Alvin Hellerstein suggested the survivors were going to have a hard time proving their constitutional rights were violated. Instead, he urged them to get behind building a memorial on Staten Island, rather than insist on potentially relocating millions of tons of debris to another site.