Weather: More sun as the day goes on, with a high in the upper 70s. Saturday should be nice: mostly sunny and in the low 70s. Spotty showers could dampen your Sunday.
Alternate-side parking: In effect until Sept. 19 (Rosh Hashana). Read about the amended regulations here.
In years past, thousands have gathered at the site where more than 2,700 people were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, as the names of those lost are read and the bells peal in New York City.
This year, during a pandemic that has killed more than 23,000 in New York City alone, the somber, solemn rituals will continue. But they will be marked by the current loss.
“You think back to those heroes, you think back to the compassion of everyday New Yorkers in that moment of crisis,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Thursday. “And now we find ourselves in a new and different crisis. And once again, people all over this country, people all over this world are looking at this city with tremendous awe.”
[Read more about how those who were lost will be remembered today.]
Here is how New York City is commemorating the 2001 tragedy:
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The reading of victims’ names will look different.
This year’s ceremony at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum will not include relatives reading the names of victims at a microphone. Instead, recorded readings will be broadcast at the plaza and online.
Family members at the memorial will be asked to wear masks and stay socially distant. There will be no platform where dignitaries give speeches, though both Vice President Mike Pence and Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic presidential nominee, are expected to make an appearance.
Another memorial is planned for families.
Some were disappointed by the change in plans, and in response the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation is holding a simultaneous memorial ceremony where family members can read the names of their loved ones.
Around 125 relatives will read the names from a stage at Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. Attendees will wear masks, and those onstage will stay six feet apart. Mr. Pence is also expected to take part in the ceremony.
The Tribute in Light will go on.
The Tribute in Light, which has marked the attacks on the twin towers since 2002, had been canceled in August. The display features two beams of light that shine in New York City until dawn on Sept. 12.
But the coronavirus crisis led the memorial and museum to pull back plans for this year’s commemoration. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo later said that the state would provide health personnel and supervision — and that the tribute would still happen.
“This year, its message of hope, endurance and resilience are more important than ever,” Alice M. Greenwald, the president and chief executive of the museum, said in a statement last month.
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum will reopen.
The museum, which has been closed since March because of the pandemic, will open its doors once again. On Sept. 11, entry will be reserved for family members, while the rest of the public will be able to visit starting on Saturday.
Westchester County officials are looking into reports of shirts left outside the homes of Black families who said they contained a racist message. [New York Post]
The Times’s Melissa Guerrero writes:
Although many performance spaces and community centers are closed, people are finding creative ways to connect through virtual events and programs. Here are suggestions for maintaining a New York social life this weekend while keeping a safe distance from other people.
BRICxHome: Mobile phone podcasting
On Friday at 6 p.m., learn something new by attending a virtual workshop on podcasting. Discover techniques on how to record, edit and publish on mobile, as part of BRIC’s media education courses.
Purchase a ticket ($5) on the event page.
It’s Electric!: The history of computers
On Saturday at 2:30 p.m., trace the timeline of computing with the Queens Historical Society through discussions and pictures, and watch a 100-year-old computer making calculations.
R.S.V.P. and access the free event through the museum’s website.
‘Perfection and (im) Perfection: One Vision in Parallel Lives’
Take a tour of this virtual photo exhibit from the Robert Berry Gallery through Sunday. This collection, of images by the New York City-based photographers Paul Mondesire and David Mathison, explores themes of reflection, contemplation and what perfection means.
View the exhibit for free on the museum’s website.
It’s Friday — unwind.
Metropolitan Diary: Awnings
Dear Diary:
About a decade after my family moved from New York to California, my mother and I traveled back to the city in August for my 10th birthday.
We went to a salon that mother used to love and got terrible haircuts. Tony no longer had the touch, apparently.
After leaving the salon, my mother looked at her reflection in the window of a store that stood where a favorite coffee shop of hers had been.
“Things change,” she said. “C’est la vie.”
It started to rain — the kind of rain that is so immediate and intense it feels like someone flipped a switch.
Luckily for us, we were on the Upper East Side and every building had an awning stretching long and wide to the sidewalk’s edge.
My mother looked at me and smiled.
“All you need is an awning,” she said.
We took off running up the street, stopping to catch our breath under each overhang, laughing and crashing into one another until we made it back to the apartment where we were staying. We hung our wet clothes on the backs of chairs and sat down in towels to share a Diet Coke.
Twelve years later, I was back in New York for college. One August morning, in his mother’s apartment on Madison Avenue, the love of my life broke my heart. I sobbed in his childhood bedroom.
After leaving, I walked up the street. The air was so thick I felt like I was swimming. Then the switch flipped, and the rain came down heavy and hot. In seconds, I was soaked.
I indulged in the drama of the moment, crumpling. People passed on my left and right.
And then, there it was: an awning.
And another.
And another.
— Zoe Kurland
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