Debate Over 9/11 Names Comes to an End

New York, NY —

The controversial idea to list 9/11 victims names randomly at the planned memorial has been scrapped. Instead the names will be part of ten different groups of victims. Still, not everyone is cheering. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: The reversal comes under Mayor Bloomberg, who became chairman of the memorial foundation in October. The mayor was under intense pressure from firefighters and police officers unions, who wanted uniformed responders who died to be grouped by company or precinct. That will now be the case. But some family members aren't satisfied. Edie Lutnick heads the Cantor-Fitzgerald relief fund. She says civilians who died are being lumped into one category, without respect to who they worked for.

LUTNICK: It shouldn't be Mayor Mike Bloomberg who has the right to decide how these names are listed, instead of the families. Especially because many of them have nothing to bury.

REPORTER: Steve Cassidy of the Uniformed Firefighters Association says he's happy with the new scheme, and will help raise funds for the memorial. The mayor admits that the new plan will upset some people, but says its time to move forward. For WNYC, I'm Arun Venugopal.