It’s the end of an era — and many New Yorkers are breathing a sigh of relief.
The “Aughties” began and ended with two tragic collapses — fi rst, of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, and second, of the stock market in 2008. Both events were pivotal to the country as a whole, but they also directly affected the city.
In between these moments of struggle, there were still times of laughter and hope, of change and redemption. That’s because New Yorkers are a rare breed: tougher than Tefl on, but with a streetwise sense of humor that keeps us moving 24/7. The Big Apple, despite everything, remains a vibrant and formidable powerhouse — the most important city in the world.
At the dawn of a new millennium, The Post looks back on the last decade through the eyes of the people who indelibly shaped our city.
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While trying to rescue people from the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, retired Port Authority Sergeant John McLaughlin was traveling between buildings 1 and 2 when the South Tower collapsed, trapping him inside the rubble for 22 hours. His miraculous rescue and heroic courage provided the basis for the movie “World Trade Center,” starring Nicholas Cage.
“When I first pulled up there on West Broadway, there were people falling out of the windows,” McLaughlin said. “I guess that’s the first thing I’ll always remember about that day. They were yelling at us and we could see them coming out the window.
“I was in a coma for almost two months and when I was moved out of the ICU and into a regular room, I was watching news accounts and they started showing men from my department who I lost.
“My most vivid memory from my recovery period was realizing how many people I knew who died that day, both civilian and police. I hope people will look back on the sacrifice people made to help others, people they didn’t know, people who sacrificed their lives to rescue me.
“The human sacrifice it required to help those trapped in the building is more important than all the death and destruction that went on that day.
“My hope for the next 10 years is that the country and the world settles down to how it was before 9/11, we have more peace in the world, less terrorism and death — and that the soldiers can come home safe.”
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Mayor Mike Bloomberg has led New York for almost the entire decade, taking office on Jan. 1, 2002, just as the city was coping with the horrific terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Since then, Bloomberg has won re-election twice, altering city law to allow his third term.
“I think I represent a lot of the typical qualities of a New Yorker — independent, honest, plain-spoken, pragmatic, dedicated, and strong-willed,” Bloomberg said. “Mostly, though, I hope I’m seen as someone who deeply loves NYC, and is willing to work hard to make it even better.
“By almost any measure, we’re a better city [since 2000]. Our streets and subways are significantly safer. Our public school students are doing much better and graduating at higher rates. Our park system is bigger and greener. And life expectancy in New York City is now longer than the national average.
“I also think that we’re more accepting of racial and ethnic differences, and policecommunity relations have improved. However, the real estate boom made housing more expensive, and so even though we’re in the midst of the largest affordable housing program in the nation, the cost of housing remains a major challenge.
“The most tragic and devastating moment was of course 9/11 — our darkest day. But the key moment — and the key to the decade, I believe — was the way we responded. We united as never before — and we brought the city back faster and stronger than anyone thought possible.
“Another extremely important milestone came in 2002, when the state finally put someone in charge of the city’s schools — us. The school system had been a disaster, and today President Obama’s administration hails it as a model for the nation. “The future of our city is tied to our ability to keep middle class families here, and creating first-rate public schools is a huge part of that.”
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Jim McGreevey was elected New Jersey governor in 2001 and announced his resignation in a nationally televised press conference in August 2004, famously declaring “I am a gay American.” McGreevey, who now lives with his partner, Mark O’Donnell, in New Jersey, is studying to be an Episcopal priest at the General Theological Seminary in Manhattan.
“As Shakespeare says, unto thine own self be true,” McGreevey said. “The resignation was painful and difficult and humbling, but it was also perhaps the most authentic act of my adult life. It sounds ironic, but my life is filled with so much more meaning and purpose today. It’s just understanding your place in the world with a sense of humility, but also the joy that service brings. I really work just to be open, which is so ironic for somebody who planned every phase of my life year by year, decade by decade.
“I think my circumstances forced me to acknowledge and accept my sexuality publicly and having done so, it was very clarifying in the sense that as a Benedictine priest said to me, ‘Let’s empty the can of your life on the carpet and begin to reassemble it block by block and determine what’s important and what’s not.’
The other great blessing was that this happened when I was 45. To have had this happen on my deathbed would have been horrifying. And that is for me to recognize what’s important in my life.”
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Ashley Dupré is the 24-year-old former escort who brought down Gov. Eliot Spitzer in March 2008 after it was revealed he paid her for sex. When the Feds busted Dupre’s employer, Emperors Club VIP, the governor — known for his strong antiprostitution stance — resigned.
“The most defining moment for me was when my mom called me and said ‘turn on the TV,’ ” Dupré said. “I put on the television. The governor was giving his speech. I remember sitting down and everything was in slow motion. I saw my dreams and everything I ever wanted flashing by. I knew my life was going to change. Everything I wanted was jeopardized. Being connected to something like that, I knew my name would be tarnished.
“At the time, it was complete insanity. I should have been committed. It was surreal. Here’s my life and it’s been completely turned upside down. And now I’m one of the most defining people of the decade. I don’t think it’s so much that I’m an important person, but that I’m connected to a myth that’s so important. In this culture, we built up Eliot Spitzer as this man of ethics, and he was using the very same organizations that he was prosecuting. I sort of represent the tearing down of people’s power.
“I don’t think that I’m really that special. I’m just a normal girl that was thrown into all of this. Looking back, I don’t look at it as a negative. I’m going to take it and try to turn it into a positive — reevaluate myself, go to therapy and learn more about myself as a person.”
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Sean Bell was shot 50 times by four police officers in November 2006 as he was leaving a bachelor party, unarmed, in Jamaica, Queens, on the morning of his wedding. The cops were acquitted of all charges in 2008. His fiancé Nicole Pa u l t r e – Bell tells The Post how his death shaped the city.
“Sean’s death showed the issues between our community and the police department. We look to them to protect us, there needs to be trust there. What happened to Sean didn’t help that relationship. It wasn’t just my family that was affected; it was a tragedy that struck the community and the world.
“I just wish there could be a small piece of justice that comes from Sean’s death so that it wasn’t in vain. The street renaming [The City Council passed a bill this Monday to name a stretch of Liverpool Street in Queens “Sean Bell way”] will always remind us of the tragedy that happened and it will honor his memory.
“I hope we can see some change in the leadership and sensitivity training, teaching officers how to patrol certain neighborhoods differently. My family and me will mourn Sean forever. What happened to him that night was wrong. He should be here today. My three-year-old will never know what her dad’s voice sounds like.”
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Korean-American chef David Chang — the 32-year-old phenom who was awarded two Michelin stars in 2008 — has opened four restaurants this decade, including Momofuku Noodle Bar, Momofuku Ko, Momofuku Ssam Bar, and Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar. He explains how his restaurant philosophy represents a new fine-dining movement in the city.
“The ’70s and ’80s were the eras of the glam French restaurants and the ’90s were all about the great chefs and the heyday of socalled ‘fine-dining.’ The past decade there was a shift. Sure, there are seven or so hugely important restaurants like Craft, Per Se, Masa and Blue Hill at Stones Bar. I just felt, I’m never going to cook better than those guys.
“I also found that good food doesn’t mean four-star food. There was amazing food in Japan and in Asia right off the street and it really influenced me. “My goal was how do I make food delicious for everyone. I wanted to make great food that is not considered elitist. With Ko [a 12-seat restaurant which he opened in March 2008], I thought, maybe we can do something different.
“Why can’t we hold ourselves to the highest standards, even though we’re a hole in the wall? It was pretty radical, the whole changing of the dichotomy between the high and the low. Who cares if the atmosphere is total s–t? What we serve is really, really good food.”
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Joshua Persky, an out-of-work investment banker, became a symbol of the financial crisis in 2008 when he wore a sandwich board and walked the streets of Manhattan advertising himself as an “Experienced MIT grad for hire.” His desperation gained him loads of media attention and eventually a job. But he was laid off again in April and now the Upper West Side resident has his own consulting business.
“In 2005, I became an investment banker and within three years, I was out of work. Things got worse and worse. Bear Stearns collapsed and my prospects became bleak. My wife and I couldn’t afford to renew our apartment lease. She took our two children home to her parents in Omaha and I moved to a smaller apartment and then in with my sister. I went out to Park Avenue to hand out my resume, generate a few new leads and find a job. I became famous for being unemployed.
“I was completely overwhelmed and surprised by the positive reaction — the smiles, the encouragement.
“I was born and raised in New York City and have seen these cycles before. In the spring of 2000, the high-tech bubble burst, and many of us were downsized and looking for work.
“After Sept. 11, I was very fortunate. I found a job in commercial banking . . . but after a few wonderful years, the accounting scandals — Enron, Worldcom and Charter Communications — put an end to my job.
“New York City will recover and see rampant prosperity again. It will continue to be a city of endless distractions, creativity, innovation and hard work.”
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Alexandra Penney was one of hundreds who lost their life savings in Bernie Madoff ’s billion dollar Ponzi Scheme when he was arrested in December 2008. Penney, who was editor of Self magazine, has written a book about her experiences called “The Bag Lady Papers,” out in February.
“I was cooking dinner for two of my friends. I cooked an orange Grand Marnier soufflé and was letting it sit before I put it in the oven. The phone rang and it was my very close friend, Alex. ‘I know you’re money is with Madoff,’ he said. ‘He’s been arrested for a Ponzi Scheme.’ ”
“My son called next and said to me, ‘Mom, Madoff’s been arrested. Apparently he’s been a big fraud. Don’t worry you can come live with us.
“I had checked Madoff out with everybody, and only one person showed some hesitation. Everybody else said that he was a legend, that I was golden, that I was lucky to be a part of his club. Because I was only making a steady 10 to 11 percent, I never thought I was being greedy. I felt safe and secure.
“When I get nervous, I start cleaning. So I called my guests and told them not to come and started cleaning anxiously. I turned and looked at the soufflé. It had fallen.
“And in that nanosecond I understood that the whole economy had collapsed — and that fallen soufflé filled with air was really a metaphor for what happened to me and to the city of New York.”
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Manhattan’s single women were changed forever when Candace Bushnell wrote her tour-de-force novel “Sex and the City,” which was made into an HBO series from 1998 to 2004 and two feature films. Bushnell has authored four other books, all of which have been optioned into movies or series and will publish her fifth, “The Carrie Diaries,” due out in April.
“When I started writing ‘Sex and the City’ in 1994, society truly believed that there was something seriously wrong with a woman over the age of 35 who was not married.
“She was deemed to have psychological issues, or was so desperate, she pushed men away. Or she had baggage. Or was damaged by having had too many dates that didn’t lead to marriage.
“And yet at the time, being 34 and single myself, I found my experiences radically different from what people had construed as the norm. The single women I knew were vibrant, interesting, full of their own ideas and funny.
“I’ve always been a firm believer that men, marriage and children are not the ‘answer’ for all women, so when I meet young women these days who want to work on their careers and are not obsessed with finding a man, it makes me happy. If they cite the characters in ‘Sex and the City’ as their role models, so be it.
“In my ideal decade, women would be so cool with each other, there would be no such thing as the Mommy Wars [which pits working women against stay-at-home moms]; Katie Couric would have been celebrated instead of belittled for becoming the first female anchor on network news; gay marriage would be legal; Hillary Clinton w o u l d n ’ t have been criticized for her c l o t h e s ; and the word ‘cankles’ would not exist.
“To me, the ideal happy ending would be a woman becoming the president of the United States or a CEO or inventing the cure for cancer — something along those lines. Sadly, it’s probably still a little out there for a general audience. I’m sure an editor would tell me to stick in a marriage or something so the audience would be happy.”
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Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger became a national hero when he landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River last January. After meeting President Obama, being feted everywhere from City Hall to the Super Bowl, Sullenberger returned to the skies in September.
“I think in many people’s minds, the September 2001 terror attacks in New York and the 2009 emergency landing in the Hudson were bookends and I am very proud that my crew and I — and many others — were part of such a good news story in New York. On Jan. 15, 2009, it felt as if all of New York and New Jersey were reaching out to help us.
“I think it is the enduring power of this story to inspire people and to remind them of the potential for good that exists not only in the world, but within each of us. Every time people work together for good, it is a reminder of what is possible.”
— Compiled by Susannah Cahalan, Tim Perone and Melissa Klein