Michael Niewodowski landed his dream job as a chef at the "Windows on the World" restaurant, at the top of the World Trade Center, in the fall of 1999, a few weeks after arriving in New York from his hometown in Florida.
Two years later, on a crisp September evening, he jumped in his car with only the clothes on his back and started driving south. He rested only when he got to his parents' house in Bradenton, Florida. He went back to stay, with no plans to ever move back to New York.
"There's nothing left for me there," he said.
Niewodowski, 27, is among a growing number of New Yorkers who are leaving the city in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. For the first time in years it appears that more people are moving out of the city than into it.
Truck-rental company U-Haul, for instance, said the number of outbound moves exceeded inbound by 18 percent between Sept. 12 and Sept. 25. In the two weeks before the attacks, inbound moves outnumbered outbound moves by 7.4 percent. Moving companies throughout the city have reported a rise in bookings and requests for estimates. Real estate offices outside the city have been busy as well.
The urge to move was just one of the many responses in a city where millions viewed the devastating attacks unfold. Some New Yorkers have simply relocated to the suburbs, say moving companies. But a portion are set to cut all links to the city and go far away -- and they are willing to quit good jobs and uproot themselves and their families to do so.
People living and working near ground zero have shown the most emotional and immediate responses.
Radio producer Jule Gardner was at her job at New York radio station WNYC when the two hijacked planes smashed into the towers. She was evacuated with her co-workers from the building at 1 Center Street, a few blocks from the burning towers, and fled across the Brooklyn Bridge to her apartment.
"I turned around and saw the first tower collapse, then everything disappeared in a cloud of smoke and dust," she said.
When Gardner went back to work the following Monday, she couldn't go her usual way across the still-closed Brooklyn Bridge. Even if she could, however, she wouldn't have.
"What I loved about New York was walking over the bridge to go to work. After [the attacks] I couldn't do it without reliving that morning. It was always there," she said. "You walked around and could taste the concrete. There was no way to get away from it."
The following weekend Gardner went to Erie, Pennsylvania, to a friend's wedding. For the first time since the tragedy she felt serene. That same week she found an apartment in Erie, quit her job, packed her things and moved to Pennsylvania.
"I couldn't go back to my old life in New York, because it wasn't there anymore. I decided that my career is not that important."
Windows chef Niewodowski was supposed to start work at 10am Sept. 11, just over an hour after the attacks began. But he knew immediately that there would be no work that day.
"I saw everything from my apartment," Niewodowski said.
His first impulse was to track down colleagues. Over the next day and a half, Niewodowski discovered he'd lost 79 co-workers -- most of whom were also good friends. He also lost his job, and all his interest in the glamorous lifestyle of the busiest city in the world.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS