The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
For three years, Edmontonians were unable to visit one of the most popular parks in Alberta’s capital as it underwent significant rehabilitation work. But on Thursday, the city revealed William Hawrelak Park will be open to the public again next month.
In a news release, the City of Edmonton announced March 13 would be the park’s reopening date.
The work to make upgrades to the park began in 2023, and improvements were made to utilities, facilities and developments on open spaces.
The city said the project is within its $134.5-million budget.
The city said the upgrades will make the park more accessible and will enhance connections to the river valley.
WATCH | Hawrelak Park set to reopen to visitors:
Edmonton’s Hawrelak Park set to reopen in March
The City of Edmonton has set a date to reopen Hawrelak Park after it was closed for several years for rehabilitation work. But when the park reopens, you won’t be able to see some of the upgrades that were made.
In an interview with CBC News, Matthew Everett, the general supervisor for the City of Edmonton, said most of the upgrades were made to underground systems, including storm, sanitary, water distribution and power systems.
He said no major improvements had been made to the park since it opened in 1967.
“There are some new features that you will notice, and that’s some of our accessible, connected pathways that’s going to connect all the amenities,” Everett said.
Ward papastew Coun. Michael Janz said Hawrelak Park is one of the most important green spaces in Edmonton.
He acknowledged that the reopening has been a long time coming.
“The risk was, if you opened too soon, when the trees haven’t taken root, when the grass hasn’t taken root and you have people going in there, it risks erosion, it risks destroying some of that infrastructure that you put in,” Janz said.
“I hope every Edmontonian feels just as proud of this space as I do.”
Juanita Spence, the city’s supervisor of river valley parks and facilities, said the park will only be open for what she called “casual use” in March, as the city plans to address deficiencies found after it opens to the public.
“[Visitors will] be able to do many of the things that they are used to doing there,” she said. “So they can picnic, they can walk, they can bike. [There are] lots of places to explore, linger and enjoy the park.
“Some areas … have some of the new vegetation still taking root and [it] needs some time to establish. There’s some localized work that may still be underway in small sections of the park.”
Festivals, events and picnic bookings will also return to the park beginning on June 1.
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Hamilton’s Barton Village needs some attention and the city should help to “re-invigorate” the downtown neighbourhood, say city councillors.
The neighbourhood “deserves our best effort,” the Ward 3 councillor said. “It’s a long time coming and if we get Barton Village right, we’ll get the rest of the city right.”
The area has a “high concentration of empty and vacant storefronts, abandoned or stalled development projects, and a significant amount of dumping and garbage that all negatively impact the appearance of the corridor, reducing the sense of pride and safety in the local community,” Nann’s motion said.
Those factors “overshadow any positive work we do, no matter how hard we try,” Nadine Ubl, who directs the Barton Village Business Improvement Area (BIA), told councillors.
‘Lingering perception of neglect’
Vacant storefronts, derelict buildings and dumping on Barton Street E., overshadow the hard work of community members, Nadine Ubl, who directs the Barton Village Business Improvement Area, told councillors. (Aura Carreño Rosas/CBC)
Ubl spoke in “enthusiastic support” of Nann’s motion in the council chambers, saying “a lingering perception of neglect,” is keeping down what was once “the commercial corridor of our great city.”
Nann’s motion calls for staff from various city departments to meet this quarter, audit the BIA and develop an action plan. The action plan is to include immediately enforcing existing bylaws to deal with incomplete development projects, derelict and vacant buildings and illegal waste. It’s also supposed to include finding public art opportunities and “robust” outreach to housing and health services.
From there, staff will meet with community stakeholders and identify grants and support for start-up businesses. They’re to report back to council in the third quarter to share what steps have been taken, and what the future plans are.
Ubl said they appreciated that Nann’s motion had some urgency, adding that previous plans to improve the neighbourhood were too far in the future.
“The people who live and play and work in the neighbourhood know its value and know its potential,” Ubl said, and while the neighbourhood has detractors, “it’s time to change their minds.”
The office of the Barton Village Business Improvement Area neighbours multiple businesses on Barton Street E. (Aura Carreño Rosas/CBC)
Alice Plug-Buist, a BIA member who leads the Helping Hands Street Mission charity, also spoke in favour of Nann’s plan.
She called it “a plea for help and a request for inclusion after many years of neglect and exclusion from participation in the flourishing of the city.”
A community that cares, struggles
Currently, Barton Village is an affordable place for people to live and to start businesses, Plug-Buist said, adding she wants the neighbourhood to flourish so more newcomers want to stay there.
To do that, she said, people need to hear good-news stories about local successes to inspire and encourage them.
Councillor Ted McMeekin (Ward 15) asked Plug-Buist what gives her hope about the community.
“I consistently see both a community that cares and engages deeply as well as a community that struggles and feels forgotten,” she said. Supporting Nann’s motion is like council telling residents: “We want to help you have hope again.”
The family of a Santa Ana man shot and killed by police last week has filed a claim against the city, the first step in filing a civil rights lawsuit. Police say the driver – 18-year-old Victor Lopez — reached for his gun, but the family’s legal team says he was trying to surrender and […]
Are you excited about Bethesda games on Switch 2? (Microsoft)
The Friday letters page is relatively enthusiastic about Horizon Hunters Gathering, as one reader thinks Nintendo should ditch GameChat on Switch 2.
Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Poor Partner So that Partner Showcase from Nintendo was awful, as we all thought. Although it was actually quite a bit worse than I was expecting, to be honest. There was no real surprises for anything big, Elden Ring and The Duskbloods weren’t there, and the mic drop at the end was Bethesda.
I don’t want to get into fanboy territory but if there is one developer whose success I have never understood it’s Bethesda. OK, Skyrim was innovative back when it came out but stuff like The Witcher 3 did the same idea much better. More importantly, Bethesda has never made anything that good again.
Fallout 4 is significantly worse than 3 and I, along with most people, didn’t even bother with Starfield – which you’ll notice was not one of the three games they revealed. But what really gets me is how bad Bethesda is technically. Everyone’s been saying it about them for years and yet they never change.
And so what do we see in that new trailer? What looks like a terrible port of a game that should have no problem working on the Switch 2. If that’s what you’re showing off I hate to think what the rest of the game looks like. Torrence PS: The only saving grace was two different dinosaur games!
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Welcome bomb What a nice surprise the Nintendo Direct pulled today.
A Bomberman Collection? Heck, yes! Takes me back to when I was 10 years old playing Super Bomberman 2 single and multiplayer and destroying the CPUs.
Also, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in June, for Xbox and Switch 2? I will take that! ShaunOMacY2J (gamertag)
Small screen gaming Yikes, that Partner Showcase was weak sauce. I know we were told not to get ourselves hyped up but I really question what the point of it was. It’s not like the proper Nintendo Directs don’t have third party games, so why exactly did we need this bunch of third rate games and lazy-looking ports?
Fallout 4 looks like it runs terrible on Switch 2 and it’s going to be nearly 11 years old by the time it makes it, so I really find it impossible to get excited about it.
But what else was there to tempt anyone? Resident Evil Requiem looks like a pretty good port but there’s no way I’d buy it on Switch 2 instead of PlayStation 5. Third party games on a Nintendo format need to offer something special or be really well suited to portable play, but that didn’t seem to be the case for most of the games they showed.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on a handheld screen would be such a waste given how over-the-top and detailed the graphics are. Another Nintendo Direct and yet more disappointment. Goldwing
Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk
Evil deal While most of what I was interested in from yesterday’s Direct was already known about, the release of the Pragmata demo was at least a welcome surprise.
Short but sweet as a demo, but it’s sold me on the game. Hopefully I get better at the hacking and combat at the same time, it’s a bit like rubbing your stomach and patting your head. But it already feels like it’ll be a good game.
Capcom are really going through a golden period. The new Resi looks good too, the triple pack of 7, 8 and 9 on Switch is just £82 at Argos, which is tempting, even for Game-Key cards.
I do wish Elden Ring had been in the Direct though. Euclidian Boxes
GC: That is a very good price for the Resi trilogy.
Forgotten birthday We are getting very close to that Zelda 40th anniversary and Nintendo still hasn’t said a thing, except for some concerts. Are they really going to ignore such a big number, even as they make a fuss about Pokémon turning 30?
You’d think they’ have a game lined up to go along with it, probably a remaster or remake, but I don’t see how they’ve got time to release it now. Even if they shadow-dropped it. Considering how multiple leakers knew about the Partner Showcase, and were accurate about it, I don’t see how we get a surprise Nintendo Direct in the next two weeks.
I’d love if it did happen but at the moment I’m not even confident Nintendo will mention anything to do with Zelda this year. Since when did Link become the unloved loser who can’t get anyone to go to his birthday party? Paulie
Wasted time As achingly trend chasing as it all looked, I surprisingly found myself quite fluffed by the Horizon Hunters Gathering reveal, it looked very polished and fun.
But live service games’ moment-to-moment gameplay often is very good, it’s that they are designed to drag on forever that’s the problem; for the well documented reason of being forever games and all the monetisation models around them, I genuinely feel I need to boycott live service games.
Jan-Bart Van Beek’s assurance at the start of the video, that Guerrilla bloody love making single-player games, and will continue to make them, didn’t convince me one bit. If it’s a hit they’ll divert more time and resources to it.
At the start of the gen, and the talk of Sony having 500 or so live service games in development, I convinced myself that it was additional to single-player. But we learnt that wasn’t the case and nearly all of their traditionally single-player studios were significantly tied up with the live service push. With the $3.6 billion purchase of Bungie as well, Sony committed massive resources to it all.
So no live service games for me, or Nintendo Directs from now on. Time better spent elsewhere. Simundo
Honest addition Interesting to see Valve admit that the RAM problems have caused them to change their Steam Machine plans, at least a little bit. I think that’s the first time a company has actually admitted it, because usually they just say it won’t even when they turnaround and do a price raise straight after.
Maybe Valve would be a good addition to the console world if they’re actually going to… tell the truth and engaged with people? They’re not saying much at the moment, because the thing hasn’t been properly unveiled yet, but I’m hoping they can bring some straight talking to the industry… as well as Half-Life 3. Gantz
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Always in motion is the future The steady stream of news about the Switch 2’s fortunes is kinda interesting, it seems like it’s destined to get locked in a debate over whether it is a success or not for a while to come. I think both things can be true, it’s the fastest-selling console ever and taking Japan by storm, but also underperforming in the West and third party games sales are floundering. 18 million consoles sold is great but if everyone is just replaying Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom at 60fps, as Ubisoft weep into their Star Wars Outlaws sales, that isn’t the gaming saviour we were hoping for.
I did suspect performance in the UK might not be in line with the blockbuster figures elsewhere, the Black Friday deals (admittedly modest) ended up running right up until the end of January and the console wasn’t ever sold out over that time.
In Japan, it’s worth remembering that the machine is essentially being subsidised due to the currency problems with the yen. They have a much cheaper, locked Japanese language version that’s unavailable in other territories. Suggesting in the West, at least, Nintendo really need to bring that price down significantly somehow. Maybe ditch GameChat? I recently saw figures it was being used by less than 4% of console owners.
The latest Partner Direct lent into Japanese developed titles and franchises (outside the Bethesda reveals) in a strategy that seems to double down on the console’s trajectory so far. If Western publishers can’t turn a profit on it and so ditch support, it won’t be good for anyone at a time when we need games to be as widely available as possible. If the market fractures everything will be even worse. Marc
GC: GameChat Is unlikely to have cost very much in either R&D or manufacturing. That’s probably why it exists. Nintendo actually did better, proportionally, in the UK than most other countries, over Christmas. Whereas it did unexpectedly poorly in France, which is usually it’s biggest market in Europe. Everything is very much in flux at the moment.
Inbox also-rans So if the PlayStation 5 is selling roughly the same as the PlayStation 4 that means it’s going to come out at about 117 million sales, right? So somewhere around the fifth best-selling console of all time, above the Wii and PS1. That seems a pretty good achievement to me. PhantomZ
So glad to see that Rave Racer is getting a proper console. I was always sore it never got a proper home version, as it was my favourite in the arcades. Can’t wait to play it again. Johno
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QUEBEC — With the opposition parties saying the government is adrift, the
race to replace Premier François
took an early nasty tone this week with candidate Bernard Drainville questioning his opponent’s leadership abilities and her saying he is showing a “lack of elegance.”
And ironically, the source of the first major spat between Drainville and candidate Christine Fréchette has been over the same issue that was the start of the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s own undoing with voters two years ago: the proposed bridge and tunnel link between Quebec City and Lévis.
Only a week after
Drainville
and
Fréchette
announced they were running, the leadership race — the first in the party’s history — spilled into the halls of the legislature this week as it resumed sitting.
Despite Legault’s statement that his
government will not be put on pause
during the race, the disarray in the ranks over key issues sparked by the race — from the Quebec constitution to immigration to the timing and content of Finance Minister Eric Girard’s spring budget — is becoming obvious.
It was the intensity of the squabbling over the tunnel project that made the biggest headlines, prompting interim Liberal leader Marc Tanguay to say Thursday that it’s as if the CAQ has forgotten they are there to govern.
Legault,
who announced in January he was stepping down
, has no more authority over his team, Tanguay added.
“I think they (the clans) need to look at each other and remind themselves that they are still in government and not in the schoolyard,” Tanguay said. “What Quebecers are seeing is a sad spectacle.
“What happened was not too chic. In my time at the National Assembly I have never seen such disorder in a government team. Never.”
“They (in the CAQ) need to get a grip,” added Parti Québécois MNA Pascal Bérubé. “We are here to work.”
Tanguay said Legault’s decision Wednesday to play the peacemaker was a sign things are not going well. As the debate raged, Legault tried to smooth the waters over the third link debate saying: “We are all for the third link, including the two candidates.”
Legault, the CAQ party founder, added the discussions taking place between candidates are healthy for the CAQ.
But the
tunnel-bridge debate has indeed come back to haunt the CAQ
at the worst possible time: just as it hopes to put its past gaffes and costly political flip-flops behind it via the election of a new leader.
It was Transport Minister Jonatan Julien who set the cat among the pigeons when he said in an interview with Le Soleil Wednesday that he could not move to the next step in the highway project — setting a budget and issuing a call for tenders — if there was no consensus in the CAQ ranks.
A week earlier, at a party caucus in Trois-Rivières, Julien had told reporters he was ready to announce the route the project would take and how much it would cost this winter. He estimated the total cost as somewhere between $7 billion and $11 billion.
Drainville, who represents the riding of Lévis and knows his electorate, has been all in on the project from the get go. When the CAQ cancelled it in April 2023, breaking a 2018 election promise, a
tearful Drainville apologized to his voters
in public and vowed to bring it back.
But perhaps recognizing the political price the CAQ has paid for its waffling over the project, Fréchette has been more cautious before making any commitment. Polls show Quebec City region voters do not believe the CAQ government will ever proceed with the project.
“It’s a complex issue,” Fréchette said Wednesday standing in the hall of the legislature. “I want to analyze (the project) rigorously and without emotion.”
She said she is in the process of consulting the players affected and would deliver her position later. She noted not all the local mayors including Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand support the project because the roadway and tunnel would rip through densely populated neighbourhoods.
The City of Lévis would prefer it be built further east than proposed.
Trailing Fréchette badly in both of the leadership polls that have been conducted so far, Drainville seized the opening, aggressively calling on his opponent to take a stand for the project.
“Being in the CAQ is being in favour of the third link,” Drainville told reporters reading a prepared statement. “This is a test of her leadership.
“The ambivalence and hesitation of Mme. Fréchette does not send a good signal on this file as is the case on other issues where she is unable to make a decision. Indecision is the worst decision.”
That was all it took for two clans to pour into the hallways and argue about the link over the course of two days. The pro-third-link MNAs, some of whom back Drainville, were the most vocal.
Charlevoix—Côte-de-Beaupré CAQ MNA Kariane Bourassa, who says the project would be an economic boost to her region northeast of Quebec City, had trouble containing her frustration at the renewed waffling.
“We cannot back up, we cannot back up,” Bourassa said. “We made a promise to citizens, The credibility of our party and government is at stake.”
“We have been analyzing this for seven years,” added Bellechasse CAQ MNA Stéphanie Lachance. “I think the analysis has been done. I think it would be irresponsible to delay it.”
Beauce MNA Luc Provençal said he feared the issue will become a “Montreal-Quebec confrontation,” since all of the province’s taxpayers would foot the bill.
“That’s the last thing we want,” he said. “It’s time we delivered.”
“Everyone knew, in entering the coalition (CAQ) that the third link would be built,” said Samuel Poulin, the only sitting cabinet minister to endorse Drainville.
The Fréchette camp fired back both days. Cybersecurity Minister Gilles Bélanger, the first minister to announce his support for Fréchette, defended her saying it’s time for some rational thinking on the question.
“Emotion is good, emotionality is less good,” Bélanger said. “It (the Drainville line) was not very elegant.”
Two other ministers, Treasury Board President France-Élaine Duranceau and Environment Minister Benoit Charette did not want to say whether they back the third link project.
Fréchette was not present at the legislature Thursday but Drainville was, showing no signs of backing down.
“It’s part of the necessary debate that we must have in this campaign,” Drainville said. “We are in a debate of ideas and it was done very respectfully.”
Drainville this week also launched a campaign to have more than the two debates with Fréchette that the party has announced.
But interviewed by TVA later Thursday while in the Eastern Townships, Fréchette repeated that she thinks the two debates suffice. One is March 21, the other March 28. The leaded will be elected April 12.
Asked to respond herself to Drainville’s comment that she is not able to make decisions, Fréchette had one line.
“I would have expected a bit more elegance,” Fréchette said.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is urging U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to launch an investigation into Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson over her attendance at the Grammy Awards on Sunday amid anti-ICE rhetoric from celebrities and artists at the event.
Jackson was in attendance at this year’s politically-charged event because of her nomination for narrating the audiobook version of her memoir, “Lovely One.”
However, critics said Jackson clapped as various speakers criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
CRUZ DEMANDS IMPEACHMENT OF BOASBERG AND JUDGE WHO SENTENCED KAVANAUGH’S ATTEMPTED ASSASSIN
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is urging Chief Justice John Roberts to launch an investigation into Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson over her attendance at the Grammy Awards.(Getty Images)
“While it is by no means unheard of or unusual for a Supreme Court justice to attend a public function, very rarely—if ever—have justices of our nation’s highest Court been present at an event at which attendees have amplified such far-left rhetoric,” Blackburn wrote in a letter to Roberts.
Blackburn, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called for an investigation into whether Jackson’s actions violate the high court’s Code of Conduct and would require her to recuse herself from certain cases.
“To that end, in the interest of a fair-minded, impartial, and independent federal judiciary, I urge you to initiate an investigation into Justice Jackson’s attendance at this event and if her participation in any way would require recusal from matters that will come before the Court,” her letter states.
BARRETT SAYS JUSTICES ‘WEAR BLACK, NOT RED OR BLUE’ IN RESPONSE TO PARTISAN CRITICS IN FOX NEWS INTERVIEW
Ketanji Brown Jackson attends the 2026 Recording Academy Honors presented by The Black Music Collective during the 68th GRAMMY Awards on Jan. 29, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (Leon Bennett/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Attendees at the awards were seen wearing “ICE Out” lapel pins, and some winners spewed anti-ICE rhetoric such as “No one is illegal on stolen land” and “F— ICE.”
Jackson’s appearance at the event raises questions considering the court is slated to take on cases revolving around the Trump administration, including birthright citizenship and immigration.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Blackburn’s office and the Supreme Court.
In her letter, Blackburn noted that Democrats and the news media have smeared Republican-appointed justices to the court as “corrupt” and “partisan.”
She recalled how Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI., wrote a letter to Roberts urging him to ensure that conservative Justice Samuel Alito would recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election and Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot because his wife put up a Revolutionary War-era flag at their home.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“Unlike these meritless claims against Justice Alito and Justice Thomas, there are serious questions regarding Justice Jackson’s participation in such a brazenly political, anti-law enforcement event and her ability to remain an impartial member of the Supreme Court,” Blackburn wrote.
Victims of prolific sex offender Thomas McKenna have accused a Stormont department of taking money out of their pockets over an attempt to recover legal costs.
The Coquitlam School District says two secondary schools in the city are no longer under a hold and secure order on Thursday.
The school district stated that Centennial and Gleneagle secondary schools were impacted and the order for a hold and secure was at the request of the RCMP, who were present at both schools for hours.
“I’d like to start off with letting the community know that students and staff of the Coquitlam School District are safe,” Insp. Todd Balaban, acting officer in charge of the Coquitlam RCMP, said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
“Thanks to the quick actions of the schools implementing their hold and secure protocols, our officers were able to quickly attend and verify the safety and security of the school.”
The two incidents on Thursday followed similar incidents on Wednesday.
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Eight schools across Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam were also placed under a hold and secure on Wednesday after numerous threats were called into the schools.
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An elementary school in Port Moody was also affected.
“Through our ongoing investigation, we confirmed that these instances are connected,” Balaban said. “We can confirm the nature of the alleged threats have varied, but in order to protect the integrity of the investigation, no information will be provided.
“These threats were received by phone.”
Balaban added that police are aware of information circulating on social media about the investigation and are asking anyone who may have information to contact them at 604-949-5054.
“We take every threat seriously, because it’s a child, it’s family,” he added.
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“We have to take it seriously until proven otherwise. So we implement the protocols that we have in place, we have the officers attend, we assess it, and then we can downgrade it once we know that the threat is not there and that the community is safe, the schools are safe, kids are safe and staff are safe.”
Sharon Perry, a concerned parent, told Global News outside Centennial on Thursday morning that hearing the school is on a hold and secure again is scary.
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“I mean, the first time, the second time, the third time … your heart just stops,” she said.
Receiving messages that your child is scared and there’s nothing you can do is one of the hardest things a parent can go through. Living a block away from the school, seeing the police show up, seeing them block the streets, seeing the very large guns that they’re all carrying. It’s just being helpless.”
Perry said she would like to see more communication from the school district about what is happening.
A bombshell memo made public Thursday proves the city knew about the potential risks of Sept. 11, 2001 toxins weeks after the terror attacks — as officials told New Yorkers it was safe to return to Lower Manhattan, local pols said.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan) unveiled the October 2001 memo, in which Big Apple lawyers admitted the city could face tens of thousands of lawsuits, including from people exposed to toxins after being advised they could return to the area around Ground Zero too soon.
“Health advisories caused individuals either to return to the area too soon (causing toxic exposure or emotional harm) or too late (causing economic hardship),” the city Law Department wrote in the memo to Bob Harding, then–Deputy Mayor for Economic Development under Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
A bombshell memo revealed to the public for the first time proves the city knew about risks of Sept. 11 contaminants weeks after the attacks. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post
“As we head into the 25th anniversary of 9/11, it’s really just shameful that the city gave this information and refused to disclose this information,” Menin, who ran a small business in the Financial District at the time of the attacks, said outside City Hall.
“This is just such a shocking situation,” she said, “that the city of New York has failed to take responsibility for telling the downtown community and first responders that the air was safe to breathe and that we should all be staying in Lower Manhattan.”
The document does not show that the city knew about the contaminants still filling the air when it advised New Yorkers it was safe to return to the area around the World Trade Center.
But it served as a “risk assessment” showing lawyers for the city admitting they could face up to 10,000 liability claims from residents over potential respiratory issues from contaminants including metals and asbestos, Menin said.
The scathing document served as a “risk assessment” between city liability and safeguarding residents from carcinogens, Menin said. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post
Nearly 50,000 first responders and others have been diagnosed with 9/11-related cancers.
The so-called “Harding memo” was first referenced in journalist Wayne Barrett’s 2006 book “The Grand Illusion,” though it was never clear how he obtained it.
It was finally found last week by the pro-bono attorneys for 9/11 victims at the University of Texas, which inherited Barrett’s estate.
Though the university told victims’ lawyers in December that they had no record of the memo, clerks agreed to comb through 300 boxes of Barrett’s documents – and found the missing memo in January.
“The city of New York has failed to take responsibility for telling the downtown community and first responders that the air was safe to breathe,” Menin said. New York Post
“It is outrageous, and it is shocking, and it is heartbreaking that … the state of Texas is telling us more about what the city knew and when it knew it than the mayor’s offices have told us for the past 45 years,” said 9/11 victims’ attorney Andrew Carboy.
The memo release is part of a larger effort to make public records related to the Sept. 11. attacks.
The city previously moved to dismiss attempts to disclose its own toxin records, at one point claiming it had no documents – and only reversed course last year after a Department of Investigation probe spearheaded by Brewer found 68 boxes of 9/11 health-related documents, according to lawyers for some of the victims.
City Council aides hold blown-up copies of the so-called “Harding Memo,” which warned of potential respiratory issues from contaminants including metals and asbestos days after the September 11 attacks. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post
The council members and victims’ lawyers are now calling on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to fund a $3 million project to probe and release the records.
“It’s time for the mayor to step up and do what he needs to do to get the right and the information out to people who really need it,” said Thomas Hart, who sits on the board of 9/11 Health Watch.
Menin and Brewer said newly-minted mayor’s office attorney Steve Banks “favorably indicated to both of us that he was committed to do that” at his confirmation hearing Wednesday.
Ex-Mayor Eric Adams once refused to release a stash of documents showing the alleged cover-up — unless the city was granted immunity from lawsuits.
“There’s much more that we need to know, and as we are seeing from this memo, as more documents from the 68 boxes will come out,” added Rep. Dan Goldman on the steps of City Hall.
“The idea that monetary and financial concerns would dictate the actions of the city of New York for 25 years is repulsive.”
