New York’s 9/11 light tribute still dazzles; despite its popularity, the tribute’s future is uncertain

NEW YORK (AP).- The first time they flipped the switch on the ethereal spectacle known as the Tribute in Light, ground zero was still a disaster zone. Six months had passed since the World Trade Center fell. New Yorkers still felt sick and dazed, and they had grown weary of funerals. When the time came, there was little pomp. The opera singer Jessye Norman sang “America the Beautiful.” A few politicians made some brief remarks. “And then the lights came on,” recalled Michael Ahern, the theatrical producer who, for a decade now, has been orchestrating the tribute. “I thought it was absolutely beautiful,” he said. “And it seemed to mean a lot to people. People who were there — the construction workers, the recovery workers — told me they were immediately moved by it.” Few who saw it disagreed. Of all the

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