9-11 Memorial "changes its mind" - Will charge fees

[ShootSpeeders]

The cynics are proven right again - everything is a scam.

EXCLUSIVE: 9/11 Memorial charging $2 reservation fee; victims' families furious - NYPOST.com

Posted: 12:40 AM, April 14, 2013

The 9/11 Memorial foundation, funded to the tune of $830 million, has begun nickel-and-diming visitors for ticket reservations.

Even though the nonprofit has long vowed admission to the sacred site would be free, it is now demanding $2 per ticket for all advance reservations made online or by phone.

“I don’t want the American public to have to pay a dime to pay respects to my son,” said Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son, Christian, died in the World Trade Center attacks.

“They made . . . a vow that no one would ever be charged for going to the memorial, but money is the bottom line here,” she fumed.

“They’re making money off the people that died. It’s disgusting,” said Jim Riches, a retired FDNY deputy chief who lost his firefighter son, Jimmy, on 9/11.

The nonprofit claims on its Web site that it “does not receive city, state or federal funding for its operations.”

But from 2006 to 2011, it pulled in about $295 million in taxpayer-funded grants for construction.

It also reaped more than $430 million in private donations after the tragedy, including pennies raised by millions of patriotic American schoolchildren.

Add that to the nonprofit’s swanky salaries: Ten of the 12 directors raked in more than $200,000 in 2011. Daniels pulled down $336,224 in salary and benefits, and Museum Director Alice Greenwald made $351,171, tax filings show.

One former employee, Joan Gerner, got a $300,000 severance after leaving the foundation — on top of her $439,463 salary.

 

[Mr. H.]

Be glad Ticketmaster isn't processing registrations. Then it would be $38 a pop.

 

[ShootSpeeders]

Be glad Ticketmaster isn't processing registrations. Then it would be $38 a pop.

I'm sure that will happen in a few years. This $2 fee for advance reservations is just the start and everyone knows it.

 

[TheOldSchool]

A common factor in all types of markets (free and otherwise)... nothing is sacred.

 

[Mr. H.]

I understand that processing reservations requires costly resources, but look at the compensations to those directors!

 

[ShootSpeeders]

I understand that processing reservations requires costly resources, but look at the compensations to those directors!

That's the way all "non-profits" work. Non-profit means the organization does not make money but the people who run the organization make a fortune. In fact they pay themselves huge salaries just to make sure there is no profit. It's all a racket.