After nearly 25 years of calls for transparency, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled tens of thousands of city documents on Tuesday that confirm leaders were aware of hazardous air quality in downtown Manhattan following the September 11 attacks.
Mamdani, joined by first responders, advocates, and “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart at City Hall, announced the release of more than 170,000 pages of records. The documents, now available via an online portal, include memos dating back to the Giuliani administration and indicate that the city understood the health risks posed to responders even as it publicly asserted the air was safe to breathe.
“People got sick because the leaders they trusted lied and told them they were safe to breathe in toxic air,” Mamdani said. He added that the documents had been sought for decades by advocates who needed official proof of what they already knew.
Among the most significant finds is the “Harding Memo,” an October 2001 internal document from then-Deputy Mayor Robert Harding. The memo suggests the city recognized both the dangers to air quality and its own legal liability, contrasting sharply with official statements at the time. Another document revealed the presence of asbestos on the facade of 15 John Street in July 2002, months after the attacks and away from the immediate Ground Zero site.
Jon Stewart, a longtime advocate for 9/11 responder health benefits, criticized the prolonged fight for transparency. “Many of those victims had to fight for the documents while they were sick and dying,” Stewart said. He noted that while the information might not have changed outcomes for families who have lost loved ones, it would have alleviated the struggle to get officials to acknowledge the poisoned air.
The disclosure comes as part of a settlement with the advocacy group 9/11 Health Watch, which had sued the city to compel the publication of the records. City officials noted that the documents were only located last year when 68 boxes of records were discovered in a municipal office, following numerous Freedom of Information Act requests over the years.
According to advocacy groups, nearly 6,000 people have died from illnesses linked to the 9/11 attacks, with many more suffering from chronic conditions. While Mamdani declined to explicitly blame his predecessors, stating he would leave that judgment to New Yorkers, he acknowledged that successive administrations had ignored demands for clarity.
The mayor affirmed that the city would continue to support two federal programs established under the Zadroga Act: the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. These initiatives provide medical care and financial relief to residents and workers who were in downtown Manhattan during or after the attacks and subsequently developed related illnesses.
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