Residents move away from Ground Zero

Air quality is poor in homes near Ground Zero

		By BBC News Online's Megan Lane in New York

Once there was a waiting list to live in the neighbourhood shadowed by the World Trade Center. Now residents are debating whether to stay or go, and landlords are dropping rents to stem the flow.

The well-to-do residents of Battery Park City once gloried in their breath-taking view on the perimeter of the World Trade Center. Today, it literally catches their breath as smoke and dust still hangs in the air over their upscale condominiums.

"The air quality sucks," says Joshua Rockoff, 25, who rents a studio apartment just a few streets from the ruins of the twin towers. "I wake up every day with terrible sore throats. I asked my doctor about it and he said the only way to fix it is to move out."

Joshua Rockoff used to have a view of the World Trade Center

Many of his neighbours have done just that, especially the elderly and those with families. Whereas once there was a waiting list to live in this exclusive corner of south-west Manhattan, the clamour is now all but silenced. Many buildings in the 92-acre landfill site - built, coincidentally, on the dirt excavated during the construction of the trade centre - have about a third of the apartments vacant.

"The only people left are young singles who work around Wall St and need to be there. And even they are looking to move out."

Joshua himself wants to move, but not out of Battery Park City. "I want to stay down here but I want to see the water. I used to have a view of the World Trade Center. Now I want to see the Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty."

Evacuated

When those towers came down almost two months ago, Joshua was among the 9,000 Battery Park City residents to be evacuated. During the two weeks that he was unable to get back into his apartment, he told BBC News Online of his plight as one of Manhattan's new homeless.

"I slept in homeless shelters, in public libraries, on office floors. When I moved back in, this place was trashed. The whole apartment was covered with a layer of dust.

"I had to dry-clean every single item of clothing I own; I had to dry-clean my whole bed; my laptop and DVD player were ruined; my computer was full of dust. And the place just smelled."

Battery Park City rental prices

Standard one bedroom flat, pre-11 September: $2,900

Standard one bedroom flat, post-11 September: $2,000

For those like Joshua who remain - and those lured in by reduced rents - grim reminders of the terror attacks abound. On their doorstep is the massive excavation site that is also a crime scene and the resting place for thousands whose bodies have yet to be recovered.

By day, lorries rumble past carrying rubble and twisted girders to refuse barges, by night floodlights illuminating the site spill a bright glow into the streets. And each day brings a stream of tourists eager to see the devastation with their own eyes.

"The trees are being cut down in case they are poisoned, the sidewalks are ripped up, there's a police officer on almost every corner. I could leave my wallet in the middle of the street and no-one would dare touch it."

Homecoming

But some aspects of life in Battery Park City are slowly returning to normal. Residents no longer need to negotiate up to four police checkpoints - some requiring two forms of ID - just to get home. The shops and restaurants lining the once-quiet streets have reopened.

Most have "Welcome home" signs and community notices advertising counselling sessions for those who witnessed the carnage.

Shops and restaurants have reopened

The nearest subway station reopened almost two weeks ago - but it is so close to the ruins that that staff wear face masks and commuters can smell Ground Zero when the train doors slide open. When the cars rattle under the site, a respectful silence descends among those riding the cars.

It may sound a cliché, but those living so close to such adversity have rediscovered their community spirit.

"Nobody talked to their neighbours before 11 September," Joshua says.

"Now we talk all the time. People knock on my door to watch football games or to borrow a cup of sugar. I thought that only happened in the movies."