After 9/11, the businesses in my district and throughout the New York metropolitan area saw firsthand the result of a lack of availability of terrorism insurance.
There are 10,000 local governments in the state of New York. Ten thousand! Town, village, lighting district, water district, sewer district, a special district to count the other districts in case you missed a district.
In the New York metropolitan area, you can find Jews from just about every Jewish cultural community in the world.
After the 9/11 apocalypse happened in New York City, people, particularly New Yorkers, who breathed in the ash, or saw the results of that, have a tendency to keep seeing echoes and having flashbacks to it.
It means a lot to be back in New York. Particularly since one of the last senior event scheduled in the States was supposed to be here in New York. We were supposed to play in Central Park right after 9-11 and when 9-11 happened obviously things changed.
As the metropolitan Atlanta area continues to grow, it's critical that we support small businesses and the prosperity of our local community.
In June 2002, I had just finished 'Laurel Canyon' and decided to move back to Los Angeles after nearly a decade in New York. Post-9/11 New York felt different.
It's a beautiful city, and the waterfront area is fantastic. I haven't had time to visit the theatre, but I find it remarkable that Toronto has the third-largest English-speaking theatre district in the world, after New York and London. I once noticed a fellow sitting on a bench, then I realized it was a statue of Glenn Gould. It's very realistic.
I live in New York City, but it doesn't matter if you're in any large, metropolitan area, there's kind of a little bit of survival-of-the-fittest, so when you encounter kindness or people going out of their way in an empathetic way, it's almost startling.
I'd propose that each central-city child should have an entitlement from the state to attend any school in the metropolitan area outside his own district - with per pupil funds going with him.
At the end of the day local authorities are responsible for economic growth in their area. They don't buy and sell businesses, they don't build businesses, what they do is work to attract businesses their area, through a combination of things.
The National Flood Insurance Program is a valuable tool in addressing the losses incurred throughout this country due to floods. It assures that businesses and families have access to affordable flood insurance that would not be available on the open market.
After 9/11, we did see Palestinian terrorism in the context of all terrorism.
'My Name is Khan' saw the post 9/11 scenario from a Muslim perspective. In fact all films dealing with the post 9/11 conflict - whether 'New York,' 'Kurbaan' or 'Khuda Kay Liye' only showed how Muslims were victimized.
I'm a New York kid, so when I saw that plane that hit the first building, I suspected it was terrorism - blue sky day.
New York City has no need to move on from 9/11 because, in a sense, it moved on days after, moments after.
I think it's really important to realize that small businesses are often the portal for immigrants into the New York City economy. I think we have something like 40,000 small businesses that are immigrant-run in New York.