Washington will commemorate the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with a three-day citywide observance, Mayor Vincent Gray announced.
Gray said Wednesday that the city’s planned activities will honor the 13 District residents — including the three students and three teachers from D.C. Public Schools — who lost their lives in the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
A special committee has been selected to review preparations for the memorial events, which will run Sept. 9 to 11. The committee members “all have a connection, either themselves or through others close to them, to the tragic day,” Gray said.
Each day of remembrance corresponds to an aspect of the theme, “One City … One World: Peace, Tolerance, Service and Remembrance.”
Local schools will observe the first day, designated as a Day of Tolerance, with a peace-promoting curriculum. A 2001 resolution by the D.C. Board of Education requires public schools in the city observe the day with anti-racism lessons.
Washington kids are invited on the second day, called the Day of Peace, to toss rose petals at Hains Point and discuss the value of peace.
The events culminate in a citywide Day of Service hosted by Greater D.C. Cares on Sept. 11, a decade after the attacks, with a candlelight ceremony bringing the events to the close.
In other city news Wednesday:
» Gray announced the creation of the Capital Access Program to help provide loans to small businesses, which Gray called the “lifeblood of the District.” The funds were made available through a $13.1 million federal grant as part of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. Small businesses that are unable to obtain loans will have more credit available to them through the program, Gray said.
» The D.C. Office of Cable Television as well as Fairfax County Government Channel 16 are two of three finalists this year in the Excellence in Government Programming Award from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, Gray announced. Local programs “Washington Full Circle” and “Q&A Cafe with Carol Joynt” are also finalists for national awards.
» The dark substance found floating in the Anacostia River on Monday evening, which caused overnight work for the Coast Guard and the D.C. Fire Department, was not a fuel spill. The U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday that the substance was likely silt dug up from the bottom of the river. Testing on Tuesday indicated the substance was petroleum-based, but the Coast Guard said that petroleum was already in the river.
» Gray appointed the Rev. Dexter Nutall to be the city’s director of religious affairs. The Washington native and former attorney for the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance preaches at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Shaw. Nutall will work with the city’s new Interfaith Council.
