I'm a licensed NYC Tour Guide, with an LLC (ManhattanWalkingTour.com), insurance, employees and all the other trappings it takes to run a small business, but I don't make enough money to donate to the 9/11 memorial like, say the tour bus companies, or the water taxi companies. Because of that, I have to get my 9/11 memorial tickets for my guests off the internet. That means I have to know the names of my guests months in advance (which is impossible for me) because that's the wait for the general public. I book my tours a week or two in advance, so my Downtown Tour can NOT OFFER a ticket to the memorial. Of course, if you buy a ticket for the water taxi, they ask you if you would like a 9/11 memorial ticket free. So, I can't get them because I'm a little fish in the New York scheme of things. However, if I could afford to donate large sums of money, I could give away tickets too. And the well-off who don't want to wait can just pay the $20 bucks whether they use the taxi or not and get a ticket.
So basicly, if you have enough money, you can buy a ticket and if you donate enough money, you can get as many tickets as you want. Well, that's unfair! I asked the folks in charge of the 9/11 memorial before it opened about this and they said, "Oh, it won't be like that." Well, it's like that. I'm thinking there are some other small business owners like me who need more access, but don't have mega bucks. So If we all had those tickets available, we might not be waiting months for access to the memorial. They are also asking congress to fund the site. That's me and you paying, so let's make our voices heard now.
If I've convinced you we need to tweak the system, please make your voice heard.
For those of you who do the research before you act, here are some links to start with.
http://www.nywatertaxi.com/tours/hop-memorial
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/opinion/support-for-the-911-memorial.html?_r=1
