Long Beach is moving to become the first municipality in New York state to make September 11 an official paid holiday for city workers, a plan announced by a city council leader who was working at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and evacuated before the Twin Towers collapsed. The proposal would not affect local schools, and city officials say key details, including timing, still need to be worked out with unionized employees.
City Council Vice President Chris Fiumara announced the plan on the 25th anniversary of the attacks at the Virginia Avenue Garden of Remembrance, the city's longtime memorial site, according to the New York Post. Fiumara was working at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and evacuated before the Twin Towers collapsed, the outlet reports. The Garden of Remembrance itself dates back to 2002, when it was established by former Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford to honor local residents killed in the attacks or who later died from post-9/11 illnesses, according to Herald Community Newspapers.
September 9/11 is federally recognized as Patriot Day, a national day of remembrance, but it is not an official holiday at either the state or federal level, per the same account from the Post. That distinction traces back to a 2001 law that set the terms of national 9/11 recognition without creating a paid public holiday.
The Federal Government Never Made It a Paid Day Off
Congress designated September 11 as Patriot Day under Public Law 107-89 in December 2001, directing flags to fly at half-staff and calling for a national moment of silence, according to the U.S. Code. In 2009, lawmakers expanded that designation, naming it a National Day of Service and Remembrance, per PBS News. Notably, PBS reports the last time Congress created an entirely new paid federal holiday was Juneteenth in June 2021, the first addition to the federal calendar since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.
That gap has left cities and counties across the tri-state area to decide the question locally, with mixed results. Long Beach City Manager Daniel Creighton has said the city must negotiate the holiday with unionized workers before it can be implemented, and the city council has not yet determined when it will officially mark 9/11 as a holiday, the Post reports.
A Cautionary Tale From Amityville
Long Island has already seen how quickly these plans can unravel. Amityville recognized 9/11 as a municipal holiday in 2017, only to reverse the policy that same year after employees were forced to choose between taking 9/11 or Veterans Day off, given caps on total paid leave. Village workers ultimately voted unanimously to keep Veterans Day and instead take Black Friday off, citing conflicts with school schedules and family visits, according to CBS New York.
That kind of trade-off looms over Long Beach's plan as well, since the structure of any new paid day off must be negotiated with unions. The council wants the 9/11 holiday implemented, but conversations with municipal unions still need to happen, and a separate approval process awaits at the Board of Education if schools are ever included, since Long Beach schools are governed independently and would need to arrange holiday details with unionized teachers.
Neighboring New Jersey Took a Different Path
Just across the water, some New Jersey communities have already cleared that hurdle. Monmouth County established an official paid county holiday on September 11 in 2023 to honor 147 residents killed in the attacks, while Spring Lake adopted the holiday in 2024, according to On New Jersey. Within Monmouth County, Middletown Township alone lost 37 residents on September 11, 2001, making it one of the hardest-hit suburban municipalities in the tri-state area outside New York City, according to Middletown Township records.
The question of formal recognition reflects the same tension playing out in Long Beach: strong public sentiment for formal recognition running up against the practical limits of union contracts and government budgets.
Long Island's Losses Still Resonate
The emotional stakes behind these debates remain high a quarter-century later. Close to 500 Long Island residents died in the September 11 attacks, including 178 victims from Suffolk County whose names are etched on glass panels surrounding the Garden of Remembrance memorial in Hauppauge, a site designed by Long Beach architect Barry Silberstang, according to Herald Community Newspapers.
The lasting impact of September 11 remains part of the conversation a quarter-century later. That enduring emotional impact underscores why Long Beach officials are pressing ahead even as the administrative path forward remains unsettled.
