How to Get Passes to the National 911 Memorial This Fall

Admission to the National 911 Memorial at Ground Zero in New York City (which you likely saw on television yesterday when Presidents Obama and Bush formally opened the new site) is free of charge. But only 1,500 people can visit the memorial at any one time. That limited capacity has caused officials of the Memorial to announce, on numerous media appearances, that all such visits (via passes issued online) have been reserved  for several months to come.

They are obviously taking a conservative approach, to avoid their system being totally overwhelmed during these first weeks of the Memorial's opening. Yesterday afternoon, I went to the Memorial's website ( www.911memorial.org ) and easily obtained two passes for an afternoon visit (visits are timed, and you select a precise quarter-hour for entering the grounds) in late September. It would appear that numerous late-afternoon passes for October are also available now, too.