New York mayor urges return to life without fear

NEW YORK -- As New Yorkers voted in primaries for his replacement Tuesday, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani encouraged residents to move beyond the World Trade Center terrorist attack and get on with life.

"Life is risky," he said. "You can decide to live your life afraid of that happening, or you can decide to live your life the way Americans live their lives, which is unafraid. There's no reason to have this increased fear."

Giuliani's call came as workers started a third week of digging through the ruins of the twin 110-story towers and as the families of the more than 6,000 victims began receiving help in paying their bills.

The mayor cited statistics showing that violent crime has plunged in the two weeks since the terrorist attack. New York is now the safest large city in America, the mayor said.

The attack on the trade center was "a once-in-our-history incident," Giuliani said.

Giuliani, who is barred for running for a third term, discouraged New Yorkers from casting a write-in vote him, urging them instead to vote for the candidates on the ballot. But he has left the door open to trying to extend his stay at City Hall to oversee the city's recovery.

Many New Yorkers, enamored with Giuliani's performance following the Sept. 11 attack, seemed inclined to keep the mayor in office for a third term.

"It's a bad time to train a new mayor," said Douglas Green, voting in a temporary polling site for lower Manhattan residents displaced by the attack. "We need someone with experience to lead us in this time of crisis."

The number of confirmed dead at the trade center rose Tuesday to 279 as the number of missing dropped by 55, to 6,398. Giuliani said the numbers are likely to change. Of the confirmed dead, 209 had been identified. Only five survivors have been found -- none since the day after the attack.

The Red Cross announced that it has sent out its first batch of payments to the victims' families to help them with short-term expenses such as mortgages, rent or funeral costs.

The organization will give grants of up to $30,000 to families of those who died or are reported missing in the attacks on the twin towers and the Pentagon. The first checks were sent Friday.

On Wednesday, the city will provide free legal assistance to families so that they can quickly and more easily collect death benefits and get access to bank accounts without having to produce a body.