Selling out Sept. 11

NEW YORK -- While "collateral damage" typically refers to additional, physical destruction, the definition has to be expanded to include the major thorn jabbing into New Yorkers' psyche -- street vendors who have set up a cramped camp along the outskirts of Ground Zero.\n"(Sept. 11) definitely still affects a lot of people in a lot of ways," said Linda Neu, a resident of Woodstock, N.Y. "I feel sad for the people that were there -- people that could even now be in ashes under the stones."\nWith this in mind, it's difficult to round the corner after leaving Ground Zero and be confronted with an onslaught of Sept. 11 merchandise.\nThe tragedy is being marketed in much the same way as the Final Four, except there are infinitely more vendors jammed onto the street. The athletics department had more tact.\n"Buy 1, Get One Free" T-shirts, photos, brochures, booklets, hats and posters -- a foam finger's only missing. \nOne photo album depicts the WTC demise in an accurate but grotesque chronological, flip-book type sequence.\n"I think it's terrible, making money off the misery of others," NYPD officer Steven Donnelly said. "It's terrible, and they shouldn't be allowed over here. Things have been done about it. If they don't have proper licenses, if they're not in a proper space, they aren't allowed to be over here."\nSeveral Sept. 11 vendors defended their jobs by pointing to the inside jacket of brochures, which said some of the proceeds went to the Learn About America Fund.\nIU alumnus Joon Park, who recently moved into an apartment building across the street from Ground Zero, said he sees the circus de' tourists surrounding the site every day.\n"The World Trade Centers have historically been a tourist attraction -- so is any place of great tragedy," Park said. "It's no surprise that vendors are selling their products there already. It's not a matter of if it will become socially acceptable, but a matter of how soon." \nJohn Pahla, manager of the Grand Slam gift shop in Times Square, said FDNY and NYPD souvenirs came in stock a week after Sept. 11 and were in incredibly high demand. \nNow over half their merchandise has law enforcement symbols on it and is still selling like hotcakes. Pahla predicted the high sales would continue like this for a long time.\nMissouri resident Samantha Brown, who was poking around at Grand Slam's child-size FDNY T-shirts, provided an explanation as to why the ever-popular "I love New York" shirts were being discarded in favor of law enforcement apparel. \n"I think it's because I respect them more, now, for their courage and their bravery and for giving their lives," Brown said. "When it happened, it didn't really sink in because it didn't really affect me, but now that I've come here and been to Ground Zero and seen it, it's finally hit home"