Nov 2, 2001

Bill Clinton Helping Spearhead Post-Terrorism Revival of His Adopted City

By Verena Dobnik Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - Former President Clinton called for a strong push for renewal and rebirth in New York City, telling a Harlem audience that this is a "do, do, do" city, battling "don't, don't, don't" terrorist threats.

"New York is a city of doers," Clinton said Thursday, addressing members of the Association for a Better New York at the Apollo Theatre, near his Harlem office.

Clinton warned that in addition to the families of victims of the terrorist attacks, "there are going to be more indirect victims of this tragedy." Specifically, he said, thousands are losing their jobs, "many of them immigrants, many of them, ironically, Muslims."

To garner the needed economic energy, the former president is working with financially powerful groups like the Association for a Better New York, a coalition of private business leaders. He urged quick movement to encourage economic development.

Clinton said the restoration of the Apollo, which for decades launched stars like Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder, would be part of New York's revival in the wake of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center.

Derek Johnson, a former AOL Time Warner executive and the Apollo board's president, said the capital campaign to finance the refurbished Apollo is "an economic development catalyst."

"I like to describe us as the little engine that could," he said.

The audience at the Apollo included some of New York's most prominent black residents, including state Comptroller Carl McCall and former Mayor David Dinkins.

The ex-president joked to the group that he "always dreamed of being on this stage at night - but I didn't expect to be speaking," he said, adding that he's been practicing his saxophone.

AP-ES-11-02-01 0554EST

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-- Anonymous, November 02, 2001