Five Star Final

By Marc-Yves Tumin

The Eternal Flame in Battery Park seemed to flicker with a special brightness for the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks, commemorated yesterday.

Besides spreading death and destruction across the financial district, the iniquitous air-pirates hijacked the livelihood of untold numbers of low-wage service workers.

Office cleaners and small stores dependent on their proximity to the World Trade Center were devastated.

Among the worst hit were the newsstand operators, who earn a marginal living. Theirs is a sad and underreported story.

I used to survey the stands in the Twin Towers concourse, along with the colorful 'doghouses' around the area later known as ground zero.

The all-night kiosks were bell buoys amid the still-scape of the noctilucent city, piloting night trawlers to port across the asphalt offing. But the plight of the newsies has shown little improvement.

"It's not a very profitable business, and there aren't a lot of people interested in filing applications," Robert Bookman, the counsel to the NYC Newsstand Operators Association, a voluntary trade group representing the 275 licensed news vendors, told me.

"About a week ago, the city and its partner, Cemusa, began to replace existing newsstands.

"They're now tearing down structures that individuals still own and paid for and replacing them with structures that they do not own.

"It's a dying business. That's why we fought the City Council and then, unsuccessfully, in the courts. We felt this was a golden opportunity to share some of the advertising revenue, which is in the billions, over the course of the 20-year contract, or franchise, with the newsstand operators and thereby ensure the continued existence of these newsstands and the profitability of them. They refused."

Who makes money off the newsstands? Without a doubt, the delivery truck drivers, who belong to a powerful union and can rake in $150,000 a year.

Newsies work for a fraction of that. The hours are endless. Display space is at a premium. And they keep less than 20% of the price of the papers they sell.

The only real money for newsies is in residuals: People are creatures of habit and buy smokes, candy, soda, gum, and lottery tickets at their local stand.

If a newsie misses his "draw," or delivery, the customer's liable to stroll across the street.

The life of one newsie, who asked to be called Salman for this piece, is typical. He's in his 20s, from a rural part of Bangladesh, and manages a West Side kiosk.

"I was a student. I was almost finishing high school. As I was finishing high school, I got the immigration visa. I came to the United States in 1996," Salman told me.

"When I came to the United States, I was admitted in high school. I finished high school in 2000. While I was finishing high school, I was doing a part-time job.

"On weekends also, on the day I was off from school, I was working in a discount store, a 99-cent store.

"It was a very hard job, 12, 14 hours a day. All of a sudden, I needed some money, cash money. This guy said, 'O.K. We have store that will need people. You might work for me on that store.'

"I started first to working in his [Brooklyn] store as a part-time. During that time, I was doing college.

"Now I got a break from college. I told him that I want to do a full-time job. So he gave me a full-time job, which I am doing for 12 to 14 hours a day.

"Of course, I'm tired because I work seven days a week. I just take a break whenever I need - emergency; some family matter - to take off and [go] home. For up to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, I make approximately $450.

"There are no [medical] benefits. There's no any benefits besides the hour that we work.

"For that hour, you get payment and nothing else. There's no other benefits or bonus or anything.

"This coming week, I'm planning a vacation in my country with my parents because there's no one to take care of them.

"When I come back, [I'm] actually not sure what I'll do, but I'll try to look for [something] better.

"It's better not to live in this world with this kind of job."