Volunteers and September 11 victims' relatives will read the names of the lost together, and the families will again be able to pay respects at ground zero during this year's commemoration, officials have said.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor David Paterson announced that public service would be the theme of the city ceremony marking the terrorist attacks' eighth anniversary.
As it was last year, the remembrance will be in a public plaza next to the 6.5-hectare World Trade Centre site. The site itself is now taken over with construction.
But relatives of the more than 2,750 people killed when terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the trade center's twin towers will be allowed to visit the site, officials said.
Many of the family members profoundly value being able to pay tribute to their loved ones in the place where they were killed. But access has become an issue as rebuilding progressed.
In previous years, relatives went down a ramp into the pit where the towers had stood. But the ramp was removed last winter to make way for construction of the steel foundation for a September 11 memorial. Two office towers and a massive transit hub are also being built.
