Want to See the 9/11 Memorial & Museum? It May Cost You

Once viewable for free, the 9/11 Memorial is now charging a $2 service fee to “online and phone reservations," according to CBS New York, and family members of Sept. 11 victims are not happy about it:

Although the registration fee does not apply to families of 9/11 victims, they are still upset about it.

“I think it’s an outrage. I mean, people are coming down there to pay their respects to the people that died that day. They shouldn’t have to pay, you can’t charge to get into a cemetery and I think they’re making this a revenue-generating tourist attraction,” said Jim Riches in an WCBS 880 interview.

Riches son, Jimmy, was one of the many New York firefighters who lost their life on Sept. 11. To Riches, the memorial fee is no different than “paying to get into a cemetery.”

“I think it’s going to be a revenue-generating tourist attraction, and that’s exactly what it is,” said Riches. “It’s supposed to be a memorial to the people that died.”

Sally Regenhard, who also lost a firefighter son in the attacks, calls the fee a “disaster.”

“It is just a disaster … the lines, the commercialization, the tourist trap type of atmosphere, a lack of reverence,” she said. ““We are very, very, very upset about this.”

So what’s the excuse? Why the fee?

The 9/11 Foundation says it's for operational costs for the memorial and the yet-to-be-completed museum.

“Like other similar institutions, in order to help support the operational needs of the 9/11 Memorial we have implemented a service fee, solely for advance reservations. Visitors of course may still walk up to visit the Memorial without incurring this fee,” said 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels in a statement.

The foundation added that the fee would be eliminated once construction on the museum is finished.

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Featured image AP photos.