Sept. 11 museum admission fee stirs anger

NEW YORK — When the 9/11 Memorial Museum opens in mid-May, it will have shards of the fallen World Trade Center towers. It will have walls covered with portraits of the nearly 3,000 victims, and the watch worn by Todd Beamer when he declared, “Let’s roll,” and helped launch an attack on the Flight 93 hijackers.

It will have a burned-out ambulance that raced to save people, and helmets of firefighters who battled dust and flames to reach those trapped in the ruins.

It will also have a $24 admission fee, which directors say is needed to maintain the site, a cost that critics say undercuts the idea of ensuring that all the world can visit and learn from the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001.

In a city where people shell out more than $100 for tickets to “The Lion King,” where the Bronx Zoo charges about $20 a head, and where the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s recommended donation is $25, the Sept. 11 museum’s fee has touched a nerve like no other.

Even victims’ survivors and first responders, who will get in free, are split on the issue, which was formally announced Friday as museum officials detailed artifacts that will be on display and defended the entrance fee.

The fee issue is the latest controversy facing the National September 11 Memorial & Museum nonprofit organization, which was created to oversee the museum and the adjoining, outdoor memorial. The memorial, which is free, opened to the public on schedule on Sept. 12, 2011. The museum had been expected to open a year later.