Like London In the Blitz

The New York Stock Exchange is adorned with a huge American flag Sunday in preparation for Monday's reopening. (Robert Mecea / Newsday)

As New York struggled to return to its bustling self -- preparing for the reopening today of public schools and the Stock Exchange -- Mayor Rudolph Giuliani invoked the memory of Winston Churchill, who 60 years ago rallied the British as they withstood Nazi air attacks on London.

Just as Londoners had been heroes, Giuliani said, so, too, are New Yorkers.

"We're not the first people that have gone through being attacked,” the mayor said yesterday, pointing out that he has been reading the book "Five Days in London” for courage over the past week.

"It's been really inspirational the way New Yorkers have dealt” with the aftermath of the deadly attack on the World Trade Center, he said. "They've conducted themselves as bravely as the people of Britain.”

But today will be the test of whether heroic New York can get back to its routine in short order. If, as one president long ago said, the business of America is business, then the 9:30 a.m. ringing of the bell at the New York Stock Exchange will be a moment of great symbolism. That sound will mark the opening of the first round of securities trading since air assaults on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon put the United States on war footing.

The task of preparing for the reopening of the financial district today has been formidable. Almost 2,000 Con Ed workers labored in the area, hooking up more than 20 generators to temporary power lines. As of yesterday, 9,365 Con Ed customers in lower Manhattan were without electricity because of damage related to the attack, said spokeswoman Brenda Perez.

Another 2,000 Verizon employees hustled to connect lines for phones and computers. "We're working night and day to get things back by tomorrow, believe me,” Verizon spokeswoman Yvette Mendez said.

Some Wall Street area employees said they were at once hopeful and fearful about the future, as they looked over their businesses. Humble workers at small enterprises seemed to harbor the greatest fear.

At the Record Explosion store at 176 Broadway, for instance, George Carcana swept up dust and hosed down the sidewalk. He spent hours cleaning shelves and putting music discs in place. There are no working phones in the store, he said.

"I need the money and I need to work,” he said.

Even as feverish preparations were ongoing to get the city's financial district on its feet, the mayor was urging New Yorkers to get out on the town and seek peace in the simple things in life. He took his own advice, walking down the aisle as the stand-in father for bride Diane Gorumba, whose family had suffered within a year the loss of her grandfather, her father and her brother, Michael, a probationary fireman who died battling a blaze in August.

Giuliani said he recently agreed to participate at the request of the bride's mother, whose words of wisdom touched him and gave him strength. She told him she "allows the pain to happen,” he said, "and then focuses on the good things in life -- like her daughter's wedding.”

At one point, Giuliani joked that tourists should take advantage of the fact that some people might be hesitant to go out and seats at a normally full-house Broadway show might be available. "You might actually have a better chance of getting tickets to ‘The Producers,'” he said.

The show has been experiencing roughly 100 cancellations per show since performances resumed Thursday, an employee at the St. James Theatre said.

Despite fleeting flashes of levity, the mayor along with other officials coped with the grim reality of the search for bodies and survivors in the pile of rubble that is ground zero.

The latest recovery and rescue figures showed 190 dead from the World Trade Center attack. There were officially 4,957 people listed as missing.

No survivors were found yesterday, as the mayor sadly noted. "The hope is still there that we might be able to save some lives,” he said. "But the reality ... is that we haven't found anyone.”

Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik reported that crime in the city has dipped notably over the past week. He noted the presence of soldiers and state troopers, in addition to increased number of police officers in Manhattan.

Among those recently arrested, Kerik noted, was a Vincent Massey, 40, who was charged with making a bomb threat. He also noted that a passport found by a passerby "a few blocks” from the World Trade Center, was being checked to determine if it belonged to a suspect on the plane.

Concerned that the events of last week had unleashed ugly prejudices against Arabs in this country, a group of 1,000 Arabic people carrying American flags, candles and placards saying "Terrorism is Un-Islamic” marched through downtown Brooklyn. Some of them expressed fear that Muslims in New York were being targeted for verbal abuse.

Related topic galleries: Music Theater, CBS Corp., Regional Authority, Stock Broking, Bay Ridge, Manhattan (New York City), Terrorism