John W. Sutter, the paper’s owner and publisher, quickly saw the desperate need for more information – on issues such as air quality, street closures, school relocations, apartment building reopenings — and expanded. On the Express’s scheduled offweeks after the attack, Downtown Express published combination issues with its sister weekly publication, The Villager, and distributed the special issues to any D.E. boxes and dropoff locations our distributor could get access to.
On Nov. 20, 2001, the paper changed permanently to a weekly.
The paper earned first place Community Service and Leadership awards from the National Newspaper Association and the New York Press Association for its expansion after the crisis. In subsequent years our coverage of the rebuilding efforts have earned first place NYPA awards for coverage of local government, editorials and a second place spot for in-depth coverage.
