This year’s Sept. 11 anniversary will be the first in which politicians are excluded from speaking at the commemoration ceremony at ground zero.

The memorial foundation sent a letter to victims’ families Wednesday and released a copy to The Associated Press.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the foundation’s chair, had said he wasn’t sure if the victims’ names should each be read this year, now that the memorial listing each name has opened.

But the letter says the names will be read by family members who lost people.

There have been concerns that political disputes are overtaking the site. Construction for the memorial museum slowed as a result of political and financial disagreements. But the foundation says that this year for the first time politicians will not speak at the ceremony.

(Source: NBC New York)