The Jersey Journal
STATE MOVES AHEAD WITH 9/11 MEMORIAL
(The Governor can stop this memorial design! It's
his responsibility to listen to the people who love LSP and find a solution to
this controversy. People's involvement with petitions, emailing the Governor and
contacting elected officials can stop this memorial design from ruining the
sacred views and covering over the Terminal's Public Plaza with the Hill and
Walls design.)
Friday, August 18, 2006
By JACK HERMAN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
The state has no plans to alter the 9/11 memorial it is building at Liberty
State Park in Jersey City, even as local opposition mounts.
On Wednesday night, hundreds of residents, politicians and park enthusiasts
gathered in front of the construction site for the memorial, in the northeast
corner of the park, saying it will obscure the park's "sacred" view of
lower Manhattan.
Jay Watson, deputy commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection,
which is overseeing the project, told the crowd he was there to listen, but
later said the project has been "vetted enough," and the state has no
plans to hold a public hearing (note: the Public Meeting on 8/16, was held by
Friends only because the DEP refused to provide a Public Meeting for this major
project in a public park, was the FIRST public meeting, the FIRST public
input after the 6 finalists were chosen by the "jury". Sam).
.
State Assemblyman Lou Manzo, D-Jersey City, said yesterday he has introduced
legislation which would require the state to hold a hearing and also wrote a
letter to DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson asking questions about the project's
funding and construction.
Others, including the Friends of Liberty State Park and Jersey City Mayor
Jerramiah Healy, have written letters asking Gov. Jon Corzine to intervene.
Calls to Corzine's office were not returned yesterday.
Bruce Kane, who lost his 40-year-old son in the World Trade Center attack and
was on the committee that picked the memorial, said the idea to build a memorial
in Liberty State Park has been in the works since the victims' families met for
a candlelight vigil two weeks after Sept. 11, 2001.
A group of artists and architects whittled down 352 selections to 16(note - I
think it was 6 finalists, Sam) , which a group of victims' families chose from.
Most of the ideas were impractical, environmentally unsound or too expensive,
Kane said. They eventually decided upon two 30-feet tall, 200-feet long
stainless steel walls, which will be cut into a gently sloped hill and be
perpendicular to the water.
"The twin walls are focused on Ground Zero and provide a powerful,
contemplative space for the names," according to the Web site of architect
Frederic Schwartz. "The memorial's strength lies in its simplicity and
ability to resonate as it honors not only those lost but also New Jersey's
witnesses, survivors and volunteers."
Almost everyone attending Wednesday night's three-hour, open-air meeting -
including many local politicians - hope to see the memorial moved somewhere else
in the park. The Friends of Liberty State Park suggested moving the monument,
redesigning it or having a public meeting to discuss it (note, I said
"discuss the 6 finalists", Sam).
"People should not have to walk up or around a 10-foot high hill that
is a couple of hundred feet long, or walk through walls that are 30 feet high
and 200 feet long just (note - I didn't say "just") to
see the powerful open vistas," said Friends of Liberty State Park President
Sam Pesin. "It blocks the sacred view of Ground Zero, lower New York City
and the Hudson River."
Pesin also said he objects to the fact that the DEP charged his group the normal
$1,000 fee for holding the meeting there.
Newhouse News Services contributed to this report
Up