SL 8/17/06 Story

9/11 walls will ruin city view, some say

(headline should have said 10 foot high by approximately 200 foot long Hill will ruin city view, Sam)

Liberty State Park memorial facing criticism
Thursday, August 17, 2006
BY ANA M. ALAYA
Star-Ledger Staff

Elected leaders from Hudson County called upon Gov. Jon Corzine yesterday to redesign or relocate New Jersey's planned 9/11 memorial at Liberty State Park, claiming the tribute will ruin a view of the Manhattan skyline and Ground Zero.

The remarks were made during an outdoor meeting hosted by the Friends of Liberty State Park, a volunteer group that has also asked the state to modify or relocate the memorial or hold public hearings on the design.

It has been nearly two years since a panel of family members of 9/11 victims chose the winning design from 320 entries.

The memorial, called "Empty Sky," features two stainless-steel walls -- symbolizing the fallen towers -- that will stretch 200 feet long and rise 30 feet high and bear the names of more than 700 New Jerseyans who died on 9/11. Cut into a gently sloped hill up to 10 feet high, each wall will be built proportional to the height and width of the Twin Towers.

Sam Pesin, president of the Friends of Liberty State Park, an 800-member volunteer group that has fought to preserve the open spaces at the park, said the group is not opposed to a memorial. Rather, he said, the group is concerned the size and location of the memorial will ruin the skyline vista.

"This massive design severely hurts Liberty State Park," Pesin told nearly 200 people gathered near the site of the memorial near the CRRNJ Terminal last evening.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy agreed.

"This is a mistake," Healy said. "This has always been a natural at traction, a place to see the Hudson River, the city skyline. There's not a vista like this anyplace on Earth. Put the memorial where no view is obstructed."

Assemblyman Louis M. Manzo (D-Hudson) said he has introduced legislation to require a public hearing on the memorial.

Family members of victims, along with state officials say the memorial is designed to embrace the panorama of Lower Manhattan. Its walls, set 16 feet apart, are meant to create a visual corridor focusing on the void where the Twin Towers stood.

John Watson, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, which is overseeing the project, was booed when he told the crowd the project will go on.

"We believe this is a great monument," Watson said. "This will encourage people to get out of their cars, go to the monument and heal and reflect on that day."

Later, Watson said there are no plans for a public hearing because the project has been "vetted enough." (note: the Public Meeting on 8/16, 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).

Watson said the "11th hour" controversy may have begun when parkgoers saw 20-foot high mounds of dirt, which he said will eventually be sculpted into a 10-foot rolling hill. (note: It is not the "11th hour" when the memorial will last for hundreds of years ! People know now that Hill will be 10 feet high and want it level with no Hill so the "national shrine" views of Ground Zero, lower Manhattan and the Hudson River that transported people on 9/11, are not cut off. People have a spiritual right to those powerful open vistas and also the Hill eliminates the Public Plaza, LSP's gathering place. Sam)

Englewood resident Bruce Kane, who lost his 40-year-old son, Howard, an employee of Windows on the World, on 9/11, said he is heartsick over the controversy.

"The memorial means the world to my family," said Kane, who wore a faded photo of his son on his shirt pocket. "It will be a place to come to regroup, and mourn with all the others."

State officials said they are hoping construction of the $12 million tribute will be completed next year.