Sept. 11 Victims' Kin Slam Memorial Plan

Sept. 11 victims' kin slam memorial plan
BY LISA MUÑOZDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

A group of Long Island families of Sept. 11 victims has launched a protest against the design of the World Trade Center Memorial.
The relatives believe the planned memorial, Reflecting Absence, would not properly honor their loved ones.
"It's not remembering the 3,000 people who died," said Matt Walsh, one of about two dozen protesters who gathered last Thursday in front of the Perry B. Duryea state office building on Veterans Highway to dramatize their concern over the design of Reflecting Absence.
Walsh, whose 27-year-old firefighter son Mike Brennan died in the attacks, added, "And the silly tower they want to build is just a target for more terrorists."
Reflecting Absence has been praised by Gov. Pataki, Mayor Bloomberg and architecture critics.
One of the protesters' chief complaints is that the "footprints" of the two towers would be covered with two reflecting pools.
The relatives said they are also angry that some of the victims' remains are still at Fresh Kills landfill and that the names of the deceased will be listed in random order at the memorial.
"They're going to bury it and cover up the places where our loved ones died," said Rosemary Cain, who handed out prayer cards with a photo of her deceased firefighter son George.
Joanna Rose, a Lower Manhattan Development Corp. spokeswoman, said the agency continues to meet regularly with family members. "[The design] has gone to great lengths to provide access to the box beams and both footprints," she said.
Still, the design does not sit well with Michael Burke, whose brother, Fire Capt. William Burke, died when he stayed behind with two men unable to leave Tower 1.
Burke likened the planned memorial to The Gates, the recent art installation in Central Park. "To me, it's a tribute to narcissism" and nothingness, said Burke, overcome with emotion. "It's dull. It's depressing. It's cold-hearted intellectualism." Originally published on May 9, 2005