Westchester seeks more money for 9/11 Memorial

Westchester seeks more money for 9/11 memorial
By KEITH EDDINGSTHE JOURNAL NEWS(Original Publication: May 17, 2005)
WHITE PLAINS —

Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano's chief adviser visited the Board of Legislators yesterday to ask for an additional $200,000 to build a memorial to the local victims of the 9/11 terror attacks. Along with preliminary approval for the money, she got another scolding about how the project has been handled.

The reprimand came even after the adviser, Susan Tolchin, said the overruns had been trimmed from $700,000 to $500,000 by minor redesigns and low bids. She said a private fundraising drive has raised $300,000 in cash and pledges so far, and added that she and Spano "fully anticipate" the effort will additionally cover the county's full share of the cost, now expected to be $350,000. The state also is kicking $50,000 into the project, which is now expected to cost a total of $700,000.

In the meantime, Tolchin asked the legislators for $200,000 on top of the $150,000 the board already approved to cover the overruns.

The overruns occurred when engineers discovered the memorial would have to be built with steel, not cable as originally planned, if it is to stand. Meeting jointly, three committees approved the extra money and sent the request to the full board for a final vote Monday.

Before the votes, two legislators criticized the overruns and other elements of the project; one praised the effort.

"The administration has mishandled this from Day One," Martin Rogowsky, D-Harrison, told Tolchin. He said architects who stuck by the rules for the competition to design the memorial, which capped costs at $200,000, ended up competing against a design that will cost more than three times as much.

The memorial will be composed of 109 steel rods, one for each county resident killed in the attacks, which will rise from a circular base and intertwine like a maypole to form a slim, 80-foot tower. It was designed by Frederic Schwartz of Manhattan.

"We were all very upset by the increases," Tolchin responded. She noted that a memorial and other buildings at the site of the attack in Manhattan also have gone through costly redesigns.
The Westchester memorial will be built on Kensico Dam Plaza in Valhalla. Spano will hold a news conference at the site today to introduce the company that will build it.