9/11 Memorial to be Installed Outside Engine 10/Ladder 10 Across from Ground Zero

NEW YORK – April 27, 2006

On September 11, 2001 when two hijacked airplanes were deliberately flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, Holland & Knight’s New York partner, volunteer firefighter and EMT Glenn J. Winuk ran out of his office at 195 Broadway, across the street from the World Trade Center site, and toward the burning buildings to help. Like so many others, Glenn died that morning, in an act that could only be described as truly heroic.

Inspired by those events, lawyers and staff throughout Holland & Knight's offices nationwide began a grassroots campaign to build a tribute dedicated to Glenn and the 343 members of the New York City Fire Department who perished that day.

The campaign, which was coordinated through the Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation, will culminate in just a few weeks, with the completion of an extraordinary 9/11 memorial – a bas-relief sculpture, 56 feet long and six feet high, made of solid bronze, depicting FDNY members responding to the scene on September 11th. The 9/11 memorial – believed to be the largest bas-relief sculpture in North America – will be presented by Holland & Knight as a gift to the New York City Fire Department at a dedication ceremony on June 10, 2006.

An inscription on the sculpture’s upper portion reads, “Dedicated to those who fell and to those who carry on – May we never forget.” “It was very important for the lawyers and staff at Holland & Knight to forever memorialize our beloved friend and partner, Glenn Winuk, as well as the Fire Department members who died that tragic day,” said Brian D. Starer, a partner in Holland & Knight's New York office and Vice President of the Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation. “We want to present this gift to the Fire Department as a token of our unending gratitude to these men and women, and their families, for the sacrifices they made that day.”

The 9/11 memorial will be installed at the quarters of Engine10/Ladder10, which is directly across the street from Ground Zero and just two blocks from Holland & Knight's office. A listing of active Fire Department members lost that day will be displayed on the sculpture by rank (in alphabetical order) and include each member’s company number. A timeline of major milestone events surrounding the September 11th attack and the Department’s rescue and recovery effort will also be incorporated into the base of the rendering.

“We are deeply grateful to Holland & Knight for this extraordinary gift that will be on permanent display outside Engine 10/ Ladder 10 for all to see and remember the events of that tragic day,” said Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta. “We are profoundly touched that so many of the firm's lawyers and staff chose this very personal way to remember not only their colleague Glenn Winuk, and the brave members of this Department who died on September 11th, but also those who continue to protect the citizens of New York City everyday. We are truly honored.”

The 9/11 memorial was designed by the Rambusch Company, a New Jersey firm of artisans which opened in 1898 and specializes in ecumenical metal work, stained glass and lighting. Scenes depicted in the sculpture will honor FDNY members who responded to the World Trade Center site and those who continued to work on-site until recovery operations were completed. The 9/11 memorial will be dedicated in a special joint Fire Department/ Holland & Knight ceremony on Saturday June 10, 2006, to pay tribute to the heroes of the FDNY and Glenn Winuk. That day was selected because it is the fourth anniversary of the conclusion of Fire Department recovery operations at Ground Zero.

About Holland & Knight LLP and Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation, Inc.

Holland & Knight LLP is a global law firm with more than 1,150 lawyers in 17 U.S. offices. Other offices around the world are located in Mexico City, Tokyo and Beijing, with representative offices in Caracas, Helsinki and Tel Aviv. Holland & Knight is among the world’s 15 largest firms, providing representation in litigation, business, real estate and governmental law. Our interdisciplinary practice groups and industry-based teams ensure clients have access to attorneys with the best expertise, regardless of location.

The Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation, Inc. was created in 1996 to take over the management and coordination of the law firm's ever-increasing charitable contributions and activities. The Foundation is funded through contributions from the firm, its lawyers, and staff and external contributions and grants. The Foundation, a Section 501(c)(3) public charity, is run by partners of the law firm and a professional staff.

Security Concerns Raised About Memorial at Ground Zero

Lower Manhattan Development Corporation
The memorial plaza at ground zero, in an artist's rendering. A security official, James K. Kallstrom, raised concerns in a confidential letter last month about the vulnerability of the planned memorial complex.


By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: April 21, 2006

Gov. George E. Pataki's senior adviser for counterterrorism has concluded that the design for the memorial at ground zero leaves it vulnerable to a terrorist attack and has called on the architects to consider revising several critical aspects.

Calling the 9/11 memorial a potentially attractive target, the adviser, James K. Kallstrom, expressed concern in a recent letter about the threat of bombs or a chemical release on the ramps or in the two immense open-air voids at the heart of the memorial. Thousands of people are expected to gather every day within the tower footprints.

Mr. Kallstrom's findings were laid out in a confidential letter to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, dated March 3. A copy of the six-page letter was mailed anonymously to The New York Times and received this week. There was no way to assess the sender's motives.

"The memorial complex possesses an elevated level of risk and target attractiveness, as a result of its international stature and large public assembly capacity," Mr. Kallstrom wrote.
Noting the value of a design that "encourages and engenders public interaction," he added that it was "these very elements, which constitute vulnerabilities from a security perspective, which are not adequately addressed in the current design documents."

In an interview yesterday, Mr. Kallstrom, a former assistant director of the F.B.I., expressed displeasure that the letter had been disclosed, declined to elaborate on the specific design suggestions and said they "were not formal recommendations but reflective of the thinking by the security team of where the recommendations could end up."

Much discussion lies ahead about their merits, complexity and cost. The budget for the memorial and memorial museum officially stands at $490 million but is likely to go up in the next few weeks when the construction manager completes its own assessment.

Mr. Kallstrom's letter could present a new hurdle in the repeatedly delayed and politically volatile effort to redevelop the site of the World Trade Center.

Indeed, the letter raises fundamental questions: Can the public be protected without creating a formidable, bunker-like atmosphere? Are the suggested changes consistent with a memorial intended to be open and permeable, knitting ground zero back into the city's fabric?
Mr. Kallstrom has not proposed undoing the basic concept of a tree-filled plaza punctuated by two voids. "I don't anticipate any major design changes," he said in the interview. "We're not looking to put a fence around the plaza or close it down. The beauty and spirit and heart of it can be maintained."

This is not the first time that safety and design concerns have collided at the site. Last year, in response to the New York Police Department's security concerns, the plan for the Freedom Tower was radically revised, yielding a structure with an almost windowless, 200-foot-high concrete base. But a security-inspired redesign of the World Trade Center PATH terminal preserved the openness of its glass-filled main hall.

In the case of the memorial, it seems almost inevitable that some changes, if they were to be put in place, would sharply affect a visitor's experience. As many as 2,000 visitors at a time might be gathered in the open-air galleries, 27 feet below street level, around the pools at the base of the voids. Dozens more would be on the open-air ramps.

In the letter, Mr. Kallstrom asked that the memorial designers consider the use of "secure-access portals, which would create a set number of dedicated pathways by which pedestrians can access the area of the plaza containing the void openings and ramp entry zones."
He also urged that the number of people on the ramps be kept as low as possible and suggested that the designers look into partitioning the ramps "to segregate exiting and entering personnel" and make evacuation, rescue and recovery easier.

Around the voids, he suggested "architectural design elements that significantly reduce the opportunity for a satchel charge explosive or airborne contaminant dissemination device to be cast, or a suicide attempt to be made into the void."

Mr. Kallstrom asked the architects to explore means of segregating "an airborne contaminant event within the ramp" and "segregating below-grade occupancies from plaza-accessible areas when security conditions so dictate."

While he said he did not foresee moving the screening station from its current planned location, at a switch-back midway along the entry ramp, he said it should probably be enlarged to allow room for more thorough searches and an area for detaining people.
Mr. Kallstrom said he was writing on behalf of the Lower Manhattan Counter-Terrorism Advisory Team, a multiagency group that includes the Police Department, and its private security consultants, Science Applications International Corporation. He also said the firm Ducibella Venter & Santore helped identify areas of vulnerability.

Although the letter repeatedly uses the phrase "L.M.C.A.T.'s recommendation," Mr. Kallstrom said yesterday that it was intended more as a heads-up to the architects and engineers about possible security considerations. Bids from contractors for the memorial's structural foundations are due next month.

"My concern is that we didn't have to go back and jackhammer things out," Mr. Kallstrom said.
The letter was addressed to Stefan Pryor, president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, with a copy to John P. Cahill, secretary to the governor. It was distributed on April 5 to senior executives of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, which will build and operate the memorial.

It is striking for its explicit references to terrorist threats. Officials are typically much more circumspect in public remarks. Mr. Kallstrom would clearly have preferred to keep it that way. "I'm going to recommend that we have an investigation to see who disclosed it," he said.

Group Protests Plan to Charge Fee to Enter 9/11 Museum

By DAVID W. DUNLAP
Published: April 11, 2006

The public will have to "pay to grieve" if an admission fee is imposed at the World Trade Center museum, a group of 9/11 victims' relatives is charging.Skip to next paragraph
General visitors will have access to two major elements of the 9/11 memorial — a contemplation room and a chamber for unidentified remains — only by passing through the museum, though relatives will have access through a private elevator.

"Would we charge admission for anyone in the country to go to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?" asked Tim Sumner, whose brother-in-law, Lt. Joseph G. Leavey of Ladder Company 15 in Lower Manhattan, was killed responding to the 2001 attack.

The contemplative centerpiece of the 9/11 memorial — one level below the galleries in which the victims' names are to be inscribed — will be a large room at the center of the north tower footprint, almost at bedrock level but open to the sky, with a symbolic mortuary vessel at its center.

Behind the east wall of this room will be a repository for unidentified remains. Surrounding both rooms will be the remnants of the tower's original perimeter columns.

Both features were conceived as part of the memorial, which will be free. The general public will be able to reach this area only through the museum because of the architectural layout of the spaces. If the museum charges admission, the public will have to pay to visit the contemplation room.

Gretchen Dykstra, the president and chief executive of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, which will build and operate the memorial, said yesterday, "I think it's not fair to say that somehow the public has to pay to grieve."

She added, "It implies that you cannot be contemplative in the memorial itself."

As to the repository for unidentified remains, she noted that it would be closed to the public anyway. Only the relatives will be admitted to a viewing room that will offer a glimpse into the storage area.

Two weeks ago, Ms. Dykstra told a City Council committee that it would be "perfectly reasonable" to charge an admission fee to meet operating expenses for the memorial complex, which she said might exceed $40 million a year. Later that week, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg spoke in favor of the idea.
Ms. Dykstra told the Council that she would "strenuously" make the case for a fee — yet to be specified — to the foundation board.

The board has not yet considered the matter. The memorial and museum are to open on Sept. 11, 2009.

On Saturday, Mr. Sumner posted a critique on the Take Back the Memorial Web site on behalf of the Coalition of 9/11 Families, which has been strongly critical of the memorial design and development process. He noted that a fee for the museum would also place the contemplation room behind turnstiles.
Mr. Sumner's posting said coalition members "strenuously object to having the unidentified remains of the 9/11 victims and their tomb treated as a museum exhibit" and also objected to the notion of "denying the public — who will pay for this memorial through both their tax dollars and contributions — the right to descend to bedrock to stand on the historic site and pay their respects as the memorial intended."

Under the guiding principles developed in 2003 by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation for the World Trade Center memorial competition, five key requirements were presented to prospective designers. One was "an area for quiet visitation and contemplation." Another was "separate accessible space to serve as a final resting place for the unidentified remains from the World Trade Center site."

The layout and placement of the contemplation room occurred two years ago, before there was any talk about admission fees at the museum. Development corporation officials concluded that it would be difficult as a matter of engineering and undesirable from the standpoint of a visitor's experience to link the gallery level and bedrock level directly for anyone except family members.

LMDC STEALS THE SOUL OF REFLECTING ABSENCE

LMDC STEALS THE SOUL OF “REFLECTING ABSENCE.” ASKS THE PUBLIC TO PAY TO GRIEVEÂ

In a shocking revelation the Coalition of 9/11 Families learned during a Historic Preservation Meeting that the LMDC unilaterally, and without public process removed the centerpiece of Michael Arad’s jury selected design Reflecting Absence. The “contemplation room” which contains the unidentified remains of the 9/11 victims and their tomb (now referred to as a symbolic mortuary vessel) at bedrock and open to the sky has NOT been included in the design model for the 9/11 Memorial. Rather, the LMDC revealed that it has now taken the “contemplation room” and placed it in the Memorial Museum. Unlike the Memorial, which will be free, if you have not purchased a timed ticket, you won’t be able to go to bedrock and pay your respects to the 9/11 victims. And, if you don’t want to go through the museum galleries to get there, you won’t have a choice. Take Back the Memorial strenuously objects to having the unidentified remains of the 9/11 victims and their tomb treated as a museum exhibit. We further object to the LMDC denying the public who will pay for this Memorial through both their tax dollars and contributions the right to descend to bedrock and pay their respects as the Memorial intended. While we appreciate the need to raise money for the Memorial and Memorial Museum, the unidentified remains of our loved ones are not for sale. The LMDC cannot continue to act in private and spring the results on the public as a fait accompli while claiming to engage in an “open and transparent process.” The LMDC continues to force the public to fight to keep what they believed was the status quo. And while we fight, they make the next unilateral change.

This latest move is morally reprehensible and entirely unacceptable. Please write or call the Governor at:

George E. Pataki
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

Artifacts, not abstract art, needed at the Memorial

By Michael Burke

Many have claimed that a handful of obstructionists, who are — as one commentator said recently — out of touch with reality, have blocked the redevelopment of ground zero to push their private agenda upon everyone else and make them pay for it.

It’s all true; it just isn’t the people who you might think it is.

The 9/11 memorial at the World Trade Center site, as designed, represents only the interests and values of a handful: the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation board and their chosen few, who are out of touch with what America expects, wants and needs at the memorial. The families they listen to are a privileged few — less than 10 who either got in their faces early and screamed the loudest or simply had the best connections.

The famous “fliers of the missing,” created and posted by the families, were embraced by New York, then America as the first, great memorials to 9/11. Collections were made by the Smithsonian Institution and the New York Historical Society. Exhibitions traveled the country. In April 2003, the board of the L.M.D.C. unanimously ruled the fliers’ basic elements as inappropriate for the permanent memorial to 9/11.

The “democratic process” that led to the “Memorial Plaza” consisted of a handful of well-connected government appointees who all think alike, who selected 13 people who represent the values of high culture and intellectualism and none of America’s; none of what the terrorists attacked that morning. These few, though they define their job as “commemorating the countless individual and accumulated memories of countless individuals and communities” included nothing of what America had already made clear, in 1,000 different ways, what they expect to find at the site and how they expect them to be expressed. They replaced that with the moral ambiguity that contemporary, abstract minimalist art so neatly represents. Herbert Muschamp of the New York Times praised “Reflecting Absence” as “narcissistic,” “stoic” (that is, dispassionate) and for leaving meaning – truth – to the eye of the beholder.

L.M.D.C. leaders have no plan to bring artifacts to the plaza. In a letter L.M.D.C. president Stefan Pryor sent to the Families Advisory Council a few weeks ago, he said “they are investigating the possibility of finding a site somewhere on the memorial plaza” for “The Sphere,” the sculpture that used to be on the plaza. And they speak of possibly returning pieces of the Twin Towers’ façade. In the first WTC Memorial Foundation newsletter, dated March, 2006, they describe the memorial and its thousands of feet of waterfalls and trees but there is no mention of the artifacts or remnants. In fact, there is nothing that speaks directly to 9/11. We’re going on five years; what’s the debate and whose arguing against it? Actually, here’s the question: Why doesn’t the “Memorial Plaza” recognize the 9/11 attacks?

Show some humility; restore the iconic remnants and artifacts of 9/11 and the W.T.C. to their rightful place at the W.T.C. site. They express the truth of 9/11 far better than anything we can come up with. Put the 9/11 museum in an appropriate and handsome building on the “WTC Memorial Plaza” – not beneath it. The “International Freedom Center” – which would have hailed the sacrifice and heroism of Tibetan monks and Sudanese dissidents – would have been above ground. How does that make sense?

Put the story of the recovery and salvage of ground zero in ground zero, where that story took place. Include an American flag. That’s whom they attacked. Include some expression of the salvation or deliverance of the souls of those brutally murdered. At least recognize that they had souls and their lives can be expressed by more than voids and absence.

Get crazy. Make the memorial meaningful to the people who are paying for it. And forget the Vietnam Memorial as a model. No battles of Vietnam were fought on the Washington mall, no casualties died there. The W.T.C. site was the literal place of the 9/11 attacks. Give the visitors to the site what they come for: 9/11, not an “abstract wonderland in which to wonder,” as New York magazine wrote.

Do that and Downtown will take the cash home in wheelbarrows.

The basic framework of the memorial design can proceed. Put in the trees and waterfalls. The concept of gardens and historical artifacts works pretty well at the Peace Dome in Hiroshima. And a major part of the poignancy of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor comes from the beauty of the surroundings. Add that; and build around it. “Ground Zero” is sacred ground. That does not preclude rebuilding; it does demand that we recognize and honor and respect what literally happened there and what we all witnessed, either first hand or as it was broadcast into our homes. And we must respect what it means for future generations. Let the city come alive around 9/11; but let us have the courage and wisdom not to ignore or bury it.

Michael Burke, who served on the Advisory Committee to the 9/11 Museum and Memorial Center, is the brother of Capt. William F. Burke, Jr., Engine 21 – a firefighter killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.