State Agency Goes Ahead With 9/11 Memorial

Last Updated:06-30-06 at 8:51AM

NEW YORK -- The state's redevelopment agency signed off Friday on a scaled-back Sept. 11 memorial with a list of victims' names to be displayed at street level and less underground space for a museum.The board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. moved forward with a developer's proposal to cut costs for the memorial complex, which would take up half of the 16-acre World Trade Center site, including a plaza with oak trees, twin reflecting pools with waterfalls marking the destroyed towers and a below-ground museum.The board agreed to proceed with environmental and historic reviews of the memorial plans.Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered a redesign of the "Reflecting Absence" memorial after contractors estimated in May that it could cost close to $1 billion to build. The developer, Frank Sciame, said this version would cost $510 million, although an additional $100 million or so in costs to make the site buildable were taken out of the budget and transferred to the government agency that owns the trade center site.The decision to move the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks above ground was a major victory for Sept. 11 family members who had said they didn't want to go underground to mourn their loved ones. It was a defeat for memorial architect Michael Arad, who had argued that mourners could have a peaceful space below ground to view names surrounding the reflecting pools.But some family members said they still couldn't support the design until other changes are made, including a commitment to group the names of the dead with those that they worked with or died with. Arad had favored listing the victims randomly, and state officials haven't said they would change that plan.At their meeting Friday, the board said it would not address the issue of how the names will be listed; LMDC President Stefan Pryor declined to comment."If they are listed inappropriately, the fact that they moved them above ground isn't meaningful," said Edith Lutnick, whose brother was killed in the attack.The new design changes also don't address where thousands of unidentified remains of victims will be stored or whether large-scale artifacts like the surviving steel facade of the trade center would be displayed. Families suggested that fundraising would be problematic without the changes.A nonprofit foundation in charge of fundraising has raised $131 million so far; the head of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation resigned in May amid the criticism. Fundraising was suspended, although the foundation is poised to launch a national advertising campaign next week. The LMDC has committed up to $250 million of the construction budget.The agency received more than 1,000 public comments on the memorial since the new design was announced last week. Pryor said that 80 percent of the public comments supported the latest changes."It's reasonable to conclude that the fundamental design recommendations have been well received," Pryor said, adding that only about 3 percent of the people who voiced their opinions objected to limiting the underground space.If construction remains on schedule, the memorial will open by the eighth anniversary of the attacks _ Sept. 11, 2009.

9/11 Memorial Help Sought

9/11 memorial help sought

Residents can submit personal expressions

HOW TO HELP
The 9/11 Memorial Committee of the Southern Tier is looking for reflections and personal expressions to be included in the memorial it plans to construct on State Street near Binghamton city hall and across from the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. Selected submissions must fit on a 3-by-5-foot panel.

Visit www.cityofbinghamton.com for details and a submission form. Forms and guidelines also can be picked up at city hall and fire stations in Binghamton, Johnson City and Endicott.
Mail or drop off all submissions at city hall. The address is: City Hall, 9/11 Memorial Competition, 38 Hawley St., Binghamton, N.Y. 13901 by 5 p.m. Friday. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you want to receive a registration acknowledgement by mail. Entries will be kept anonymous.

Donations payable to "The 9/11 Memorial in the City of Binghamton" can be mailed to City of Binghamton, 38 Hawley St., Binghamton, N.Y. 13901.

By Liz HackenPress & Sun-Bulletin

Jerry Marinich doesn't want anyone to forget.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Marinich was in New York City attending firefighter training. An instructor came into the class and reported a plane had hit the World Trade Center. The Broome County legislator thought it was a training exercise to test what they would do to prepare.
By noon, he was at Ground Zero.

"It was a life-changing event, whether you knew someone who lost their life on that day or not," he said.

To make sure no one in the region forgets the tragedy of that day, Marinich and others have been working on a Sept. 11 memorial on State Street, across from the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

Organizers hope at least the footprint of the memorial will be ready to unveil in September -- the five-year anniversary of the attacks. They're now looking for personal reflections and expressions to be etched on nine glass panels to make the memorial unique to the Southern Tier.

Reflections can include:
* Recognition of those who responded to the tragedies that day.
* A narrative or symbolic timeline and description of the events.
* Something that represents the attacks at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Shanksville, Pa.

The deadline for submissions is Friday.
"A lot of other memorials are plaques on stones that get overgrown and lost," committee member Tracy Poplawski said. "It's simple, but it's there for the community."

The memorial's centerpiece will be a 4-foot I-beam from the north tower of the World Trade Center. Binghamton is one of 55 cities to have a piece of steel from the towers, Poplawski said. The city parks department is guarding the beam until the memorial is ready.


"They treat it like the American flag," Marinich said. "It hasn't touched the ground."
The memorial is expected to cost $300,000 with two-thirds of that coming from in-kind donations of labor and materials. So far, about $5,500 of that $100,000 goal has been raised through donations and a golf tournament.

"I understand people want to move on, but if we don't memorialize it we will forget," Marinich said. "It was an attack on our way of life."

Statue Eyed for 9/11 Hero Canine

Statue eyed for9/11 hero canine
By JOTHAM SEDERSTROM

Sirius, killed on 9/11, and Port Authority Police Officer David Lim when they met President Clinton. -->The only police dog killed in the World Trade Center attacks could be honored with a statue on Coney Island, the Daily News has learned. Sirius, the bomb-sniffing dog who was buried under the South Tower, could be immortalized near the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance 9/11 memorial if $240,000 is raised, organizers said.It would be the first memorial to honor the heroic pooch. "I'm very grateful because in a lot of different venues the dog isn't as important as the people - but he is important to me," said Port Authority Police Sgt. David Lim, Sirius' owner at the time of the attacks. Designed by artist Peter Kasten, the statue would stand at Keyspan Park, near the tribute wall that already honors 137 firefighters, 11 police officers and seven Port Authority cops. The life-size bronze statue depicts a Port Authority officer with his arm around the golden Labrador Retriever. It would accompany statues of two firemen and an ESU police officer. About $50,000 has already been raised, but Brooklyn Memorial Wall founder Sol Moglen said the cost of the statue and 259 additional plaques could run to $240,000. "It's surprising when you speak to people and they don't even know a dog was killed, or that two FBI agents and one Secret Service man was killed," said Moglen, whose goal for the Memorial Wall to include Sirius and all 414 of the first responders who lost their lives that day by December. The last Lim saw of Sirius, his partner since 2000, was in the Port Authority office below the South Tower. The team spent the morning inspecting trucks near Barclay St., but when the 21-year Port Authority veteran heard rumbling, he left Sirius at the site to go help others at the North Tower. Both Lim and the dog were buried in rubble when the towers collapsed, but only the Long Island father of two walked away - five hours later. "A lot of people who've heard my story say that they didn't know anyone personally who died on 9/11," said Lim, 49, who was a Port Authority police officer at the time but has since been promoted to sergeant. "But they had a dog that died. That almost touched them more than anything else."

A More Modest 9/11 Memorial Puts the Victims First

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

By SARA KUGLERASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK --

The new Sept. 11 memorial design, reshuffled and pared down to curb costs that were pushing $1 billion, will raise the display of victims' names to street level and shrink the museum, but retains the original waterfalls.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. George Pataki signed off on the more modest proposal outlined Tuesday. Last month, they asked developer Frank Sciame to come up with ways to rein in memorial expenses to a more manageable $500 million.

As preliminary preparation work began this spring on the memorial's construction, contractors warned that the costs were spiraling, prompting officials to order the whittled-down design.
The mainstay of the "Reflecting Absence" design by architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker remains unchanged: two square pools with waterfalls that go about 30 feet below street level.
In the report, Sciame said he had considered eliminating the waterfalls, but decided they were too important to the "contemplative nature" of the design -- particularly because they will drown out the sounds of the city and allow viewers to get lost in the power and emotion of the memorial.

But he did snip more than $285 million from the cost, and estimated the expense of the new plan at $510 million. The changes include shrinking the size of the museum, removing portions of the galleries around the two reflecting pools where the names originally were listed and consolidating all entrances into one through a visitor's center at street level.

Some of the reductions, which include cutting $11 million from the estimated $61 million annual operating expenses, came simply from recalculating some figures. Sciame also suggested expenses would be better managed -- and perhaps minimized further -- if the Port Authority, which owns the site, took charge of building the memorial.

Two government agencies leading the rebuilding at ground zero have pledged up to $350 million to pay for the project. The memorial foundation has struggled to raise money -- with $131 million so far -- and the head of the group quit last month amid the criticism. Fund-raising was suspended so that the design kinks could be worked out.

Sciame said another factor in relocating the victims' list was that it will allow mourners to pore over the 2,749 names whenever they feel drawn to the site. In the original design, visitors would only have had access to the below-ground areas during regular hours

Scaled-Down Design for Sept. 11 Memorial

NEW YORK (AP) - A somewhat scaled-down design for the Sept. 11 memorial that retains the central elements of the original - including reflecting pools and the inscribed names of the victims - was unveiled Tuesday after the project was sent back to the drawing board because the cost was pushing $1 billion.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. George Pataki signed off on the more modest proposal, more than a month after asking developer Frank Sciame to find ways to reduce the cost to $500 million.

Sciame managed to cut the cost by more than $285 million by shrinking the size of the memorial museum, removing portions of the galleries around the pools where the names were to be listed, and consolidating all entrances into a visitors center. The new design will also raise the victims' names to street level.

The reflecting pools and waterfalls envisioned by architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker for the site where the World Trade Center stood were retained.

In a report, Sciame said he had considered eliminating the waterfalls but decided they were too important to the "contemplative nature'' of the design - particularly because they will drown out the sounds of the city and allow viewers to get lost in the power and emotion of the memorial.
Tuesday's announcement marked the beginning of a seven-day public comment period. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which oversees the rebuilding of the site, will adopt a final design by the end of the month, officials said.

The memorial is set to open by the eighth anniversary of the attacks, in 2009.

The governor praised Sciame for conducting a "thoughtful and thorough process'' He said the redesigned landmark "honors our heroes' lives, mourns their passing, provides solace to their loved ones and tells their story to the world.''

On the Net: www.wtcsitememorial.org

Waterfalls, galleries slashed from 9/11 Memorial Plan

BY RON MARSICOStar-Ledger Staff

Seeking to slash the 9/11 Memorial's skyrocketing costs, an architect yesterday recommended expansive waterfalls and subterranean galleries be removed from the design, according to officials familiar with the revisions.

Victims' names would be brought to the top of two reflecting pools marking the Twin Towers' voids in that redesign, the officials said.

The changes were outlined by architect Frank Sciame, who met privately yesterday with New York Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to outline changes to bring the cost of the memorial below $500 million, with infrastructure work slated to add another $175 million to the price, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the changes were not supposed to be made public until next week.

After the memorial and infrastructure costs were estimated to have ballooned to nearly $1 billion last month, Bloomberg, Pataki and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine demanded revisions that would cap the memorial's price at $500 million.

"Reflecting Absence," the name of architect Michael Arad's design for the memorial's two pools marking the outlines of the destroyed Twin Towers, has undergone revisions since before it was selected as the winner of an international competition in January 2004. The original starkness of Arad's design was first softened with trees landscape architect Peter Walker added.

The officials said the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, along with the six people who died in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, would be moved to low walls surrounding the top of reflecting pools under Sciame's recommendation. Previously, they were going to be located on low walls in the subterranean galleries.

One of the officials said there would still be some type of access to the World Trade Center's bedrock foundations, some 70 feet below street level, which had been a prime request of various family members.

Earlier this week, officials with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said they expected Sciame also would recommend the agency take over construction of the memorial. The agency owns the Ground Zero site and already is constructing a permanent PATH station there and has agreed to build the proposed 1,776-foot Freedom Tower if it is financially viable.
On Tuesday, Port Authority Chairman Anthony Coscia said the agency would take on the memorial project, provided it was not responsible for design revisions or cost overruns.
The agency had previously committed $100 million to the memorial. The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation is attempting to raise $500 million.

Left unclear yesterday was which agency would pay the extra $75 million for infrastructure costs and how much of the surviving slurry wall surrounding the site would remain exposed.
Architect Daniel Libeskind, the site's master planner, made the slurry wall a focal point of his tribute to 9/11's loss and the site's renewal. But the cost estimates of stabilizing the wall in order to leave it exposed are high.

Lynn Rasic, a spokeswoman for the memorial foundation, said the group had no comment yesterday because Sciame's recommendations were not yet public.

Ron Marsico covers the World Trade Center site redevelopment. He may be reached at rmarsico@starledger.com or (973) 392-7860.

Statue eyed for 9/11 hero canine

Statue eyed for9/11 hero canine
By JOTHAM SEDERSTROM

Sirius, killed on 9/11, and Port Authority Police Officer David Lim when they met President Clinton.

-->The only police dog killed in the World Trade Center attacks could be honored with a statue on Coney Island, the Daily News has learned.

Sirius, the bomb-sniffing dog who was buried under the South Tower, could be immortalized near the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance 9/11 memorial if $240,000 is raised, organizers said.
It would be the first memorial to honor the heroic pooch.

"I'm very grateful because in a lot of different venues the dog isn't as important as the people - but he is important to me," said Port Authority Police Sgt. David Lim, Sirius' owner at the time of the attacks.

Designed by artist Peter Kasten, the statue would stand at Keyspan Park, near the tribute wall that already honors 137 firefighters, 11 police officers and seven Port Authority cops.

The life-size bronze statue depicts a Port Authority officer with his arm around the golden Labrador Retriever. It would accompany statues of two firemen and an ESU police officer.

About $50,000 has already been raised, but Brooklyn Memorial Wall founder Sol Moglen said the cost of the statue and 259 additional plaques could run to $240,000.

"It's surprising when you speak to people and they don't even know a dog was killed, or that two FBI agents and one Secret Service man was killed," said Moglen, whose goal for the Memorial Wall to include Sirius and all 414 of the first responders who lost their lives that day by December.

The last Lim saw of Sirius, his partner since 2000, was in the Port Authority office below the South Tower.

The team spent the morning inspecting trucks near Barclay St., but when the 21-year Port Authority veteran heard rumbling, he left Sirius at the site to go help others at the North Tower.

Both Lim and the dog were buried in rubble when the towers collapsed, but only the Long Island father of two walked away - five hours later.

"A lot of people who've heard my story say that they didn't know anyone personally who died on 9/11," said Lim, 49, who was a Port Authority police officer at the time but has since been promoted to sergeant. "But they had a dog that died. That almost touched them more than anything else."

Scout's 9/11 memorial to include piece of Pentagon

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — A Boy Scout who has designed and raised money for a memorial honoring those who died at the Pentagon during the Sept. 11 attacks will receive the final piece of his Eagle Scout project on Thursday.

Joey Ricketts, a 15-year-old rising Brookville High School sophomore, will receive a limestone chunk that was once part of the Pentagon building that he will include in the monument.
Joey and his family were invited to the private groundbreaking ceremony for the Pentagon Memorial.

After that ceremony, Joey will receive the piece, which is 19 inches tall and 15-7/8 inches wide, to use for his monument.

The monument Joey designed will be built outside the American Legion Post 16 building on Greenview Drive in honor of a member's son who died in the terrorist attack at the Pentagon.
His father, Bobby Ricketts, said Joey sent a letter a few weeks ago requesting a piece of the building. Joey and Bobby Ricketts said they were doubtful they'd be successful.

But last Friday they learned that they would receive their request.

"A guy at the Pentagon called me while he (Joey) was at school and asked me what size I needed," Ricketts said.

He said the employee found a piece that would fit the monument perfectly.
"It was like it was meant to be," Ricketts said.

Ricketts said they don't know exactly where in the building the piece came from but they were told it could have come from the area where the airplane struck.

"It still has jet fuel marks on it," Ricketts said showing a picture of it. The piece also has a groove on its side, possibly a mark from the airplane.

The piece weighs between 85 and 100 pounds, Joey said.

Ricketts said the government plans to give them a letter informing them where their piece came from.

Joey's project began about two years ago when he decided to create a monument honoring the victims of the terrorist attacks at the Pentagon.

"This is all of my weekends. It has been before and after school things," Joey said.
Joey said he decided to take on such a large task for his Eagle Scout service project because he saw that victims of the attacks at the Pentagon had not been recognized as much as those of the attacks at the World Trade Center in New York.

One of the victims at the Pentagon was Col. David Scales, whose father John Scales is a longtime member of that post. Scales now lives in Wilmington, N.C.

Joey said he's never met Scales in person but has spoken with him over the phone several times, updating him on the project.

"He's really enthusiastic. He's really happy about this," Joey said.

He'll meet Scales and his family for the first time on Thursday. They plan to attend the ceremony, Joey and his father said.

The monument that Joey designed will stand more than 5 feet high in front of the Post 16 building.

So far, the base of the monument — concrete panels in the shape of the Pentagon and a square in the center for the pedestal — has been completed.
A granite pedestal is under construction and will hold the Pentagon limestone.
The monument also will include bronze plaques that will include the names of the innocent people who died, information about the event and pictures of Col. Scales and the crash site.
A former Pentagon employee also gave Joey a piece of the Pentagon's interior for him to use, he said.
"I thought this was going to be a little bitty project, (around) $5,000," Joey said.
He soon found out he would go far beyond the project's requirements.

Joey estimated the entire project at $11,000. So far he's raised about $9,600.

Much of his fundraising has included writing letters to various organizations and individuals. He also spoke at the American Legion post and other veterans group meetings a few times asking for help.

"I sent out a lot of letters and got back lots of checks," Joey said.

Ricketts said his son has used up almost all of the postage stamps he bought sending out letters and thank-you notes to those who donated.

Emanuel W. Cooper, the outgoing post commander of Post 16, said this project is a big undertaking for Joey.
"People will remember this project for a long time, forever it will be here," Cooper said.
Ricketts said a dedication ceremony for the local monument is planned for late August.

Leases called key to 9/11 project

Leases called key to 9/11 project

P.A. boss weighs in on a smaller Freedom Tower and agency's role on memorial

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

BY RON MARSICOStar-Ledger Staff

NEW YORK -- The Port Authority chairman said yesterday the Freedom Tower may have to be scaled back if office space is not leased by September, and he signaled his agency's expanding role at Ground Zero may soon include building the 9/11 Memorial because of concerns over that project's costs and management.

The remarks by Anthony Coscia were the first public comments by an agency official that wrangling over the size and expense of the Freedom Tower -- the 1,776-foot signature structure planned for the site at a $2.2 billion cost -- is far from over, even though construction has been under way since April.

At that time, the Port Authority and developer Larry Silverstein reached an accord that ceded control of the Freedom Tower to the agency after contentious negotiations. In turn, New York Gov. George Pataki promised to help fill the 2.6 million-square-foot structure with commitments by September from the federal government to rent a minimum of 1 million square feet.

"In September, we will know whether or not it is possible to build the Freedom Tower in a way that is secure and protects those who occupy the tower, and in a way that's financially responsible," Coscia said, speaking at a Crain's New York Business breakfast. He said it is possible "some revisiting of the project" would be necessary to lessen its scope but added it is premature to conclude that now.

Though he declined to detail the progress of the lease negotiations, Coscia said the agency remains optimistic that a satisfactory resolution is possible.

"But the future of the Freedom Tower unavoidably is going to have to await the process we're going through right now to determine whether it's successful or not," Coscia told the audience. In a follow-up with reporters later, he added: "If those resources are not sufficient to build it, then obviously our commitment to build it has to be modified."

Joanna Rose, a Pataki spokeswoman, would say only that the need to secure federal leases was "part of the agreement" reached in April.

Coscia also was asked whether Pataki's successor could scuttle the project after Pataki's third and final term ends in January. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the race's front-runner, previously has criticized the redevelopment initiative.

"I can't predict how the next governor of New York will feel about the whole rebuilding effort," Coscia said. "But I think that individual's views should certainly be taken into consideration in what we do."

As for the 9/11 Memorial, Coscia said the Port Authority would be willing to build the Ground Zero tribute to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. But the chairman has two conditions: The agency would assume no responsibility for redesigning the memorial or covering any cost overruns.

In April, Port Authority officials committed $100 million to the memorial.

Agency officials privately said they expect an architect working to reduce that project's burgeoning costs will recommend this week that the agency take over construction. Pataki, Gov. Jon Corzine and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said last month the memorial costs must be reduced to $500 million after estimates of the potential price tag soared to nearly $1 billion.

The current design, "Reflecting Absence," by architect Michael Arad was chosen in a public competition. Arad's proposal calls for two pools, symbolizing the voids of the destroyed Twin Towers, to be located atop the original buildings' 1-acre footprints. Landscape architect Peter Walker helped soften the starkness of Arad's original design by adding a forest of oak trees to the setting.

"There should be an understanding of where all the money necessary to build the memorial is coming from and also a plan for its operating expense going forward," Coscia said. "I don't think the Port Authority should be responsible for cost overruns. I don't think we should be responsible for covering operating expenses."

Lynn Rasic, a spokeswoman for the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, said her organization "is committed to the best interests of the memorial and museum, which means building them in the most expedient and affordable way."

Coscia also suggested shop owners at the rebuilt site pay a surcharge to help defray operating expenses and called on others, including the federal government, to play a greater role in the memorial.

"I think the Port Authority should step up and play an active role in building the memorial, and if that requires financial participation, so be it," said Coscia. "But I think the same is also true of the federal government and all other stakeholders. This isn't a memorial just for New York City. It's a memorial for the nation."

Ron Marsico covers the Port Authority. He may be reached at rmarsico@starledger.com or (973) 392-7860.

FDNY's Ten House Gets 9-11 Memorial

FDNY's Ten House Gets 9-11 Memorial

By BOB MCMANUSCourtesy of New York Post
AP Photo/Hiroko Masuike

Family members and friends of firefighters who died in the Sept. 11 attacks gather in front of the memorial dedicated to the New York City Fire Department after the unveiling ceremony outside Engine 10/Ladder 10, June 10.

HARRY Meyers joined the Marine Corps at the age of 17, and traveled in straight line from there to Liberty and Greenwich streets in Manhattan, where he will stand ramrod straight tomorrow morning in honor of . . . well, New York firefighters.

The 343 men of the FDNY who died on 9/11.

A volunteer firefighter from Long Island who left his Broadway law office that terrifying morning to join the rescue, and never returned.

All the firefighters who served that day, and who survived.

And every firefighter who has ever answered a bell in New York City - and those who someday will.

That's the point of the memorial to be dedicated tomorrow at Ten House, the fire station damaged so grievously on 9/11 - as was the finest fire service in the nation.

Both have recovered now - Ten House, alas, more fully than the department itself; that wound likely will never fully heal.

But it is time to put the past to rest, and to move on - and that's where Meyers and the Marine Corps come in.

Once a Marine, always a Marine, they say: Marines train together, they fight together, they live together and - sometimes - they die together.

But there is no morbid fascination with death; that is incidental to the purpose of the corps, which is service to the United States of America.

And every Marine, from the rawest boot camp graduate to the most grizzled veteran, knows he is part of something larger than himself, and that he always will be. And that he will never be forgotten by his comrades. Ever.

Such is the ethic of that service, and its soul.

So, too, with the FDNY - and Harry Meyers, who will never forget, either.

An assistant chief of department and Manhattan borough commander, Meyers was a motive force behind the memorial, a profoundly inspiring 57-foot-long depiction of the events of 9/11 from the FDNY perspective.

Its 7,000 pounds of burnished bronze, bolted firmly to the side of Ten House along Greenwich Street, will be there decades - to tell a tale in bas relief of epic heroism in service to the city of New York, but in proper context.

The detail is meticulous, but generic; while each man who died that day is recognized individually, no man or responding unit can be identified in the casting. And that is entirely appropriate: After all, just who lived and who died that day was, largely, a roll of the dice.
Young men routinely present themselves to mortal danger - in theory, every time the bell rings - and while that's simple enough, civilization couldn't exist without such selflessness.
It wasn't just the FDNY on 9/11, of course.

Glenn Winuk, a senior partner at Holland & Knight and a practiced paramedic and volunteer firefighter, was last seen that morning as he grabbed a fire helmet and gloves from the back of a pumper and dashed into one of the towers.

Winuck's remains were recovered the following March, not long after his friend and Holland & Knight colleague, Brian Starer, determined with Meyers and others at the firm that the bravery of 9/11 would be recognized.

They raised $600,000 for the memorial and attended to all the details (not always, sadly, with the full cooperation of city agencies).

And Saturday at 10 a.m., former Mayor Rudy Giuliani will preside at its dedication (while Mayor Bloomberg, oddly, will be in Chicago).

Yesterday afternoon, Meyers and Starer stood in blustery wind and persistent rain outside Ten House, nervous and proud, attending to last-minute details.

Across Liberty Street, gray sky crowded in over Ground Zero - where nothing has been built almost five years on, and where shameful squabbling over a memorial of sorts drags on.
None of that will matter tomorrow, though. The FDNY, like the Marine Corps, looks out for its own.

Firefighter's 9-11 Memorial

Firefighter's 9/11 memorial: Visible valor, invisible tribute

DAVID W. DUNLAP

New York Times News Service

NEW YORK - There is that instant of horror to be relived, forever frozen in bronze. There are scenes of valor and camaraderie to be celebrated. There are names to be touched and traced: the Fire Department's 343 dead.

But the most poignant messages of the first large-scale 9/11 monument at ground zero - a bold, literal and almost neo-Classical 56-foot-long bronze relief - will never be visible. Those are the private thoughts written by firefighters on the back of the south panel, just before the monument was installed last month on the side of "10 House," the engine and ladder company across Liberty Street from the World Trade Center.

The firefighters' monument was unveiled Saturday by the members of "10 House," Engine Company 10 and Ladder Company 10.

"This is a 100-year monument," said Harold Meyers, assistant chief of the Fire Department and the Manhattan borough commander. "We wanted it to tell a story. One hundred years from now, we want you to look at this and say, 'This is what happened."'

In the central panel are the flaming towers, caught at the instant when the second jetliner hit on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Flanking it are scenes of firefighters laying down hose lines, a weary firefighter reaching up from a curb, a fireboat on the horizon. They are composed in exacting detail. Meyers made sure of that.

Below the main relief are two long panels inscribed with what Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta called a "silent roll call," the names of the dead, arranged by rank, from First Deputy Commissioner William M. Feehan to Paramedic Ricardo J. Quinn.

"We've done it in a fashion that, as you kneel down, you can take a pi
ece of tracing paper and trace that name," said Brian D. Starer of the Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation, which raised the money for the monument.

Because so much labor and material was donated, he said it was impossible to put an exact dollar figure on the project.

"This is a million-dollar memorial that didn't cost a million dollars," he said.
Holland & Knight is an international law firm whose New York office is at 195 Broadway, a block from ground zero. Its central role in the firefighters' monument can be traced to the earliest days of the rescue and recovery effort, when Starer helped furnish ice for the workers on the smoldering pile.

His wife, Cheryl Roy Starer, had immersed herself in volunteer work at a triage center four blocks north of ground zero. After two or three days treating workers with deeply bloodshot eyes, for whom conventional eye drops offered no relief, she set out to create soothing ice compresses.

She telephoned her husband and said: "I want you to stop what you're doing. I need ice. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you." He asked how much. "All you can get," she answered.

After nine weeks, ice was no longer needed, but there was still money in the fund that had been establisged to provide it, and fire officials proposed that it be used for a memorial. Starer agreed, with the understanding that the monument would also honor Glenn J. Winuk, a Holland & Knight partner and volunteer firefighter who raced to the trade center after helping evacuate his own building. He was never seen again.

Starer approached the Rambusch Co., a 108-year-old firm that specializes in decorative metalwork, stained glass and lighting.

A 10-foot-long plaster model followed. Dozens of details were fussed over: how high the fireboat sat in the water, how the radio cords curled. Full-scale panels were made in plastilene clay. At this late stage, Charles R. Cushing, a naval architect, noticed that the smoke from the north tower was drifting in the wrong direction. That was corrected.

The 6-foot-high, 7,000-pound mural arrived in Manhattan on May 19 in two 24-foot-long side sections and an 8-foot-long central section. It was put up overnight.

Before the south panel was hoisted into place, the installation crew and the firefighters from "10 House" were invited to write messages on the back with paint pens. Some offered sentiments like "I'm here with you" or "Til we meet again." Others enumerated their friends who died that day - six names, seven names, eight names.

"I'm not a misty guy," Meyers said, "but I have to tell you, I had a misty moment." Those sentiments are meant to stay private and personal. "I hope," the chief said, "no one ever gets to see the back of it."

, New York's assistant fire chief, speaking of the messages written on the back of the 9/11 memorial at "10 House"

9/11 Memorial Etched in Time

9/11 MEMORIAL ETCHED IN TIME
KIN HAIL FDNY'S 'PERFECT' TRIBUTE
By HEIDI SINGER

HEROISM WRIT LARGE: Loved ones yesterday rub onto paper the names of firefighters who died on 9/11 from the bas-relief memorial.

HEROISM WRIT LARGE: Loved ones yesterday rub onto paper the names of firefighters who died on 9/11 from the bas-relief memorial.Photo: Robert Miller

June 11, 2006 -- Solemn relatives of firefighters who died on 9/11 knelt quietly in front of their beautiful new memorial yesterday and took rubbings of their loved ones' names - names that were forged in fire and carved in timeless bronze to ensure they will never be forgotten.

"It's perfect," said Rosemarie Langone, who lost two brothers, of the monument at the "10 House" near Ground Zero. "No matter what they build [at Ground Zero], it's not going to mean as much. That's for everybody, this is for us."

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani spoke at the unveiling ceremony while President Bush, Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg sent prerecorded video messages. He later blasted city, state and federal officials for failing to build a memorial at Ground Zero nearly five years after the terrorist attacks.

"Forget about the buildings, the office space - that should all come second," he said. "The focus has to be on the memorial. Get it right. Future generations will respect us for that."

While politicians continue to dicker over the Ground Zero memorial, firefighters quietly built their own tribute to their 343 fallen brothers. Money was raised by law firm Holland & Knight, which lost one of its partners, volunteer firefighter Glenn Winuk, in the World Trade Center.
"There's been much discussion of a memorial to be built over this hole in the ground that still stands after five years," said FDNY Chief of Department Peter Hayden. "We've had empty promises from empty suits, but the Fire Department has filled its promise."

The plaque, possibly the largest bas-relief sculpture in the world, stands 6 feet high and runs 56 feet along the side of the Engine 10 and Ladder 10 firehouse at Greenwich and Liberty streets.

It depicts heroic firefighters responding to the burning towers.
"It's beautiful. I'm very happy with it," said a tearful Beatrice Miller, who lost her son Henry, of Ladder 105.

"I'm numb," she said of the memorial service and the memories it brought back. "Henry was too good for the world."

The plaque, and a separate tribute to Winuk, who grabbed equipment and ran from his nearby office to fight the flames, will be lit from above at night.

"When you come here, you're going to be sad and overwhelmed with grief," Giuliani told the crowd. "But you're going to leave strengthened by these 343 men."

Work to start on Pentagon 9/11 Memorial

Work to start on Pentagon 9/11 memorial

BY PAUL D. COLFORDDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

As New Yorkers await the final design of the World Trade Center Memorial, the Pentagon's 9/11 tribute is set for its groundbreaking.

The ceremony is planned for Thursday on the Pentagon's west lawn, where a memorial park will honor the 184 killed when hijacked Flight 77 slammed into a nearby section of the military complex.

"This groundbreaking is a very huge event for us," said Pentagon Memorial Fund President James Laychak, who lost his brother Dave, an Army budget analyst.

"This will show people the memorial is real and that we're making significant progress," he added.

Compared with the New York effort, plagued by controversy over its soaring cost and underground features, the much smaller Pentagon memorial seems like a work of military precision.

"The Pentagon memorial has had none of this rancor," said Debra Burlingame, an outspoken member of the WTC Memorial Foundation board whose brother was the pilot of Flight 77.
But, as Burlingame noted, the Pentagon memorial will use a grassy area controlled by the Defense Department, while the WTC site is complicated by transit needs, commercial construction and the oversight of multiple agencies.

The Pentagon Memorial Fund, formed by family members in 2003, has so far raised nearly half the $22 million needed for construction.

That's a fraction of the $500 million budget Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg imposed on the WTC Memorial after an estimate came in at $972 million.

The two leaders are expecting final design recommendations from new construction czar Frank Sciame this week.

The Pentagon memorial will feature 184 steel benches set over reflecting pools and shaded by maple trees. Completion of the 2-acre project is set for fall 2008, a year ahead of the WTC Memorial.

In rural Shanksville, Pa., where hijacked Flight 93 went down after passengers stormed the cockpit, a $58 million national park and memorial, to be built with government and private funds, will encompass some 2,000 acres.

The Firefighters Monument

Day By Day for June 12, 2006»

The Human Drift

Looking at The Firefighters’ Monument, a new 9/11 bronze relief unveiled just yesterday across the street from Ground Zero on the wall of Engine and Ladder Company 10 in lower Manhattan, makes me think of ancient tributes that have withstood the test of time. I recall seeing such pieces in Europe, most specifically on Charles Bridge in Prague, where centuries’ worth of lingering fingertips have rubbed the bronze so bare that it glares like polished silver in the sunlight. For the first time yesterday, friends and loved ones of the 343 firefighters lost on 9/11 found their names on the monument and ran their fingertips over the engraved letters. Some of the children in attendance placed paper over the names and used crayons or markers to etch rubbings in order to bring something tangible (the remains of many of these lost heroes have never been found) home with them. Watching such indelible moments reminds me the significance of this monument but also stirs passion and anger, for the proposed 9/11 memorial across the way on the site of World Trade Center still remains in limbo. Nevertheless, here is something fittingly magnificent to honor those brave men and women who went up while so many people were coming down. The dedication of the 56-foot long, six-foot high piece is to those “who fell and to those who carry on.” This is a stark reminder that many of those who did not perish continue in the job, working each day to serve and protect the city they love and for which their comrades perished. These firefighters soldier on, despite the emotional and physical toll 9/11 has taken, and it is quite fitting that this monument recognizes the necessary and compelling duty of New Yorkers and all Americans to honor these living heroes while remembering those who died.The full panorama features an 8-foot long centerpiece depicting the flaming twin towers just after the second jet hit the South Tower, and the two 24-foot side sections show courageous but all too human firefighters in amazingly realistic details. The men, their equipment, hoses, and trucks are captured with painstaking accuracy; some are shown to be weary from their valiant effort; others are pushing themselves to move forward and continue the gallant struggle against overwhelming odds. Thus, The Firefighters’ Monument tells a story that is vividly and viscerally presented. Its impact on those who were present for the unveiling cannot be lost on the rest of us who were not: this panorama is a permanent memorial that will forever tell the story of 9/11 for those who did not live to tell. Generations of New Yorkers and visitors from all over the world will be able to stand there on the appropriately named Liberty Street, run their fingers over the relief, touch the names of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, and remember that moment when New York’s Bravest earned their hallowed place in American history.The Holland and Knight Charitable Foundation raised the money for the monument, and Vice Chairman Brian D. Starer is the one who enlisted Rambusch Decorating Company to create the piece. Chairman emeritus Viggo Rambusch immediately thought of the eternal and mentioned something to Mr. Starer about Trajan’s Column, an ancient Roman monument that had withstood the test of time and captured a story for future generations. Mr. Rambusch declared that the 9/11 monument would be made of bronze and enlisted Joseph A. Oddi, a delineator, and Joseph Petrovics, a sculptor, to work on the project along with his sons Martin and Edwin Rambusch. To learn more about this labor of love, please watch the interactive video from The New York Times.Back in 1819 the great English poet John Keats wrote “Ode to a Grecian Urn,” and in that memorable and achingly beautiful poem he honors the still figures captured on a Greek urn. He finds perfection and timelessness in the art that is so opposite of the living world that is flawed and ever changing. One of the figures is a handsome young man who is frozen in time, unable to kiss the lips of his beloved. While this may seem like eternal frustration, Keats reminds us that the youth is forever young and can never lose the girl. He tells us, “Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair!”I find a similar kind of comfort in The Firefighters’ Monument because here the Twin Towers are still standing, the firefighters may be weary but are still with us, and their heroism and sacrifice are forever present tense. This moment in history on September 11, 2001, is frozen in place for us in this work of art: we see the anguish, the horror, but also the glory of a New York City that was but never will be the same again. Perhaps one day poets will write about this memorial in a way Keats did about the ancient urn, or maybe even in the distant future it will end up preserved in a museum because the old firehouse had long ago crumbled to the ground. In the end it is all about honoring those lost and providing a fitting and lasting memorial for their loved ones, friends, and comrades. The Firefighters’ Monument more than accomplishes that goal, and it captures the heroism and humanity of those unbelievably brave men and women who saved thousands of lives on 9/11. As the words engraved on the right panel of the monument remind us: “May We Never Forget.”

9/11 exhibit rejected... sort of

9/11 exhibit rejected ... sort of0-6001By Linda Kush/ Staff WriterThursday, June 8, 2006

The 9/11 Memorial Committee thought they were offering a gift. The Library Board of Trustees thought they were blind-sided. In the end, the memorial committee felt jilted by a library board whose members felt railroaded.

And all over something both sides really wanted.

On Monday night, the 9/11 Memorial Committee offered the library a multimedia educational exhibit to tie in with the 9/11 Memorial. The library trustees turned it down.

The trustees, who scheduled the presentation at their regular monthly meeting at the library, did not know that committee members would expect the trustees to vote on it that very night. The memorial committee felt the trustees should welcome free installation of a $25,000 education tool that would enhance the library's mission.

Uncomfortable making a decision on the spot, the library trustees voted not to accept the gift. The vote was three in favor, one against, and two abstaining.

The trustees planned to revisit the offer at their July meeting.

But to Memorial Committee Co-chair and Selectman John Ryan, the vote was a slap in the face, and the offer is being withdrawn.

"The 9/11 Committee welcomes any group that wants us, but we are not receptive to groups that don't welcome us," he said.

The exhibit, still in the design stage, will show a series of 20-minute documentaries presenting the facts of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington D.C. The presentations will tell the story for viewers on several levels, from elementary school students to post-graduate researchers.

Ryan insisted that the Library Board of Trustees vote to accept the installation Monday night because the committee is on a tight schedule. They want to unveil the exhibit for the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks this fall. The audio-visual firm handling the project normally needs only 30 days to complete an installation, but late summer is their busiest season.

Library Trustee Paul Fortunato, who voted to accept the exhibit, said his group was united in support of the project, yet he fully understood members who voted against it.

"Our only reservation was we wanted time to digest it, give consideration, deliberate, formulate our questions, and bring it to a vote," he said.

Ryan could not see any reason to deliberate. He said the exhibit would be designed so visitors could operate it themselves, and for large groups, a pool of 16 volunteers would be available to give a talk and show the videos. His committee has ambitious plans to heavily promote the exhibit and make Tewksbury a national center for 9/11 history.

Some of the trustees were concerned about the exhibit's location. The 9/11 Committee intended it for the library's large meeting room, but trustees feared the access would be too limited. According to Library Director Elisabeth Desmarais, the room is booked 1,000 times a year.

Those who voted not to accept the exhibit were really voting against making an immediate decision.

Fortunato is the father of a Tewksbury firefighter and a champion of education.

"I was profoundly affected [by the 9/11 attacks]," he said. "I would love our library to be the 9/11 resource center for Massachusetts, New England, even the whole country. But I did not like making a snap judgment without giving it a little thought."

9-11 Memorial Victims' Quilt shown in Pine River

9-11 Memorial Victims' Quilt shown in Pine River
By Kelly Virden
kelly.virden@pineriverjournal.com

Nearly 3,000 people are depicted on the Sept. 11 Memorial VictimsU Quilt. Behind each one is a family and a circle of friends mourning them.

A team of women created the memorial quilt, which was on display in Pine River June 3-4 during the Sixth District Legion Convention.

Remembering and paying tribute to victims killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is achieved in a visual feat: a 10-foot by 60-foot quilt, sewn in a labor of love.

On June 2, some of the quilt creators gathered in the Pine River-Elementary gymnasium to help hang the quilt and prepare for the public showing. Each had a special part in the quilt's journey.
Missing was Jeannie Ammermann, of Tennessee (formerly of Naples, Fla.) who came up with the idea of a quilt nearly four years ago. She located quilter Connie Daniel, of Wisconsin, via the internet and got her involved in the project.

Daniel, a former quilt business owner, specializes in hand-drawn designs and drew the depictions of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, the airplane from the "Hero Flight," United 93, emergency vehicles, Lady Liberty and more.

Ammermann was in charge of contacting family members of the deceased, and securing their blessings to print photographs and names of those lost on Sept. 11.

Daniel contacted her sister-in-law, Jeanette Daniel of Stillwater, Minn., to help with the fundraising for the project. Jeanette and her husband, Dave, are long-time friends of Don Fowler of the Pine River American Legion - who helped bring the quilt to Pine River.

The quilting team also includes Jan Seidel of Wisconsin who machine-quilted the backing onto the 20-foot sections; Beverly Steele of Wisconsin, who machine embroidered lettering onto the quilt; and Valena Roller, of Rochester.

Through networking, the team has incorporated people in 26 states who've helped cut out pieces to be sewn to the quilt.

So far around 2,850 photos have been gathered for the quilt. Ammermann takes care of transferring the photographs onto fabric for the quilt. Fabric candles with "Sept. 11, 2001" printed on them represent the missing photos. Little angel prints fill the circles representing unborn babies that died as a result of the attacks.

Working on the quilt has been an emotional experience for the quilters. "There are many tears in here; it's too big to launder, so they'll be there forever," said Connie. Seidel said that working on the quilt was such an emotional thing that she had to take breaks from it now and then. "There were some days I could not quilt," she recalls.

"These people are close to use; they're part of our family and they are all so beautiful," said Jeannette.

On Sept. 9 the women quilters will be in New York to present the quilt to the families gathered at the 9-11 Memorial Center.

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation will consider the quilt for permanent display in the Memorial Center. "It's one way of telling people we haven't forgotten them," Jeannette said.

9-11 Memorial Wall, a Gift from Holland & Knight

9-11 Memorial Wall, a Gift from Holland & Knight LLP, is Dedicated to New York City Firefighters in Ceremony at Engine 10Saturday June 10, 7:10 pm ET
56-foot Bronze Sculpture Honors 343 Members of the New York City Fire Department and Holland & Knight Partner Who Perished on 9-11
NEW YORK, June 10 /PRNewswire/ --

Lawyers and staff from the national law firm Holland & Knight LLP today dedicated an historic 9-11 memorial to the New York City Fire Department. The memorial, dedicated to the 343 members of the NYC Fire Department as well as a partner at Holland & Knight who died on that tragic day, is located at Engine 10 Ladder 10, directly across from Ground Zero.

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.

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. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, U.S.
Representative Jerrold Nadler and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and hundreds of surviving family members of New York City Firefighters who died on September 11th attended the unveiling ceremony.

"This memorial represents our immense gratitude to Glenn and every member of the NYC Fire Department who made the ultimate sacrifice, and honors all those who died," said Brian D. Starer, Chair of Holland & Knight's 9-11 Memorial Wall Committee and Vice President of the Holland & Knight Charitable Foundation.

"We are deeply grateful to Holland & Knight for this extraordinary gift that will be on permanent display for all to see and remember," said Commissioner Scoppetta.

About Holland & Knight LLP

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.