Accuracy doubted in 9/11 Memorial Bronze Sculpture Lists 45 Names Over Official Tally

By Janet Frankston, Associated Press

BAYONNE, N.J. - A 100-foot-tall bronze sculpture evokes the twins towers that once soared from the Manhattan skyline across the Hudson River, but some question whether all the names etched into the base are of people who died in the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The memorial lists 3,024 names, according to the artist's attorney. That's 45 more than the official list, which includes six people killed in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and the 2,973 killed on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

"We tried so hard to make it right," said Emily Madoff, an attorney for the artist.

"If we erred, we erred on the side of inclusion."

New York City officials removed 43 names in 2003 and 2004 from the list of the dead at the trade center, saying some people had tried to fake their own deaths, while others had been falsely reported missing or their deaths could not be proven to have occurred at ground zero.
Madoff said after trying to determine the correct list of names from several sources, she asked for confirmation from Kenneth Feinberg, the former special master of a federal Sept. 11 victim compensation fund, who referred her to a book published by The New York Times in 2003.
She said she stands by her list of names as being "the most accurate one we could possibly find," she said.

lines divide the massive monument into two tower-like pieces, and a 40-foot steel teardrop gently hangs in the open center, like a bell.

Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli, 72, said through a translator that the tear symbolizes "sadness over grief that will become happiness in the future when terrorism is defeated."

On fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Tsereteli will dedicate his 175-ton work, which sits on a former military base, past the entrance to a cruise terminal, at the tip of a peninsula.

The sculpture, "To The Struggle Against World Terrorism," will be the centerpiece of a 2-acre park nearing completion in Bayonne.

The monument has been billed as a gift from Russian President Vladimir Putin, the people of Russia and the artist to the people of the United States, in the spirit of France's gift of the Statue of Liberty, which is just across the water.

AP writer Amy Westfeldt contributed to this report.

No 'Friends' of State's 9/11 Memorial

Liberty State Park will host public hearing on placement of 30-foot design
Ricardo Kaulessar Reporter staff writer

The state will hold a public hearing on Aug. 16 so residents can comment on the prospect of a 30-foot high 9/11 memorial in Liberty State Park in Jersey City.This past spring, the Friends of Liberty State Park (FOLSP), a volunteer organization dedicated to the park's preservation, requested a public hearing on the state memorial, to be erected at the northern end of the park.Last week, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees state parks, notified FOLSP President Sam Pesin that the group could hold a public hearing on Aug. 16 in the park at 6:30 p.m. near the memorial site.In case of rain, the meeting will be held in the CRRNJ train terminal a few hundred feet from the memorial site.The memorial, titled "Empty Sky," will be made up of two 30-foot high and 200-foot long stainless steel walls perched on a 10-foot high grassy knoll. A jury chose it out of 320 entries submitted in 2004 as part of the New Jersey Memorial Design Competition, which former Gov. James McGreevey initiated.

Wants more choices

New York City architect Frederic Schwartz designed the memorial, and its construction cost $10.5 million.The memorial has met with opposition because the 10-foot high knoll portion blocks the Manhattan skyline."It's a sacred view of downtown New York City, especially in light of what happened on Sept. 11," said Pesin, pointing out that the park was a center to medically treat those who were injured in the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center. Pesin said the lack of public input in choosing the memorial will be addressed at the meeting. "We think a resolution could be found by the state revising the design or convincing state officials to revisit the eight final designs that were narrowed from the 320 submissions," said Pesin. "Then out of those eight, the public can choose two or three that would then be given to the victims' families for a final choice."

The public have their say

Pesin intends to invite Gov. Jon Corzine (who lives in Hoboken), DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson, and other state officials to the public meeting. He also will invite representatives for the families of 9/11 victims."The families want this built as soon as possible but we hope they are patient," said Pesin. "There should not be a rush, there should be a consensus."Pesin also remarked on the progress the public has made in this issue."At the end of February and March, when we started to contact state officials, they never showed any intention to hold a meeting," said Pesin. "I think they are now open to getting more public input." Tanya Chauhan was among the members who wrote to the state asking them to hold a hearing.Chauhan lives with her husband and daughter a few blocks from Liberty State Park. In an April 27 e-mail to the state, Chauhan mentioned that she was a "Jersey City resident, a 9/11 survivor, and a frequent user of Liberty State Park" who was "greatly disturbed at the plan for a hill in the front of the park."She added, "First the Twin Towers were taken away, and now the great view of downtown New York is being taken away."

Politicians ask, but state backs it

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy and State Assemblyman Louis Manzo (D-31st Dist.) also sent letters to Corzine addressing the need for a public meeting. As a result of the uproar over the lack of public input, Manzo drafted legislation to ensure that there will always be public meetings on any changes to a state park.DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson e-mailed a letter to Pesin on Thursday reiterating her support for the memorial to continue being built as planned. Jackson stated that "Based on my review of the process and the project design, I have decided to support the completion of the memorial as presently designed."Jackson pointed out that the day after the June 13 meeting, there was another meeting with a memorial committee of 9/11 survivors and families of victims to review the design, discuss the current status of construction, and gauge if family members willing to accept changes to the design.She states in the letter, "It was the consensus of those family members present that this project should move forward as designed and that they did not want to delay this Memorial to their loved ones and the many victims of September 11, 2001 any longer."Pesin took Jackson to task for making her decision before the public meeting takes place."The Friends formally disagrees with the commissioner's position is now asking the governor directly to listen to public input and reverse this decision," said Pesin. "Lisa Jackson's premature decision violates the spirit of democracy."

For more information on the meeting and about the memorial controversy, check www.folsp.org or call (201) 792-1993.

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com

9/11 Memorial Exhibit At Arts Exchange

Written by Westchester.com

Thursday, 27 July 2006

White Plains, NY - “A Community Comes Together: The Making of The Rising Westchester County’s September 11th Memorial,” a multi-media exhibition depicting the five-year development of the county’s 9/11 Memorial, will open to the public on Thursday, September 7th.

The exhibition will remain on view through September 23 at the Westchester Art Council’s Arts Exchange in White Plains and illustrates the tremendous collaboration among all those involved in The Rising project and its representation as a community memorial.

On display will be a wide selection of photographs, videos, architectural drawings, computerized images and other works that provide an in-depth look at the making of this unique and poignant structure, from concept to completion.

The Rising is an 80-foot high stainless steel sculpture designed by world-renowned architect Frederic Schwartz to honor the 109 Westchester residents who died in the tragedies of September 11th. The Memorial is situated at the eastern corner of the Kensico Dam Plaza in Valhalla.

The exhibition is being designed and curated by the Hudson River Museum. It has been made possible by the museum and the Westchester Arts Council in cooperation with Westchester County, the Friends of Westchester County Parks and Frederic Schwartz Architects of New York.

The Arts Exchange is located at 31 Mamaroneck Avenue at the corner of Martine Avenue, in White Plains. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 12 noon to 5 p.m. It will also be open on Monday, September 11th, from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information on The Rising 9/11 Memorial or the exhibition, call 914-995-2951.

9/11 Charities Get Money From 'WTC' Movie

Film Will Donate Part Of It's Opening Box Office Earnings

(AP) NEW YORK "World Trade Center," Oliver Stone's movie about the rescue of two police officers from the towers on 9-11, will donate 10 percent of its opening weekend box office receipts to a ground zero memorial and three other related charities. The Paramount Pictures film, starring Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena as two Port Authority police officers trapped in the rubble, opens on August 9th. Five percent of the box office proceeds from the movie's first week will be donated to the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. An additional 5 percent will be split equally between three other 9-11 charities. The charities are Tuesday's Children, a service organization for children who lost a parent on 9-11; the Tribute WTC Visitor Center, created by a Sept. 11 family group and set to open this summer across the street from ground zero, a family-run memorial museum and the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund.

Man Organizes 9/11 Memorial in Salem

Healing Field flag display will honor victims of attacks
CAPI LYNNStatesman Journal

July 22, 2006
For Kelly Broomall, like many people, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were personal.
As an American, he was appalled that such a tragedy could take place on U.S. soil.

As a former Marine, he was incensed that the terrorists would have the gall to target civilians.
As an industrial engineer for Boeing, he was enraged that something he had a hand in building could be used as a weapon.

"It was my airplanes -- our airplanes -- that crashed into the twin towers," said Broomall, who has worked for Boeing for nearly 28 years. "I helped manufacture the parts that went into those airplanes."

Broomall will never forget that day and hopes that no one else will either. In an effort to keep the memory of Sept. 11 victims alive, he is involved with bringing a patriotic display called the Healing Field to Salem.

As many as 5,000 commemorative flags will be unfurled Sept. 8-11 at Riverfront Park during a four-day salute to people who lost their lives that day and since in the fight against terrorism.
City officials and local service clubs and businesses are raising money for the event, which coincides with the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

Jerry Thompson of the Capital City and Networking Exchange Clubs said that the goal is to raise $60,000 to purchase the flags and the materials needed to display them.
"We're about halfway there," he said.

The flags will be sold for $25 each, with net proceeds going to local charities such as Family Building Blocks and the Oregon National Guard Emergency Relief Fund.

Two types of commemorative flags will be on display and available for purchase: the Flag of Honor, which has the names of everyone killed in the attacks; and the Flag of Heroes, which has the names of the emergency-services personnel who died that day.

The Healing Field also will include a section of U.S. flags that will fly in honor of the U.S. military service members who have died during the past five years in the war against terrorism.
Thompson said the plan is to cover 22-acre Riverfront Park in red, white and blue, placing flags in rows and columns about 10 feet apart

"If we have wall-to-wall flags," Thompson said, "it will look spectacular."
Salem is one of 10 U.S. cities that will host such a display around Sept. 11, said a spokeswoman from the Healing Field Foundation.

The first event was held in 2002 in Sandy, Utah, where the foundation is based.
Broomall, who lives in Troutdale, was moved by television coverage of the event and vowed to bring a Healing Field to Oregon. He organized events in 2003 and 2004 that were staged in Gresham.

He said that 75,000 people attended the first year and that more than 6,000 flags were sold for charity.

Visitors have been touched by the Healing Field.

Some have compared it with visiting Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where rows of white headstones mark the final resting place of many of our nation's war heroes.

"It puts things in perspective," Broomall said. "When 9/11 first happened and they said we lost 3,000 people, it was just a number. But when you start lining up flags up in a field that's 850 feet long and 250, 275 feet deep, and when you can hold your arms up and touch each one of these flags, that's a person. That's somebody who had hopes and dreams, and they're gone."

clynn@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6710

Bucks County 9-11 Memorial Garden Given State Designation

By: JEFF WERNER
07/19/2006

The state legislature has designated the Garden of Reflection in Lower Makefield Township as the official Pennsylvania memorial to the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
The memorial will include the names of the 2,973 people who lost their lives at the World Trade Center, in western Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

"It is fitting that we recognize the victims of 9-11 and give their friends and family a place for reflection and mourning for years to come," said State Rep. David Steil (R-31), who helped secure the designation from the Pennsylvania legislature. Steil made the announcement earlier this month after the House and the Senate passed concurrent resolutions granting the designation."Those who have worked so hard to raise the money and to put this memorial together now have a designation as the official state memorial," said Steil. "That means it is very unlikely there will be another memorial to all the victims of 9-11 in the state and the state can promote this as part of its response to this tragedy and as a site for people to visit, seek solace in the events of that day and to pay respect to the victims." At the center of the $1.5 million memorial, now under construction on Woodside Road in the township, twin fountains will shoot toward the heavens representing healing and rebirth. They will be embraced by the names of the 17 from Bucks County who lost their lives on 9-11.Surrounding the core of the memorial will be a series of concentric circles, each representing eternity and leading visitors on a journey through life.A Remembrance Walk will include glass panels engraved with the close to 3,000 names forever etched in the nation's history and standing testament to the significant loss felt that day. Forty-two lights representing the children from Pennsylvania who lost their lives on 9-11 will light the way."Pennsylvania deserves to have a memorial. And we're thankful that the legislature has approved this to honor our loved ones and to give people a place to go to reflect and remember," said Lower Makefield Supervisor Grace Godshalk.Godshalk's son, Bill, was among those killed when terrorists flew hijacked airplanes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. He was vice president of institutional equity sales for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods."We lost a lot of people at the hands of terrorists," added Ellen Saracini. "And we're very proud here in Pennsylvania to recognize that these people are not forgotten and that they are important and that they are missed."Saracini, who helped spearhead the successful memorial project in Lower Makefield, lost her husband, Victor, in the attacks. He was the pilot of Flight 175, the second plane flown into the World Trade Center by hijackers."This is something Pennsylvania can be proud of," said Saracini, of the memorial garden. "And it's only fitting that the state memorial be located in Lower Makefield and in Bucks County, which lost the most people living in Pennsylvania."Saracini and Godshalk, both members of the memorial committee, particularly praised the efforts of Steil and Bucks County Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick, who fought vigorously for the designation after it was initially denied by the state over a dispute with officials from Somerset County, the site of the Flight 93 crash.The momentum changed in March when Bucks County 9-11 families, working with Steil and Fitzpatrick, managed to convince Flight 93 families and leaders of the Somerset project that the Bucks County memorial deserved the recognition and wouldn't adversely impact the national designation or funding for the Flight 93 memorial.Among those testifying on behalf of the Garden of Reflection was the wife of the First Officer of Flight 93, Melodie Homer. Letters of support were also received from Deena Burnett, the wife of a Flight 93 passenger, and Sandy Dahl, wife of the captain of Flight 93."We all agreed that there was no conflict with the designation," said Saracini. "Flight 93 will honor the 40 crew and passengers of Flight 93, but that's all their dedication is for."Pennsylvania, in showing dignity, honor and respect for all those that we lost, agreed that it would be only fitting that the Garden of Reflection, since it represents everyone that we lost, be given the designation," said Saracini.Godshalk added that the state designation wouldn't be taking anything away from the national designation of the Flight 93 memorial."Flight 93 will be a national monument and it supercedes a state monument," said Godshalk. "Now they will have their national monument recognizing the passengers and crew and we will have our state monument recognizing everyone who has lost their lives."The designation is basically in name only. According to Godshalk and Saracini, the title does not carry with it any financial responsibility by the state. The land will also remain in township hands.The designation, however, may open the door to future funding, according to Godshalk. "Now that we have this designation we might be able to go out to some foundations to get some money for upkeep and maintenance," she said.The seeds of the garden were planted in the months following the attacks when Lower Makefield Township officials voted to form a committee to study ways of appropriately honoring the nine residents from the township who died.Made up of 9-11 family members and high-profile business and community leaders, the committee chose a location, selected an architectural design and raised the money needed for the project.A dedication ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, September 30 beginning at 4 p.m. at Memorial Park on Woodside Road. The public is invited to attend.

Name Order Still an Issue with 9/11 Memorial

NEW YORK -- A less expensive Sept. 11 memorial that cuts back on underground space and its museum won tentative state approval Friday, while families said they couldn't support a design that doesn't change the way the names of their loved ones are listed.The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. moved forward with a developer's proposal to cut soaring costs for the memorial complex, which includes twin reflecting pools with waterfalls marking the destroyed World Trade Center, a plaza with oak trees and an underground museum.The agency's board agreed to proceed with environmental and historic reviews of the new 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 suitable for building were taken out of the budget and transferred to the government agency that owns the trade center site.The new design moves the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks from parapets surrounding the below-ground pools to street level, a major victory for family members who said it would dishonor their loved ones if they had to go underground to mourn them.The memorial's architect, Michael Arad, had sought to keep the names underground, saying mourners could have a peaceful space below ground to view names surrounding the pools.Arad also sought to list the names of those killed at the trade center, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pa., randomly around the pools, saying it would reflect the chaos of their deaths. Family members and the city's police and fire unions have said for two years that they wanted their loved ones grouped with the people they worked with or died with."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.Debra Burlingame, whose brother was the pilot on the hijacked plane that crashed at the Pentagon, noted that the change wouldn't add to the memorial's cost. ``What sense does it make to separate a family of four who died on an airplane?'' she asked.LMDC President Stefan Pryor declined to comment Friday on the issue of how the names would be listed. Officials have said they would defer to Arad's proposal, which would also identify rescue workers with insignia. On his weekly radio show, Bloomberg said it wouldn't be appropriate to list names as the families have requested."It would be so complex, and it's not clear _ do you want to be next to your sibling or with your fellow workers, because it may have been in different places,'' the mayor said.He said he favored recognizing fire, police and emergency workers, ``but I think that they also should be mixed in with all of the other names because they were human beings, we're all human beings.''The LMDC has committed $250 million to build the memorial, while a private foundation that suspended fundraising in May has raised $131 million. The foundation was poised to launch a national advertising campaign next week.Preliminary construction on the memorial began in March, then stopped two months later while the design was reconsidered. Officials said construction would resume soon, but couldn't say when. Officials hope to open the memorial in three years.