Reflecting Absence Memorial

[E40FDNYL35]

Please help us.

January 7, 2004

Dear 9/11 Families and Friends,

We have recently launched a new website www.coalitionof911families.org . As you are aware, Reflecting Absence was chosen as the winning design and we are very concerned that the Memorial chosen does not reflect our position of preserving, incorporating and providing full access to the authentic footprints of the towers and communicating the enormity of the loss of our loved ones. Consequently the historical significance of the World Trade Center site is at risk.
Now more than ever it is important to have a definitive number of Families and Friends who support our position. We would appreciate if you would take a few minutes to register your vote for the Coalition's vision for the World Trade Center Site at www.coalitionof911families.org/TributeSubscribe.asp (please cut and paste the url into your web browser if for some reason this direct link does not work.)

Also, we ask that you circulate this email to your family, friends and colleagues. Please respond to this email with any questions that you may have.

Warm regards,

Bruce DeCell
Beverly Eckert
Mary Fetchet
Anthony Gardner
Monica Gabrielle
Jack Lynch
Lee Ielpi
Sally Regenhard
Patricia Reilly
Coalition of 9/11 Families
www.coalitionof911families.org

[RspctFrmCalgary]

grrrrrrrr I can't get it to work! I keep filling the form out and clicking Public Supporter but I keep getting an error saying I've left it blank.

*sigh*

I'll try tomorrow.

[E40FDNYL35]

;)

[CaptainGonzo]

Ray..there is a glitch with the site on the part that Sheri mentioned. I tried numerous times to submit, yet it would not. I even tried as a 9/11 family member, stating my relationship to the victims as my "brothers from the FDNY", and it still did not accept.

[jester12]

I have tried to use the site as well, and have the same problems as Cap'n Gonzo. I have tried to contact via email the site administrator, but my messages get bounced back undeliverable.
E40FDNYL35 here is the number for the administrator of the site 212-546-1546. I can't dial long distance from here.
Hope this helps, and I will keep me eye open for it to come back up.

"Never Forgotten"

[MIKEYLIKESIT]

Keep em' coming folks.

[E40FDNYL35]

I'm not sure why it's not working for you guys. I will call in the AM to see what the problem is.Sorry AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!!!

[RspctFrmCalgary]

Bump

It worked tonight when I tried. It is always heart-rending when I go to that site and read about the fight for an honourable and meaningful memorial :(

[E40FDNYL35]

January 9, 2004 -- The 9/11 memorial will preserve traces of the north tower's steel columns and the building's bedrock footprint, which visitors will be able to view in an underground room, sources said yesterday.
The revised memorial design, which is being fleshed out this week, would respond to groups of 9/11 family members who have demanded the footprints of both World Trade Center towers be preserved at bedrock.
Sources said visitors to the Reflecting Absence memorial would be able to descend to the bottom of the trade center pit, where they could walk on the one-acre footprint of the north tower - underneath one of the memorial's two reflecting pools - within a large underground room.
The tower's massive steel columns were cut down and removed along with hundreds of tons of other WTC debris, but nubs of the steel remain visible, embedded in the bedrock.
The memorial designer, Michael Arad, has also proposed a vertical connection from bedrock to the surface that would let visitors look up from the north tower footprint and see the sky, or possibly water cascading down from the pool above, the sources said.
It's not clear if the entire footprint will be accessible, since the Port Authority has said a new PATH train platform may cut across one corner. Much of the south footprint at bedrock is already taken up with PATH tracks.
Arad's memorial centers above ground on two reflecting pools in the tower footprints - but he added the bedrock concept in recent revisions.
The bedrock room at the north footprint - which would be six stories below street level - will connect to another underground space where visitors could view the trade center's basement slurry wall.
The concrete slurry wall, also known as the bathtub, was a central, symbolic component of the site's master plan, created by architect Daniel Libeskind.
Arad's original design left out any mention of the slurry wall and filled in the Ground Zero pit that left the wall exposed. Arad's plan also eliminated a museum and other cultural buildings bordering the memorial. The revised memorial design will be made public next week.

[1261Truckie]

E40FDNYL35,

Finally got to the site and signed the petition.
Keep up the good fight.
It outrages me to think that the South Tower footprint is already part of a train station. Shame on the Port Authority. If they were overseeing Pearl Harbor there would probably be a yacht marina over the Arizona.
It is essential that there be a meaningful memorial at the site and that it extend to the bedrock.
Continued success with your efforts and with the efforts of all involved.

Regards,
Jim Boyle (aka 1261Truckie, former FDNY Auxiliary - Ladder 132)

NEVER FORGET

ALWAYS REMEMBER THE FDNY 346

[kentbwj]

I had some difficulty, too. I think it may have been because I was trying to submit from another e-mail address than the one under which I had signed on. I also tried taking the middle initial out of my name. One of the two changes worked, because I got right on after I did that.

I am so thankful that someone is fighting for a proper memorial. This is such an important issue and one that impacts so many people.

[E40FDNYL35]

January 11, 2004

Dear September 11th Families and Friends,

As you know the jury for the Memorial competition selected Michael Arad's "Reflecting Absence" as the winning design for the World Trade Center site. We've learned through the media that modifications to the original design will be announced this coming week by the LMDC.
As the Memorial process has evolved the Coalition of 9/11 families has led the effort to preserve the World Trade Center site for a fitting and appropriate Memorial. We believe the site has historical significance and that the authentic relics which survived the attacks must be identified and preserved. Items such as the box beam columns at bedrock, which delineate the "authentic" footprints of the twin towers, the slurry wall, the ramp, the globe , the tower facades, and the cross must be preserved and should become an integral part of the memorial experience.
As members of the LMDC Family Advisory Council since its inception we have met with the L.M.D.C , Port Authority, Governor Pataki and former Mayor Giuliani to advocate on behalf of the 9/11 families. Over the past 2 years we have met many obstacles , which required campaigns. In an effort to reverse the decision to place a bus depot on top of the sacred bedrock footprints we traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with U.S. Senators, held rallies, press conferences and led outreach campaigns. Recently we have focused on the historical significance of the WTC site. We joined Congressman Christopher Shays and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney to propose legislation for a Historic Preservation Feasibility Study --this bill was introduced into the House, but Sens. Clinton and Schumer refused to sponsor this study bill in the Senate. In addition we obtained Consulting Party Status to participate in the Environmental Review Process. It's important that everyone understands that the LMDC and Port Authority can not build anything on the site until the environmental review process is complete, which is projected to be June 2004. We believe they were able to build the PATH station under the guise of it being a temporary structure. As consulting parties we must help in the identification and evaluation of the site's historic remains and resources--a task that we've been pursuing throughout the memorial process.
At this time we are at a critical crossroads as modifications to the recently chosen Memorial design are underway. We encourage you to continue to voice your concerns by contacting Governor Pataki, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and your Senators and Congressmen. It is imperative that the families concerns are expressed throughout the LMDC's "evolving" process, especially prior to the public presentation of the revised "Reflecting Absence” design later this week.
In addition, please contact us directly so we can effectively advocate on your behalf. It is imperative that our families continue to have a voice. For more information visit our website www.coalitionof911families.org and cast your vote in support of our position (www.coalitionof911families.or g/TributeSubscribe.asp). Please cut and paste the URL into your web browser if for some reason this direct link does not work. The higher the number the stronger our voice. By speaking in one unified voice we can and will continue to make a difference!!!

Forever in Honor of Our Loved Ones,

Bruce DeCell
Beverly Eckert
Mary Fetchet
Anthony Gardner
Monica Gabrielle
Jack Lynch
Lee Ielpi
Sally Regenhard
Patricia Reilly
Coalition of 9/11 Families
www.coalitionof911families.org

[E40FDNYL35]

The winning design for the World Trade Center memorial was officially unveiled Wednesday, and among the revisions are special recognition for rescue workers and an underground museum recounting the September 11 attacks.
“Today, we have unveiled the most important piece of the plan for the new World Trade Center site,” John Whitehead, the chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, said at the presentation at Federal Hall. “With this memorial design, we fill the final void, both in our site and in our hearts. But importantly, as we do so we also ensure that this void is never casually forgotten. The design…will expose for time immemorial the bare footprints forged by destruction. Yet, surrounding those faces, the landscape will reveal irrepressible life, undaunted, undeterred and undefeated.”
The plan, which is called “Reflecting Absence” and features recessed pools fed by waterfalls to mark the footprints of the twin towers, has been tweaked since it was presented with other finalists in November and announced as the winner last week.
Police officers, firefighters and other uniformed workers who died in the September 11, 2001, attacks will be listed among the other victims, but they will be identified with the insignia of their respective agencies next to their names. The original guidelines called for no separate honor for the rescue workers, but their families and fellow firefighters and police officers protested.
“This is something I struggled with for a very long time,” said Michael Arad, the designer. “It has been very difficult, because every way that you find to do this satisfies some but causes pain and anguish to others. And so it is with regret that I cannot offer any design that satisfies everyone, but that what I am suggesting will be a way that minimizes the pain that others are still feeling.”
The names of the more than 3,000 victims, including those who died in the attacks in Washington and Pennsylvania and the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, will be listed throughout the memorial, to reflect the randomness of who was killed.
Ramps for visitors twist down around the voids where the twin towers once stood. In each footprint, water flows down the walls into pools, then down through another, smaller hole in the middle.
The unidentified remains of the victims will be housed in a sanctuary at the bottom of one of the footprints. There will also be a reserved space for victims’ family members that reaches down to bedrock, ground many of them consider sacred and had called for to be preserved.
Among the other changes are an underground museum and interpretive center to house artifacts recovered after the terrorist attacks. “The memorial room will allow us to tell the story of September 11, the heroes, the firefighters, the civilians, the history of the World Trade Center, and to house all the relics that so many people feel are important in telling the complete experience of September 11,” said Kevin Rampe, the president of the LMDC.
The sparse trees in the initial design have been transformed into a lusher “urban forest” through the collaboration of landscape artist Peter Walker with Arad, the original designer, who happens to work for the city as an architect.
“We don’t want it to turn into a barren, windswept plaza like the one that was there before,” said Petra Todorovich of the Civil Alliance Project. “So the challenge will be to really animate that space. And that’s what we’re looking to the landscape architect particularly to do, to create intimate spaces where people feel comfortable, a real New York City feel.”
Architect Daniel Libeskind, whose idea was selected for the overall site, said the memorial would form a “unity” with his own designs for the skyscrapers that will surround it.
The memorial was selected by a jury of artists, architects, a Downtown resident and the widow of a victim in an open competition that attracted over 5,000 entries from around the world. The jurors requested and oversaw the revisions to the initial plan.
In addition, the jury called for the “Tribute in Light” – two beams of light aimed skyward in the ghostly image of the twin towers – to recur every September 11.
The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation has been created to raise funds for the memorial and will be formally launched later this month. Donations, made payable to the World Trade Center Site Memorial Foundation, can be sent to:

World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 5024
Bowling Green Station
New York, NY 10274-5024
Designers Michael Arad and Peter Walker will discuss their plan on “New York Tonight,” at 8 p.m. Wednesday on NY1.

[RspctFrmCalgary]

This is good news indeed!

[E40FDNYL35]

January 14, 2004 -- Here is the long-awaited final design of the Ground Zero memorial called "Reflecting Absence" - a tranquil urban forest surrounding two cascading pools sunk into the footprints of the Twin Towers.
The design, to be unveiled at a press conference today, has undergone significant changes since it was first shown to the public in November.
These new images of the revised and now final plan show that it's become greener and the site's main museum and interpretive center have been put underground. It will display artifacts from the destroyed towers.
Sources familiar with the design by architect Michael Arad said the below-ground museum, in the southwest corner of the memorial park, beside the south tower footprint, will incorporate an exposed section of the World Trade Center's "bathtub" slurry wall as one of its main features.
A second museum or cultural facility will be located above ground in the northeast corner of the site.
But the focal point of the memorial remains the two deep reflecting pools in the Twin Tower footprints, which first drew the attention of the jury that selected the design from 5,201 entries in an international competition. The pools sit 30 fit below street level, with water cascading from above. The names of the 9/11 victims will be displayed on low parapets in viewing areas around the two pools, where visitors can look across the sheets of falling water. Visitors will have access to the bedrock level of the trade center at the footprints of both the north and south towers. Both pools will include a drop-off at the center, where the water appears to fall off into a void, representing the sense of loss left by Sept. 11.
But the center of the north tower pool will include an open space above the bedrock area, allowing visitors there to look up from the lowest level of the trade center to see the sky. The north footprint will also contain a mausoleum to store the unidentified remains of the tragedy's victims.
The addition of access to the footprints - including nearly all the north footprint and the half of the south footprint not taken up by PATH tracks - pleased family members who want bedrock portions of the site to be preserved.

"We're glad they preserved both footprints. It is fabulous," said Jack Lynch, whose firefighter son, Michael of Engine 40, died at Ground Zero.

"I certainly will be happy to go down to the bottom, to the bedrock. That's sacred to me."

The winning memorial design was picked last week - from among eight finalists announced in November - and final drawings and models were worked out over the weekend. The design is mainly the creation of Arad, a previously unknown 34-year-old architect who lives in the East Village and works for the city Housing Authority. After he became a finalist, Arad teamed up with the highly regarded landscape architect Peter Walker to turn what Arad had at first envisioned as a stark, paved plaza around the pools into what the final images now show is a lush urban forest. Arad and Walker have been working in secrecy for weeks, but they will speak publicly about their design today. Computer-generated images of the memorial show the Freedom Tower looming over the site from north of Fulton Street - underscoring one of the concerns of the competition jury, which feared that any memorial design would be dwarfed by the immense structure, slated to be the world's tallest building. To help flesh out the concept of an underground museum and understand how much space is needed, Arad toured a collection of WTC artifacts kept in a hangar at Kennedy Airport last Friday, sources said. He went further than any other finalist in seeking to alter the WTC master plan by architect Daniel Libeskind. Arad's original design left out Libeskind's angular museum buildings, covered over the WTC pit, and eliminated any mention of the slurry wall, which the master planner called the site's pre-eminent symbol. But the jury told Libeskind that room had to be made for the museum buildings, and a compromise placed one underground and the other in the northeast corner. New renderings of the design show visitors climbing a set of steps from Liberty Street to the memorial grounds

[E40FDNYL35]

The Coalition of 9/11 Families was encouraged by many of the changes made to the memorial design, “Reflecting Absence.” Some of the positive changes include preservation and access to 97% of the bedrock footprint of the North Tower and 50% of the South Tower bedrock footprint; a quiet family area at bedrock where the remains of many of our loved ones will be interred with the sun shining through; and the incorporation of many of the historic artifacts from September 11th in a museum within the Memorial Complex.

It has been a long road and at times the process has been painful, but it is gratifying to know that when we stand together to advocate on behalf of our loved ones we can accomplish great things. We strongly believe the elements we fought so hard for over the last two years will give heart and poignancy to this memorial and will help to ensure the final resting place of our loved ones honors them today and long after we are gone.

Although we have had some major victories with the changes to the design of the memorial our work is not done. The memorial is an “evolving process,” and we must continue to advocate on behalf of our loved ones by staying vigilant throughout the process. There are further modifications to the design that we believe are necessary to ensure the sanctity and historic authenticity of the memorial. We are looking for a commitment to preserve the box beam column remnants of the towers on bedrock. We are calling for the LMDC to include more buffers between the memorial space and the hustle and bustle of the city. We also must ensure the open space surrounding the reflecting pools do not become a path to cut across for residents and commuters. We must ensure that the memorial becomes a National Memorial under the direction of the National Park Service. We also have heard from many families and supporters that they would like historic artifacts such as the Sphere located above ground so people passing the site will be reminded of the enormity of what happened on September 11th and of our spirit as a people to endure.

We wish to offer our thanks and gratitude to all volunteers who support our efforts. We will not waiver in our mission to realize a memorial that honors our loved ones and provides historic authenticity. Please visit our web site for updates and to register your voice so that we can properly advocate on your behalf, www.coalitionof911families.org . You can forward any questions or comments you may have to info@coalitionof911families.or g. United with one voice, we can continue to make a difference and forever honor our heroes.

Regards,

Bruce DeCell
Beverly Eckert
Mary Fetchet
Anthony Gardner
Monica Gabrielle
Jack Lynch
Lee Ielpi
Sally Regenhard
Patricia Reilly
Coalition of 9/11 Families