Firefighter Union Ends Support for Ground Zero Memorial Center
Firefighter union ends support for Ground Zero memorial center
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- The union representing 22,000 active and retired firefighters announced yesterday it is withdrawing support for the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, citing objections to a planned International Freedom Center and a Drawing Center at the Ground Zero site.
Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, said in a statement that his "membership and our 9/11 families believe that the memorial design will take away from the memory and sacrifice of the firefighters who bravely gave their lives during the most horrific terrorist attacks our country has had to face."
The Freedom Center and the Drawing Center are parts of cultural space long planned at the World Trade Center site. But in recent months family members have waged a campaign to remove the two institutions from the site, saying they could include anti-American exhibits and draw attention from a planned memorial museum.
The foundation is charged with overseeing development and fundraising of a memorial at the World Trade site as well as cultural space set aside for the two museums, two theater companies and a performing arts complex. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. oversees rebuilding of the entire 16-acre site, including a planned 1,776-foot tall Freedom Tower office building.
The memorial, called "Reflecting Absence," will include a field of trees and two large voids containing recessed pools. The pools and the ramps that surround them encompass the footprints of the Twin Towers. A cascade of water will feed the pools continuously.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- The union representing 22,000 active and retired firefighters announced yesterday it is withdrawing support for the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, citing objections to a planned International Freedom Center and a Drawing Center at the Ground Zero site.
Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, said in a statement that his "membership and our 9/11 families believe that the memorial design will take away from the memory and sacrifice of the firefighters who bravely gave their lives during the most horrific terrorist attacks our country has had to face."
The Freedom Center and the Drawing Center are parts of cultural space long planned at the World Trade Center site. But in recent months family members have waged a campaign to remove the two institutions from the site, saying they could include anti-American exhibits and draw attention from a planned memorial museum.
The foundation is charged with overseeing development and fundraising of a memorial at the World Trade site as well as cultural space set aside for the two museums, two theater companies and a performing arts complex. The Lower Manhattan Development Corp. oversees rebuilding of the entire 16-acre site, including a planned 1,776-foot tall Freedom Tower office building.
The memorial, called "Reflecting Absence," will include a field of trees and two large voids containing recessed pools. The pools and the ramps that surround them encompass the footprints of the Twin Towers. A cascade of water will feed the pools continuously.
posted by "Faces of the Brave" at 3:50 PM
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