9/11 memorial backers put fundraising on hold
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
BY AMY WESTFELDTAssociated Press
NEW YORK -- A nonprofit foundation has stopped trying to raise money to build the World Trade Center memorial until it can be sure how much it will cost and what it will look like, officials said yesterday.
The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation suspended fundraising several weeks ago after discussing the soaring price of the memorial, now budgeted at close to $1 billion, and its orders to cut the costs in half.
"The decision was made to not actively pursue new fundraising efforts until complete clarity can be achieved with respect to the design and costs of the project," foundation board member Tom Johnson said yesterday. "It's only fair to do nors to be able to expressly say how their money will be used and how much the project will cost."
Foundation spokeswoman Lynn Rasic said the board decided several weeks ago not to pursue major gifts until it received a contractor's cost estimate, which came in last week at $972 million. The mayor and the governors of New York and New Jersey said the cost should be no higher than $500 million.
Officials now are considering changing the design of the memorial to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks two months after preliminary construction began.
The memorial, called "Reflect ing Absence," would create two pools shaped like the fallen Twin Towers and surrounded by oak trees. The pools would extend 30 feet underground, where visitors could read names of the nearly 3,000 people killed, pay respects to unidentified victims' remains and see the remnants of the towers' foundations. Rebuilders have said they want to open the memorial by 2009.
The nonprofit foundation has raised $130 million from private do nors in a year. Another $300 million has been committed by government agencies. Officials have blamed the slow progress in part on controversies over the memorial's design.
Opponents have said the memorial would be difficult to safely evacuate and that it is disrespectful to send family members underground to mourn their dead. Foundation members recently met with some Sept. 11 family members to hear their concerns about the design and said they were considering changes including moving parts of the design above ground.
The foundation will soon present suggestions to change the design and cut costs while staying true to the original design of architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker, said Johnson, who chairs the foundation's executive commit tee. He said that before construction could continue, the agencies involved "must all be on the same page."
State and city leaders urged the foundation to resume fundraising.
"The mayor and the governors are already on the same page," said New York Gov. George Pataki's spokeswoman, Joanna Rose. "The memorial foundation should focus on their most important task -- fundraising."
Pataki welcomes the foundation's comments on the design but would work with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the trade center site, to make design changes, Rose said.
The foundation's board also passed a resolution supporting foundation president Gretchen Dykstra, who has been criticized for not launching a national fundraising campaign.
She was a Department of Consumer Affairs commissioner under Bloomberg. Asked if she should stay on yesterday, he said: "I don't know what's going on. I think that we have to go and raise private moneys and she was hired to do that, but the foundation board, that's up to them."
BY AMY WESTFELDTAssociated Press
NEW YORK -- A nonprofit foundation has stopped trying to raise money to build the World Trade Center memorial until it can be sure how much it will cost and what it will look like, officials said yesterday.
The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation suspended fundraising several weeks ago after discussing the soaring price of the memorial, now budgeted at close to $1 billion, and its orders to cut the costs in half.
"The decision was made to not actively pursue new fundraising efforts until complete clarity can be achieved with respect to the design and costs of the project," foundation board member Tom Johnson said yesterday. "It's only fair to do nors to be able to expressly say how their money will be used and how much the project will cost."
Foundation spokeswoman Lynn Rasic said the board decided several weeks ago not to pursue major gifts until it received a contractor's cost estimate, which came in last week at $972 million. The mayor and the governors of New York and New Jersey said the cost should be no higher than $500 million.
Officials now are considering changing the design of the memorial to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks two months after preliminary construction began.
The memorial, called "Reflect ing Absence," would create two pools shaped like the fallen Twin Towers and surrounded by oak trees. The pools would extend 30 feet underground, where visitors could read names of the nearly 3,000 people killed, pay respects to unidentified victims' remains and see the remnants of the towers' foundations. Rebuilders have said they want to open the memorial by 2009.
The nonprofit foundation has raised $130 million from private do nors in a year. Another $300 million has been committed by government agencies. Officials have blamed the slow progress in part on controversies over the memorial's design.
Opponents have said the memorial would be difficult to safely evacuate and that it is disrespectful to send family members underground to mourn their dead. Foundation members recently met with some Sept. 11 family members to hear their concerns about the design and said they were considering changes including moving parts of the design above ground.
The foundation will soon present suggestions to change the design and cut costs while staying true to the original design of architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker, said Johnson, who chairs the foundation's executive commit tee. He said that before construction could continue, the agencies involved "must all be on the same page."
State and city leaders urged the foundation to resume fundraising.
"The mayor and the governors are already on the same page," said New York Gov. George Pataki's spokeswoman, Joanna Rose. "The memorial foundation should focus on their most important task -- fundraising."
Pataki welcomes the foundation's comments on the design but would work with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the trade center site, to make design changes, Rose said.
The foundation's board also passed a resolution supporting foundation president Gretchen Dykstra, who has been criticized for not launching a national fundraising campaign.
She was a Department of Consumer Affairs commissioner under Bloomberg. Asked if she should stay on yesterday, he said: "I don't know what's going on. I think that we have to go and raise private moneys and she was hired to do that, but the foundation board, that's up to them."
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