Sept. 11 Memorial Rising in Bayonne

The artist plans to dedicate it on the fifth anniversary

By Janet Frankston
Associated Press

BAYONNE, N.J. - At 100 feet tall, the bronze sculpture on the Bayonne waterfront is hard to miss.

The memorial evokes the World Trade Center, which once stood across the Hudson River. A jagged, vertical fissure divides the monument in two, and a 40-foot steel teardrop gently hangs in the space, like a bell.

Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli plans to dedicate his 175-ton work, To the Struggle Against World Terrorism, on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The work - past the entrance to a cruise terminal, at the tip of a peninsula near the Statue of Liberty - will be the centerpiece of a two-acre park nearing completion on a former military base.

The names of about 3,000 people killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania are etched in an 11-sided granite base.
Like the 72-year-old artist, known for grand statues that some critics have called more "kitsch" than art, the sculpture isn't without controversy.

The first plan had it located on the Jersey City waterfront, but Mayor Jerramiah Healy said city leaders thought the monument would impede views of the Hudson and New York.
And the Jersey City arts community's "message to the council was clear: It was not just unpleasant, but almost to the point of offensive," Healy said. "We're happy that Bayonne is happy, and we're happy that Mr. Tsereteli is happy."

Bayonne officials welcomed the sculpture, offering up a site on city-owned land planned for redevelopment.

The city is not paying for the memorial, but agreed to pay $1.25 million to create the first phase of the waterfront park, Mayor Joe Doria said.

"It's a very important memorial," he said. "We should be working against the terrorism that resulted in the attack on 9/11. The teardrop is an excellent context of what we have to do."
It is unclear how the monument is being funded, but Tsereteli called it "his gift." He said he did not want to take any money from the Russian government, but declined to elaborate.

Tsereteli's lawyer, Emily Madoff, said the materials, shipping, labor and cost to create the base was about $12 million.

The monument also 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.

The five segments of the monument arrived from Russia in September, shortly before Putin attended a groundbreaking in Bayonne while in the area for meetings at the United Nations.
The pieces were stored until May, when 17 artisans from Russia arrived to begin putting them together. Eight are still in Bayonne, welding the seams between the panels with bronze.
Next, they will sandblast the monument and seal it with a polyurethane.

Tsereteli returned to Bayonne this month to put the finishing touches on his sculpture.
"From here, if you looked at the trade towers, they looked as if they were blended as one," Tsereteli said through a translator, his 28-year-old grandson, Vasili.

He said the tear symbolized "sadness over grief that will become happiness in the future when terrorism is defeated."

There is some question about the accuracy of names on the sculpture's base. There are 3,024, according to Madoff. That's 45 more than the official count of 2,979.

New York 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 deaths while others had been falsely reported missing or their deaths could not be proved to have occurred at ground zero.

Madoff said that after trying to determine the correct list from several sources, she had asked for confirmation from Kenneth Feinberg, the former special master of a federal Sept. 11 victim compensation fund. He referred her to a book published by the New York Times in 2003.

"We tried so hard to make it right," Madoff said. "If we erred, we erred on the side of inclusion."

Sept. 11 Memorial Taking Shape

Sept. 11 memorial taking shape

The committee still has $125,000 to raise.
By JEANNE STARMACK VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN — The little white gazebo sits at the edge of the township park on South Raccoon Road, dwarfed by the new middle school building under construction across from it.
But that gazebo, while small, is part of an ambitious idea for the entire Mahoning Valley. It's part of the Austintown Beautification Committee's memorial to victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. When it's finished, the memorial will also include a granite likeness of the twin towers, flanked by monuments to firefighters and police officers who lost their lives there. Other monuments will feature the names of every victim in the attacks.

Also on site will be a piece of steel from the towers, 1,600 pounds of blocks from the Pentagon, and soil from the field where Flight 93 went down near Shanksville, Pa.

A nondenominational chapel will await visitors nearby, and 25,000 bricks in walkways will be available for engraving to those who want to contribute to the cost of building the site. An "eternal light" will shine all the time.

It has been two and a half years in the making so far, with likely another year to go before completion, say committee co-chairs Paul Cubellis and Pat Connolly. The 30-member committee has raised between $90,000 and $100,000 so far, with an additional $125,000 to go, they said.

Donations made

The fund-raising got a boost this week. The Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie No. 3298 and Quest AdvantEdge Corp. of Austintown, a business consulting and medical billing firm, each donated $3,950 to buy the monuments to police and firefighters. The Eagles bought the monument to firefighters. Quest AdvantEdge, which is owned by Lori Gavalier, bought the police monument. Gavalier is the wife of township police chief Bob Gavalier.

The checks were presented in a ceremony Thursday at the gazebo.
Cubellis and Connolly expressed their thanks and talked about their idea for the memorial — how far they've come, and how far they still need to go.

J.J. Cafaro and Capri Cafaro donated $14,150 last year for the center memorial of the towers — two 6-foot-tall black granite stones inscribed with "God Bless America" in gold leaf.
Four black granite panels with laser etchings of victims' names are still available at $10,000 each. Two-hundred-fifty dollars buys a nameplate on a tree. People can also sponsor a bench for $1,000 or a lamp post for $1,500 each. The bricks can be engraved for $40 a piece.

Cubellis said the memorial was Connolly's idea.

No, he didn't personally know anyone who died in the attacks. "We all knew them, as Americans," Connolly said. That was his inspiration.

Others contribute

The park on South Raccoon has been renamed from Trustee Park to 9-11 Memorial Park, and though the effort does seem largely an Austintown one, those in other communities have contributed. Connolly and Cubellis said the memorial was opened to the whole Valley after Cubellis met a fire chief from Lake Milton who wanted to donate. Since then, they've had donations from Youngstown, Boardman, Niles and Warren.

The committee has accounts set up to take donations at Sky Bank and Farmers National Bank. Checks should be payable to Austintown Beautification Committee. Connolly can be reached at (330) 799-0565, and Cubellis, at (330) 792-1961. The group's Web site is www.911mv.org.

9/11 Memorial Walk

July 21, 2006 - Teens on fund-raising walk to World Trade Center site

ROSSFORD, Ohio (AP) - Four suburban Toledo teens have set off on a 650-mile walk to Ground Zero in New York.

The boys from Rossford High School hope to arrive with at least a (m) million dollars in contributions for a Nine-Eleven memorial at the site of the World Trade Center, and another in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United flight 93 went down. They'll stop at the crash location to donate 20 percent of what they raise.

So far, the group has collected five-thousand dollars.

The 17-year-olds where only 12 when the terrorists struck, but they say the horror of that day in 2001 has stayed with them.

Donations to the boys' memorial fund can be made by visiting www.myspace.com/groundzero2006 or calling 419-344-6528.)

St. Michael's Cemetery to Hold 9/11 Memorial Services

The memorial established by the Santar Family at St. Michael's Cemetery. On September 8, St. Michael's Cemetery, East Elmhurst, will celebrate the lives of the 76 New York City firefighters who lived in the borough and/or worked at fire companies in Queens with a 9/11 Memorial Service. Edward Horn, St. Michael's director of community relations, is planning the event. Ceremonies will also commemorate the 37 Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) officers who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

The America's Quilt, a woven tapestry bearing the faces of everyone lost on September 11, will also be part of the fourth annual memorial service to take place at St. Michael's. It is the work of women across the nation who sought a means to offer respect and condolences to the families who lost a loved one. The Quilt's founders with the sections of the Quilt that bear the faces of all the members of the FDNY and PAPD who died at the Twin Towers on 9/11will be present. On Saturday, September 9, the entire Quilt will be dedicated at Ground Zero. Representatives of St. Michael's Cemetery have been requested to attend the ceremony.

The focal point of the memorial service will be the memorial to the firefighters who lost their lives at Ground Zero when the World trade Center towers fell on Sept. 11, 2001. The memorial was established by the family of Christopher Santora, a Queens College graduate who turned down an appointment as a teacher at I.S. 10 to become a Fire Department "probie". On the job for just eight months on 9/11, Santora and his colleagues at his Manhattan firehouse, Engine Company 54, sped off to the burning World Trade Center, never to return. At 23 years old, Santora was one of the youngest firefighters in the department's history and is believed to be the youngest to die when the Twin Towers collapsed.

The Santora family also established the Christopher Santora Educational Scholarship Fund, which awards scholarships to the sons and daughters of firefighters at local fire companies and companies where Christopher Santora served who have graduated from their respective high schools. In prior years, the fund has also provided history and reference books for each classroom and the libraries at P.S. 2 and P.S. 122, physical education equipment for students at the Queensview Nursery School and savings bonds for winning artists in pre-kindergarten, first and second grade at the Firefighter Christopher Santora Early Childhood School, P.S. 222, and funds for all students to attend Fire Zone during Fire Safety Week. A scholarship at Cathy's Dance Studio, Astoria, which all the Santora children attended, has also been provided on previous occasions.

The idea for a monument to the PAPD arose when Sergeant Tom Hoey of the PAPD went to the cemetery offices on business and saw the firefighters' memorial. St. Michael's will donate the land for the memorial, Horn said. The monument will be similar to that for the firefighters, with memorial medallions into which a visitor will be able to plug a set of headphones and hear the life story of an individual PAPD officer.

The monument will be made of polished black stone into which will be etched the Police Department insignia and the names of the 37 officers: Christopher C. Amoroso, Maurice V. Barry, Liam Callahan, Robert D. Carl, Clinton Davis, Donald A. Foreman, Gregg J. Froehner, Thomas G. Gorman, Uiiuru G. Houston, George C. Howard, Stephen Huczko, Anthony Infante Jr., Paul W. Jurgens, Robert M. Kaulfers, Paul Laszczynski, David P. LeMagne, John J. Lennon, James F. Lynch, Kathy Mazza, Donald J. McIntyre, Walter A. McNeil, Fred W. Morrone, Joseph M. Navas, James Nelson, Alfonse J. Niedermeyer, James W. Parham, Dominick A. Pezzulo, Bruce A. Reynolds, Antonio J. Rodrigues, Richard Rodriguez, James Romito, John F. Skala, Walwyn W. Stuart, Kenneth F. Tietjen, Nathaniel Webb and Michael T. Wholey. A sketch of the proposed monument has evoked powerful and positive responses from PAPD personnel.
Lim knew he would need both hands free to help evacuate civilians from the building. Consequently, Lim left Sirius in his basement cage, where he believed he would be safe, and raced upstairs into the North Tower. Just as he reached the 44th floor, the second plane crashed into the South Tower.

As Lim was escorting civilians down the fire stairs to safety, the building began to collapse. Miraculously, he and those he was assisting found themselves standing in the remains of a crumbled fifth floor fire stairway that had not collapsed completely. Lim and those with him were eventually evacuated from their precarious perch with the aid of ropes tossed to them by other rescuers.

Once assured of the safety of his civilian evacuees, Lim tried desperately to make his way back down to the severely damaged basement police station to rescue Sirius. Other rescuers stopped him because the area was too dangerous to enter. Sirius, whose life was dedicated to the dangerous job of searching for bombs as part of America's War on Terrorism, died in a terrorist attack that even he, with all his training and experience, was powerless to detect.

St. Michael's Cemetery is located at 72-02 Astoria Blvd., East Elmhurst. For more information, call 718-278-3240.

Port Authority to Construct 9/11 Memorial

NEW YORK---The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation have reached agreement that the Port Authority will construct the Memorial. Construction on the footing and foundations is expected to commence this summer and the project remains on schedule to open Sept. 11, 2009. "The Port Authority assuming the construction of the memorial will create efficiencies and expedite the building of a fitting memorial to all of our lost heroes," Gov. George Pataki said. "On September 11th, the Port Authority of NY and NJ lost 84 employees at the World Trade Center site. The Port Authority will now pay tribute to their heroes and the nearly 3,000 others that made the ultimate sacrifice those fateful days by building the memorial that will honor their lives and tell their stories to the world. The Port Authority made the World Trade Center their home for 30 years. They built the temporary PATH station in just sixteen short months, they are realizing Santiago Calatrava's brilliant vision, and now they will take on this noble task and ensure that nothing stands in the way of the memorial's opening by September 11, 2009, as they build the memorial and memorial museum." The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the WTC Memorial Foundation both held meetings of their boards of directors to approve the agreement. The Port Authority will assume the construction of the memorial and are expected to commence footing and foundations work this summer. Preliminary work on the memorial began March 13. The WTC Memorial Foundation will ensure the completion and integrity of the design throughout the course of construction and will be responsible for operating and programming the site. The Memorial, Reflecting Absence, will pay tribute to those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center, in Shanksville, PA and at the Pentagon, as well as those who perished in the World Trade Center on Feb. 26, 1993. 7-06-06

WTC site owner taking over 9/11 Memorial

WTC site owner taking over 9/11 memorial
AMY WESTFELDT
Associated Press

NEW YORK - The government agency that owns the World Trade Center site is taking over construction of the Sept. 11 memorial, following recommendations that the move could trim spiraling costs.

But the chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey also said the agency could back out of the agreement if the price of the project exceeds the latest estimate of $510 million.
"We're going to try and reconcile the numbers. No one has agreed to build it for a number greater" than $510 million, Chairman Anthony Coscia said.

The boards of the Port Authority and the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation voted Thursday to have the Port Authority build the memorial instead of the nonprofit memorial foundation.
Officials have already approved a new, less-expensive version of the "Reflecting Absence" design after contractors estimated in May it would cost close to $1 billion.

Preliminary memorial construction began in March and stopped two months later when the cost estimates came out. The memorial foundation suspended private fund raising and its president quit, while Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed a developer to cut costs.

The latest estimate assumes savings because having the site's owner take over would cut down on duplications of services and would reduce the number of people involved. The Port Authority had previously offered to take over the memorial construction, but had been turned down.
The new design for the square pools with cascading waterfalls set above the twin towers' footprints cuts underground space around the pools, creates one entrance to three separate memorial facilities and raises to street level the names of the 2,979 people killed in the 2001 attacks and the 1993 trade center bombing.

The nonprofit memorial foundation had been in charge of building the memorial, as well as fund raising and, eventually, operating it. Critics of the foundation had said it should focus on fund raising instead of design and construction.

On Thursday, the foundation formally launched a national fundraising campaign, reaching out for private donations months before the fifth anniversary of the attacks. The foundation has raised $130 million privately and, after initially announcing a $500 million goal, now said it must raise $170 million for the memorial to be built and open by 2009.

The campaign will feature ads in newspapers and on Web sites, television and radio.

The Port Authority - a government agency controlled by the governors of New York and New Jersey - has slowly been taking greater responsibility for all projects on the 16-acre site. In April it took control of building two out of five planned skyscrapers, including the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower. It is the only builder to complete construction of anything at ground zero - a temporary commuter-rail hub that opened in 2003.

P.A is Set to Build 9/11 Memorial

Agency will have no role in design, will kick in $50 million more
Thursday, July 06, 2006
BY RON MARSICOStar-Ledger Staff

Port Authority officials are expected to hold a rare special session this morning to approve plans to have the bistate agency build the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero.

Such a decision has been expected since last month, when Port Authority Chairman Anthony Coscia said he was willing to have the agency take over construction of the controversial project, provided it was not responsible for design plans or cost overruns.

But the deal that is likely to be approved by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's board of directors will add to the bottom line: The agency plans to add $50 million to the $100 million it already has committed for infrastructure to support the memorial, according to an agency official. The official spoke only on condition of anonymity because the agenda for the 9:15 a.m. special session at Port Authority headquarters in Manhattan was not publicly disclosed.
Additionally, the Port Authority will agree to kick in another $45 million if necessary to meet cost overruns, with the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. offering a similar amount, the official said.

"We're not playing any role in the design or operation," the official said. "We're being asked to build it, and we're going to go out and build it."

The Port Authority's involvement follows widespread concerns over the costs of the memorial, which had soared to nearly $1 billion in estimates this spring. New York Gov. George Pataki, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. Jon Corzine demanded the costs be kept to $500 million.
Architect Michael Arad won an international competition to design the tribute to the nearly 3,000 people killed in the Feb. 26, 1993, and Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. His plan, "Reflecting Absence," calls for two reflecting pools to symbolize the voids where the Twin Towers once stood, with waterfalls and a random arrangement of the names of the victims. Plans for a museum and underground galleries were scaled back to help reduce costs, and a proposed entry pavilion was eliminated.

The Port Authority already is building a permanent PATH station at the site and also has agreed to construct the proposed 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, although that project's future remains uncertain because of cost and security concerns.

The Port Authority move also is expected to help restart fundraising efforts by the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation to help finance the tribute. The fundraising efforts were put on hold amid controversy over the memorial's cost, which had soared as high as $672 million, plus another $301 million for infrastructure.

Last month, builder Frank Sciame outlined his plans to reduce costs to $510 million for the memorial, with the infrastructure price tag reduced to $178 million.

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

Rancho 9/11 Memorial Wins Over N.Y. Officials

By Wendy Leung, Staff Writer
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(Photo via: http://www.freedomsflame.us/pages/memorial.html
RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A trip to New York City to garner support for a Sept. 11 memorial to be built in Rancho Cucamonga was successful, say organizers of the Freedom's Flame Foundation.

Dennis Stout, founder of the local organization, said the goal of his May visit to the East Coast was to find out how New York leaders feel about the memorial.

"We were overwhelmed by the support we got," said Stout. "This memorial addresses the issues that the memorials in New York don't address, and that is the conduct of the people that day as opposed to the tragedy itself."

The 35-foot-high memorial, when completed, will have its home in Rancho Cucamonga's Central Park. It will feature statues of public safety officials and civilians on a spiral staircase that wraps around a flame. Steel beams taken out of the World Trade Center after its collapse will be used for the memorial.

A sign marking Freedom's Flame Plaza has been erected at the Central Park site, located northwest of the Community Center in an unfinished part of the park.

Funding is perhaps the foundation's biggest challenge. The project, which consists of one memorial in Rancho Cucamonga and one as a gift to New York City, is expected to cost $15 million. So far, the foundation has collected $250,000.

Stout says he has set no deadline to raise the funds but is optimistic the money will come.
"Things that last a long time take a while for it to happen. It won't take as long as the World War II memorial, but it will happen," said Don Driftmeir, the chief financial officer of the foundation. "It's an expensive proposition and a poignant memorial."

Driftmeir said there will be those who doubt the project and question why the events of Sept. 11 have to be memorialized.

"As we approach (July 4), it's important to celebrate that we're free to have all those thoughts and opinions," said Driftmeir.

The bulk of the cost will come from the development of 60 life-sized statues on the two memorials. The foundation is seeking businesses to give $250,000 per statue to be on a donor's list.

The memorial is also being planned in a section of the park not yet developed. The city is planning to build a gym and aquatic center as funding becomes available.

Councilman Sam Spagnolo, a foundation volunteer who went on the New York trip, said he does not believe the memorial will lose momentum in the time it takes to build financial support.

"The patriotism that took place after 9/11 is very strong. Those people in New York live in it every day. Maybe you get to the West Coast and isn't so prevalent in our minds," said Spagnolo. "But we need to send a message to the terrorists that America is very, very strong."

The foundation is organizing a commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the attacks this Sept. 11 to be held at the new Victoria Garden Cultural Center.

Wendy Leung can be reached by e-mail at wendy.leungor by phone at (909) 483-9376.
On the Net: www.freedomsflame.us