WTC Memorial - by Michael Arad (Architect) and Peter Walker (Landscape)

[BigMac]

Wall Street Journal
July 23, 2012

'Tribute' Handover

By Ted Mann


The view of the lower Manhattan skyline on Sept. 10, 2011.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum foundation is taking its first steps toward controlling an annual rite of healing: the "Tribute in Light."

The tribute, in which twin beams are projected into the sky to represent the former World Trade Center towers, has been managed since March 2002 by the Municipal Art Society, which first staged it.

But after reported struggles with funding to keep the display alive, and amid the foundation's continuing effort to formalize its authority over commemorative events at the site, the foundation will take a lead role this fall.

Details are still being hammered out between the foundation and MAS, which will continue to play a role in the light display. But an official at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Monday that the agency's lease with the MAS would be transferred to the foundation, which will take control even as discussions continue.

The Tribute in Light is projected from the roof of the MTA's Battery Parking Garage. The foundation will take over the $12,000 annual lease, which includes use of a portion of the roof for three weeks, as well as storage space for lights and equipment the rest of the year.

"It is an honor for us to be able to begin helping to ensure this moving tribute soars above our city's skyline for years to come," said foundation president and CEO Joseph Daniels.

Vin Cipolla, president of MAS, said in an email that his organization was "unspeakably proud of its founding role."

"We are very pleased that this transition is moving forward, and look forward to being a part of Tribute for many years to come," Mr. Cipolla wrote.

The MTA board will vote Wednesday on the extension of the garage lease, which will run through 2014.

Copyright ©2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

[BigMac]

Downtown Express
July 25, 2012

Petition for monument to honor those killed by Ground Zero toxins

A Downtown resident has started an online petition urging authorities to build a free-standing monument on the National September 11 Memorial and Museum Plaza to honor first responders and cleanup workers who have died from inhaling toxins at Ground Zero.

Allan Tannenbaum, 67, a Community Board 1 member and photojournalist from Tribeca, created the petition in late May after years of advocacy for those affected by 9/11-related toxins. His photo story “Still Killing,” published in TIME Magazine in 2006, documented cases of emergency and clean-up workers who were suffering from cancers and other incurable diseases years after the terrorist attacks, and who Tannenbaum said are often overshadowed by those who died on 9/11.

The 9/11 Memorial has plans to include an exhibit on those who’ve died from toxins once it opens to the public.

Tannenbaum — who was a member of C.B. 1’s now-defunct World Trade Center Redevelopment Committee — said that when, during a committee meeting, he once asked 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels why the exhibit couldn’t be turned into its own monument on the Plaza, Daniels told him that it was because some Ground Zero workers have died from causes unrelated to toxins.

“But an exhibit just isn’t enough because of the awful illnesses and deaths that these people and their families have gone through,” said Tannenbaum. “I don’t think that we should kill the whole idea just because there might be a handful of names on that wall who didn’t die from 9/11 toxins.”

The petition, which had gained more than 230 online signatures by press time, can be found at www.change.org.

[lofter1]

The KPITV cam today shows that they're about to reconfigure the western most side of the Memorial along West Street, most likely in preparation for doing road work there. From the 2WFC cam it can be seen that the NYPD trailers have a new spot mapped out for them, with lots of painted white lines much closer to the vent buildings, and the words "NYPD LARGE TRAILER" & "NYPD SMALL TRAILER" spray painted on the asphalt just to the west of the vents.

[BigMac]

(Anthony Basile on Facebook)

[stache]

^ Amazing photo.

[DMAG]

That seriously makes me dizzy. Great perspective.

[BigMac]

(OneWTC.com)

[lofter1]

The KPITV cam today shows that they're about to reconfigure the western most side of the Memorial along West Street, most likely in preparation for doing road work there. From the 2WFC cam it can be seen that the NYPD trailers have a new spot mapped out for them, with lots of painted white lines much closer to the vent buildings, and the words "NYPD LARGE TRAILER" & "NYPD SMALL TRAILER" spray painted on the asphalt just to the west of the vents.

Trailers moved @ noon on Monday August 6 (viewable on the KPITV 2WFC cam).

Reconfiguring West Street continues.

[BigMac]

Associated Press
August 9, 2012

NYC 9/11 memorial surpasses 4 million visitors

NEW YORK (AP) — More than 4 million people have visited the Sept. 11 memorial at the World Trade Center since it opened last summer on the 10th anniversary of the terror attacks.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum announced the milestone Thursday.

The nonprofit foundation says visitors have come from all 50 states and 170 countries to see the two giant reflecting pools ringed by waterfalls that make up the memorial.

Memorial President Joe Daniels says all those visitors are helping to preserve the memory of those who died.

Copyright © 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[BigMac]

New York Post
August 11, 2012

Fund raising for the 9/11 Memorial hurt by dispute with Port Authority, Bloomberg says

By JOSH MARGOLIN and DAVID SEIFMAN

The battle over control of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum has begun to hamper fund raising for the project, Mayor Bloomberg warned yesterday.

“It’s getting harder to raise money,” he said on his weekly WOR radio show.

“When we talk to them and try to solicit gifts, [they say], ‘Well, you know, what’s going to happen with the Port Authority [and] museum?’ ”

Bloomberg has helped the 9/11 memorial foundation raise more than half of the $700 million construction cost of the memorial and museum.

While the memorial plaza opened last September, there is no opening date for the museum because of a dispute that’s been raging for nearly a year with the PA over who will get to run the emotionally charged site.

“We’re working with them, and hopefully we can come up with a solution quickly,” said the mayor, who chairs the organization.

In the meantime, one source said, big donors who are being hit up in another round of fund-raising are questioning what’s going on with the project.

“There’s no panic mode,” the source said.

“The interest is still there. But it makes it more challenging when you want to go back to people who already gave.”

For months, both the mayor and the Port Authority gave the impression that their behind-the-scenes fight was over $150 million or so in infrastructure costs.

But Bloomberg said that’s essentially been resolved, with only $15 million separating the two sides “last time I tuned in.”

With the money matters largely settled, the real obstacle has proved to be control over the site — roughly one-half of the 16-acre World Trade Center complex.

The PA has insisted it retain permanent ownership of the entire 16 acres, regardless of day-to-day operations of the museum and memorial.

Despite his hard line in public, sources said, Bloomberg has softened his stance privately in an effort to restart the all-but-dead negotiations.

“Bloomberg himself has sent word he is willing to talk about the governance issues,” said one official briefed on the talks.

Although the mayor at first refused to move from his position, his new flexibility could well break the logjam in time for a final announcement before he leaves office in 2014.

Bloomberg said that there have been 4 million visitors so far to the memorial and that “it does not seem to be slowing,” even without the museum.

The 9/11 foundation’s annual fund-raiser next month is already sold out.

The PA and the Office of Gov. Cuomo, who with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie controls the bi-state agency, did not comment.

Copyright 2012 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

[BigMac]

(daisygirl488 on Fanpop)

[BigMac]

ABC News
August 25, 2012

First Responder Objects to Tourist Atmosphere at World Trade Center Memorial

By CANDACE SMITH


Viewers gather around the south pool at the 9-11 Memorial, July 17, 2012 in New York City.

When Marianne Pizzitola visited the World Trade Center Memorial last week, she was already wary. A retired EMS for the Fire Department of New York, Pizzitola, 43, had been a first responder on September 11th, almost 11 years ago. She, like so many others, lost friends that day and had finally mustered the strength to travel to New York from her current home in Georgia to pay her respects.

What she found disturbed her.

"This place is not being treated like a memorial," she said.

Recalling crowded lines, laughter, smiling people, onlookers leaning and sitting on the tablets inscribed with victims' names, Pizzitola said she felt as if she were lined up not for a somber memorial but a tourist attraction.

Philip Bredin, a visitor from Ireland, thinks it was inevitable the memorial would attract many visitors. "It certainly is a tourist attraction, was always going to attract tourists."

But for Pizzitola, a shrine in memory of those who died should bear no semblance to anything fun.

"People are holding Starbucks cups, sitting on these tablets, one person had their a** on my friend's name. I lost my emotional mind," Pizzitola said. She added that "this is a grave and people should respect that point."

In June, a group of Brooklyn teenagers were evicted from the memorial after throwing trash in the reflecting pools.

After talking with other first responders who she said felt similarly, Pizzitola fired off an email to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, addressing her concerns and expressing her desire to find some sort of solution. She suggested a mandatory video for all visitors that would educate them on the events that left the Twin Towers demolished and almost 3,000 people dead.

Other visitors agree that perhaps a video would help reinforce the solemnity of the memorial.

"We should have a video and it should be mandatory and I think people will take it more seriously," said Rebecca Fox of Tampa.

Much to Pizzitola's surprise, she received an email from Joe Daniels, the 9/11 Memorial president, saying his team would be in touch with her. She was contacted by Allison Blais, chief of staff for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Pizzitola told ABC News that Blais seemed very responsive to her email and that officials had already been working to figure out how to improve the memorial.

While the 9/11 memorial had no official statement on Pizzitola's email, they did refer ABC News to a sign posted in the line at the museum that calls for proper decorum: "The 9/11 Memorial is a place for solemn reflection dedicated to honoring and remembering the tragic events and the overwhelming loss of innocent life."

A spokeswoman said that the memorial tries to educate all visitors by offering informational pamphlets to visitors as well as sending pre-visit educational material to any school group that visits.

Copyright © 2012 ABC News

[Merry]

People are holding Starbucks cups, sitting on these tablets, one person had their a** on my friend's name. I lost my emotional mind," Pizzitola said.

Extraordinary restraint, considering. It never ceases to astonish me that some people actually are blissfully unaware of how ignorant and inconsiderate their behaviour is.

[lofter1]

If the plan is to have an open plaza, accessible from numerous entry points, how can a compulsory video viewing be put in place?

Maybe they should project the vid in a loop on the side of the buildings around the plaza, mega-sized.

[Sherpa]

Yeah the short film before Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.