Public Responds to Concept for 9/11 Memorial

The public got a chance to respond to the conceptual designs for a 9/11 memorial on Pier A on Tuesday night as Mayor Dawn Zimmer, joined by Community Development Director Brandy Forbes, hosted the first public hearing on the subject. 

An earlier proposal included an island that would have extended into the Hudson River. The proposal—which was designed and prepared during former Mayor David Roberts' administration—would have cost $4 million. In 2008, Roberts asked the council to approve the funds for that project. The council, on which Zimmer served as council woman at the time, voted it down. 

The new plan was showed to the public on Tuesday night. 

According to this proposed plan, the memorial will be placed among the trees on Pier A, which are a live memorial for the September 11, 2001 attack. At least four trees will have to be replaced for the new memorial. 

Henry Arnold, one of the designers of Pier A Park, takes issue with that. Arnold said he didn't see the point of placing a new memorial in an already existing one. He said also that it would remove four trees and damage others around there. 

For Joseph O'Keefe, 47, the trees are not good enough a reason to delay the construction of the memorial further. O'Keefe, who lost his wife Lesley Thomas on 9/11, said he is "sick and tired" of waiting for a memorial to be built. 

"I have no headstone to visit, this is it for me," he said. "I'm going to come here for the rest of my life. I can't give that up for four trees."

The design of the plan that was presented on Tuesday includes two glass panels that will have the names of Hoboken victims carved into them, and two entrances so people can walk through the memorial. There will also be seats and a place to leave mementos. The radius of the design, said Joe Petrongolo, a landscape architect at Remington & Vernick, will be 20 feet. This will make it an intimate memorial, he said, but will also give visitors their personal space.

The new concept will cost significantly less than the design that was proposed during the Roberts administration, which was chosen from a design competition.

The cost of the new plan will be around $200,000 said Petrongolo.

Community Develoment Director Forbes said that there is $250,000 in grant money left to spend on the project. Originally the Department of Community Affairs granted $500,000 and the treasury department granted $100,000 for the project. The glass panels for the memorial have already been purchased, Forbes said, and cost $200,000.

The contract with Remington  & Vernick is $60,000 and there has been $60,000 allocated to etch the names of the victims in the glass panels. Forbes added that $150,000 of the pool of grant money was spent on the design competition during the Roberts Administration. The design that was picked in that contest will most likely not be used. 

This leaves roughly $145,000 to spend on the construction of the memorial, Forbes said.

Sixth Ward Councilman Nino Giacchi, who serves as chairman of the Quality of Life committee, said on Tuesday night that he was impressed with the plan. 

"It's certainly a fitting tribute for the tragedy of that day," he said. 

Although still frustrated, O'Keefe too expressed optimism. "I do approve of the new design," he said. "I can't give up on this town."