CITY COUNCIL HEARING ON WTC MEMORIAL
The City Council Hearing on the WTC Memorial began at 10:30 AM and did not end until 6:00 PM. I don’t know if I was the only one put I had a flash back to Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant when Stefan Pryor’s testimony went on and on with his power point presentation. The problem was that he did nothing to further the LMDC case that the current memorial should move forward. He avoided any real questions put forward by the Council by stating that he did not want to speak for the architect or that he could not speak for the Port Authority. He did make some interesting points
He stated that the reason that they changed the design and reduced the number of ramps from four to two was because his experts thought that visitors would be confused by the additional ramps.
He also stated that there will always be people who will not like any memorial at first but will learn to love it as they did with others. He used the Holocaust Memorial as an example. I guess he was not aware that the original Holocaust Memorial design was discarded two years after it was selected and replaced with a new design. I think he could learn from this.
In typical LMDC fashion he tried to deflect the major family complaints about safety, the location of the memorial underground and the random placement of names by talking about the other buildings and the trees surrounding the two voids. Absent from his presentation was the folowing animation showing the dark and bleak experience that visitors traveling underground will have to endure.
http://www.renewnyc.com/images_WMS/memorial_final/multimedia/movie2.asf
He again and again stressed that this was an open process in which all parties had a say. This was contradicted when the uniform union representatives stated in no uncertain terms that their unions were never consulted about the memorial.
He kept going back to the assets of the museum obviously because he was trying to avoid the issues that we have with the memorial itself. For example even though the meorial will be in a confined space reaching 70 feet into the ground it has been technically classified an outdoor structure, akin to a stadium. Its galleries will be open to the air, shielded only by the curtain of water provided by the waterfalls around the memorial voids. Exit requirements for outdoor structures are less restrictive, in location and capacity, than requirements for indoor assembly places like museums.
The LMDC brought out the same three family members that it always does to support their contention that this memorial is what all the families want. One only had to look around the room to all of the family members present who opposed it to know the truth. Their testimony seemed pretty insignificant when the fact was made known to the Council that we had over 10,000 signatures in opposition to the current plan. They were also presented with the comments that were pulled from the petition site.
Rosaleen and Sally were great as usual and had to wait until almost 5:00 PM to speak but again they raised the true issues about safety and how the trust of the public had been betrayed by allowing the Port Authority to continue to build while not being subject to the legal jurisdiction of the NYC Building and Fire Codes.
The bombshell came when the LMDC finally admitted that they were going to charge and have time limits on the viewing of the memorial. Rosaleen was quick to point out the reason for this was that the fundraising for this memorial has been progressing at a snail’s pace. People are not contributing because they do not want this underground unsafe memorial.
Overall it was a good meeting. The Council members did not seem to be fooled by the LMDC double talk. One was quite vocal in his displeasure that the LMDC seemed more concerned about offending the architect then it was about offending the families.
You should all take heart in the fact that the LMDC is concerned about our campaign. If they weren’t they would not have brought out the big guns and had such a lavishly scripted presentation.
I think we have converted some of the Council members but I don’t know if they will come out publicly against the LMDC and the Port Authority. We must continue to push until they do.
It wouldn’t hurt to sent them a letter asking for their support. In the meantime keep spreading the petition and make people aware of our site
Dennis