Put It Above Ground

The fundraising for the current WTC Memorial is currently moving at a snail’s pace. Government contributions and one or two corporate donations make up most of the total collected so far. The bottom line is that people are not donating to this memorial because it has become obvious it is not what the people want. If this was a safe above ground memorial where people could easily find their loved ones names the money would be flowing in. People, especially family members, are not contributing because they see this as the LMDC’s Memorial and the actions of the LMDC have yet to prove them wrong. 

They couldn’t get the plan approved under the NYC codes as an indoor structure so instead of making the necessary changes they get it classified as an outdoor structure where requirements for capacity and location are less restrictive. The LMDC thinks that they have unlimited financial resources to get this built. Estimates have now reached as high as $1.2 billion for the “Memorial Experience” and can be expected to grow. 

Let me give you an example There are these waterfalls that come crashing down from street level. Well I guess the planners did not realize that we have winter in New York and in the winter the mist from these waterfalls would turn into a frozen spray. The LMDC’s first solution was to say that the waterfalls would be turned off in the winter but that would leave them with just two voids in the ground. Well the common sense solution would be to put up some type of Plexiglas to protect the visitors from the frozen spray. Oh but then this underground cavern would definitely have to be classified as an indoor stucture. We know you can’t go there because we would then have to build to code. So what was their solution. They will install a heating mechanism at a cost of $300,000 to make sure the mist doesn’t freeze. This will also increase the yearly operating cost by over $750,000 because of energy costs. No problem we will just charge visitors to the museum to make up the difference. 

It is thinking like this that makes this memorial all wrong. People are not stupid but it seems that the LMDC thinks they are. Can you believe that Stefan Pryor stated at the Council meeting that the reason for the change from four ramps to two was that their experts determined that four ramps would confuse visitors. Please give us a little credit. 

There is an old saying “Fool me once shame on you” “Fool me twice shame on me” Well we were already fooled once when we were told to our faces that nothing was going to be built on the footprints when plans for the transit hub were already in place to do just that. 

The LMDC continues to state that this was an open and democratic process and that we should believe that they will do what is right. They have yet to do anything to make me believe and I am not alone as there are nearly 11,000 that have signed our petition that feel the same way. 

Below find a comment from signer # 10,373