What have you done to my park?
3 years ago | 47 views | 0 
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The following are the remarks I plan to give at the public hearing on August 16th for the proposed "Empty Sky" 9/11 memorial at Liberty State Park.
They were the first words I spoke when seeing the mound of encased dirt that took away the breath-taking views of the New York Skyline.
This mound is massive, extending visually, left, from the skyscraper with the patina-pointed spire to the tip of Manhattan Island. When looking left, from the right, that patina and the only other green-pointed spire, near the Winter Garden, are seen. No Empire State Building. No Citibank building. Nothing.
I don't care that the 22 feet of dirt settled into 15 feet, which will settle into 10 feet, before "Empty Sky" fills the Skyline. It is an ugly platform for an ugly monument.
"Empty Sky" actually fills the sky with two huge slabs jutting upward. It is not beautiful and delicate, like the two blue lights that have shone, mimicking the lost towers. And adding those blue lights to this so-called memorial does not make it any less foreboding.
I won't settle for losing the Grand Plaza where people gathered before entering this historic Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, taking in the breezes along the Hudson River and where classic cars and other exhibits were displayed and musical acts performed during the 2002 & 2003 Jersey Central Railroad Heritage Festivals - of which I was employed part-time as fundraiser, co-producer and promoter.
I won't settle for any monument obstructing, obliterating and obscuring the beautiful architecture of the historic railroad terminal.
And "Empty Sky," which is adjacent to the railroad terminal, still fills the sky.
What's even more incredulous - the historic marker describing the CRRNJ Terminal on Liberty Walk faces the magnificent brick building, yet the terminal cannot be seen. "Empty Sky" destroys its view.
Built in 1889, the CRRNJ Terminal served the many "tired, poor huddled masses" coming from Ellis Island to board passenger railroads that populated our great country's expanses of land. When did the historic railroad terminal cease to be a monument, in and of itself?
"What have you done to my park?"
No matter who is talking about Liberty State Park, whether it's a park-lover or an advertisement for the Liberty Jazz Festival, the comments always include, "with views of the Statue of Liberty and the New York Skyline."
Why, in the world, would those bureaucrats entrusted to Liberty State Park sacrifice the New York Skyline while, at the same time, use it as a promotional come-on?
That's the equivalent of 'biting the hand that feeds you' and just as ridiculous, when the hands feeding and the mouths biting come from the same creature.
Now, what will you do to my park?
You will remove this monstrosity of a dirt mound. You will not erect this outsized and ill-conceived monument. You will re-build the Grand Plaza.
There already is a monument at Liberty State Park commemorating those who perished on 9/11. It is called the Grove of Remembrance. Its shady area is simpatico with the mission of Liberty State Park, so that it remains a "free and green urban state park."
The Grove of Remembrance is the perfect monument at Liberty State Park to contemplate the severity of that horrific event and the souls of those who lost their lives that day.
Michele M. Dupey
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