Memorial misadventures Why can't JC get it right with its 9/11 memorials?
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Presently, the city has one memorial to the local victims, which briefly disappeared last week until residents discovered it was out being repaired.
There was also a controversy 18 months ago over a much larger memorial that was eventually rejected and given to Bayonne instead, and more recently, local preservationists have protested a statewide memorial to be erected in Liberty State Park.The 'teardrop' that never was
It was called everything from a "gift from God" by late mayor Glenn D. Cunningham to a "giant vulva" by one downtown Jersey City resident. But it is officially known as The "Grief Tear" monument, and it was supposed to be a gift to the Jersey City waterfront from Russia.
Instead, it will be seen in a 2-acre park on the northeast corner of the former Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne. It is scheduled to be unveiled for this year's Bayonne Sept. 11 ceremony.
The monument will stand approximately 100 feet tall from a granite base (about the size of a 10-story building), 21 feet wide and 10 feet thick. Contained within the statue is a "Grief Tear" made of nickel-plated metal that weighs approximately four tons and measures approximately 40 feet high.
Engraved on the monument will be the names of those victims of everyone who died at the Pentagon and the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and those who died in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
It was a gift from Russian sculptor Zurab Tsereteli and the city of Moscow to Jersey City as a goodwill gesture in 2003. And if all had gone according to plan, "Grief Tear" would have been installed last Sept. 11 on J. Owen Grundy Pier near Exchange Place.
But at the time, a number of residents spoke out at small community meetings and City Council meetings objecting to the fact that the "Grief Tear" monument negated the city-commissioned open submission process for a memorial.
In 2002, the Jersey City 9/11 Memorial Committee had chosen a work by Cincinnati-based artist Voss Finn, one of the 63 submissions. The committee later opted for the Tsereteli gift instead because it would not cost the city money to install the statue, and they appreciated design of the monument and Tsereteli's credentials.
Ultimately, the Jersey City City Council that voted to accept the monument as a gift in 2003 would turn it down in January 2005 in a letter sent to Tsereteli from City Council President L. Harvey Smith.
The time had passed to pick the Finn monument, but the city had erected a smaller one in 2002. A monumental misunderstanding
But that one temporarily disappeared last week.
The sign taped at the base of The Jersey City 9-11 Memorial seem to offer a logical explanation as to why it was missing: "The Jersey City 9-11 Memorial has been removed for repairs and will be re-installed in time for the fifth anniversary."
But some members of the 9/11 Memorial Committee of Jersey City claimed they were not informed in advance that it would be removed.
"The city was told by committee members that this memorial was not to be touched at all," said John Guarini, chairman of the 9/11 committee.
The 6-by-8-foot 6,000-plus pounds granite memorial was located at the foot of Grand Street.
The city's assistant business administrator, Greg Corrado, said on Tuesday that the city was honoring the wishes of the victims' family members who wanted to see spelling corrections made on the monument.
"The issue is about bringing dignity to those who lost loved ones," said Corrado.
Guarini was angry enough to file charges in Hudson County Superior Court on Monday against city business administrator Brian O'Reilly, Corrado, and John Burns, who created the memorial and was responsible for its removal.
But by Thursday, charges of "theft by deception" were dropped. Full of contention for 'Empty Sky'
A proposed statewide memorial is also causing controversy.
Jersey City preservationists are unhappy with the fact that it will block coveted views from Liberty State Park. In fact, a mound of dirt already there is blocking some views.
"Tear down this mound" - that was the prevailing sentiment expressed by attendees at a public meeting in Liberty State Park on Aug. 16.
The "Empty Sky," memorial that is planned for placement in the area of the park where survivors of the 9/11 attacks on Lower Manhattan were brought to receive medical care, and where people viewed the World Trade Center crumbling.
It will be made up of two 30-foot high and 200-foot long stainless steel walls on a grassy knoll. A jury of 9/11 victims' family members chose it out of 320 entries submitted in 2004 as part of the New Jersey Memorial Design Competition initiated by former Gov. James McGreevey.
But it has met with opposition since March, when local activist Sam Pesin noticed a pile of dirt over 10 feet high at its future site.
At the same Aug. 16 meeting, John Watson, Deputy Commissioner for the State's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which oversees Liberty State Park and the memorial project, told the crowd that the project would go ahead as planned out of respect for 9/11 victims' families statewide, which prompted considerable booing.
However, Pesin and his supporters are continuing their opposition to the monument by petitioning Gov. Jon Corzine to intercede in the matter and allow for a new public process where residents would be allowed to choose several suitable designs. Victims' families would have the final say. Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com
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