Plans for a memorial honoring the New Jersey residents killed in the World Trade Center attacks brought Rep. Robert Menendez (D-13th Dist.) to Liberty State Park in Jersey City Monday to announce an initiative to obtain $100,000 from the Secretary of the Interior to push the project forward.
Serving as New Jersey’s official World Trade Center memorial, the structure, to be placed in Liberty State Park, will honor the 700 New Jersey residents estimated to have been killed in the attacks.
Former Acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco sanctioned the memorial in October. DiFrancesco placed three former governors – Brendan Byrne, Tom Kean, and James Florio – as co-chairs of the commission responsible for selecting a memorial design and allocating funds. According to the executive order, the process should involve public suggestions as well.
Speaking in the Central Railroad Terminal, which is still being used as a resource center for families of World Trade Center victims, Menendez detailed the important role Liberty State Park played during Sept. 11, when thousands of fleeing civilians scurried to ferries in Lower Manhattan to the banks of Hudson County. “Liberty State Park has been mentioned time and again as the ideal location for a memorial,” Menendez said. “Not only because of its location and views, but because of the symbol of liberty it represents – the liberty which our fellow Americans overseas and on the homefront are now fighting to preserve.”
Greg Remaud, president of the Liberty State Park Conservancy, welcomed the memorial to the 600-acre park, hoping that it might be placed directly outside the railroad terminal where volunteers have planted garden plots over the years. He remarked that site is a fitting place for the New Jersey Memorial because it is across from the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, which he described as “transcendent symbols of hope, community and passion.”
Hoboken resident Kelly Colasanti, whose husband was killed in the World Trade Center attacks, stood by Menendez during the press conference. Her husband, Chris, was a bond trader for Cantor Fitzgerald. She is now raising her two daughters, Cara, 5, and Lauren, 2, on her own. She said that the memorial is especially important because not everyone’s remains were recovered.
“It would be nice to have a place to come for 9/11,” Colasanti said.
“We need to move on, but we should never, never forget,” Menendez said.
Menendez said that the commission should have a planned design by the first anniversary of the attacks, but cautiously said, “doing it right is more important than doing it expeditiously.”
Other memorials
Other Sept. 11 memorials are being planned for Jersey City and Hoboken.
Jersey City Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham was not at the press conference. However, he is trying to get a memorial placed by Exchange Place. He said he hopes that the Department of Public Works could acquire materials from the rubble at Ground Zero. With this material, the Jersey City Arts Commission would find local artists to construct a WTC memorial.
Also, the Mack-Cali development company is planning a memorial sculpture honoring local workers who aided in the rescue efforts. The sculpture will be placed adjacent to Harborside Plaza V, which is under construction. According to Virginia Sobol, vice president of marketing and public relations, the building and sculpture should be completed by the end of the year. “The sculpture will likely show the image of an ironworker working in the rubble of the World Trade Center,” Sobol said. Mack-Cali is working with the Jersey City Pro Arts Council on the project.
In Hoboken, a city committee has been soliciting proposals and funds for a memorial on Pier A park on the south waterfront.