The old adage about people’s ability to change something goes: “Well it’s not carved in stone.”
The misspelling of one of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center is carved in stone, and critics of the current town administration are angry about it.
The critics also claim that having Mayor Dennis Elwell’s name on the memorial – the only public official there except for President George W. Bush – is inappropriate.
“Dennis’ name should never have been written on that stone,” said Frank MacCormack, who ran against Elwell for mayor in the 1999. “The memorial should have been from the people of Secaucus.”
Part of the design incorporates a feature similar to that of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington D.C. Three six-foot high slabs of granite would stand on their sides forming a wall. Etched into one slab is the New York skyline as seen before Sept. 11, including the two towers from the World Trade Center. The center slab displays names of the six Secaucus residents who lost their lives in the attack. The third slab has several written pieces about the disaster as well as quotes from President George W. Bush and Mayor Dennis Elwell.
Perhaps the most serious mistake was the misspelling of one of the six victims’ names on the memorial, as well as the time listed for the first tower that was struck.
Official lists of casualties contained the name of victim Richard Cudina, a one-time resident of Harmon Cove, but the memorial has the last name as Cuardino.
Town Administrator Anthony Iacono said the spelling was obtained from a resident of Harmon Cove.
“We tried to connect with an immediate family member, someone who lived nearby,” Iacono said. “But we could never make the connection. We were not going to hire a private detective to find them. We got the spelling of the name from someone living in Harmon Cove.”
Iacono said the center stone would have to be replaced.
“We’re talking with the company now,” Iacono said. “It is possible it will be donated.”
Two minutes
Engraved bricks leading up to the three-piece granite memorial listed the sequence of events of Sept. 11, one of these bricks claimed the first plane struck at 8:48 a.m. when the official time was actually 8:46 a.m.
“We got the time out of a report issued last January by MSNBC,” Iacono said.
Left out in the sequence of events was the crash of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, while the attack on the Pentagon was included.
The memorial was designed by John Capazzi, the architect who designed the new library, as well as the proposed changes to Buchmuller Park’s bandshell. His participation in the project has also drawn fire as critics question how the contract was awarded and what the final cost of the project was. When proposed earlier this year, the memorial was estimated to cost between $50,000 to $120,000. While no taxpayers dollars were going to be used, and donations were sought, some of the cash was also expected to come from a fund reserved for furnishing the new library. A final tally for the project is not yet available.
Tom Troyer, a Board of Education member and a consistent critic of the current municipal administration, said the mayor’s name should not have been included on the moment.
“I think that was tacky and political opportunistic,” Troyer said.
MacCormack said he said this should not have been a personality issue. Since it would stand for all time, he said, the mayor’s name should have been excluded.
Two councilmen said the issue either was never discussed or was promised for later discussion, which never occurred.
Councilman John Bueckner said the written material never came before the Town Council for a vote, something that he had requested.
Iacono defended the engraving, saying the quotes from the president and the mayor were part of history, things that were said after Sept. 11, 2001, and had a right to be included in the memorial.
“I was glad to be part of this,” Iacono said. “This moment will last 100 years and it will be important for people in the future to know what had been said after Sept. 11.”
Iacono also said that the project was presented to the council in its early phase.
“We had a conversation in caucus where Councilman Bueckner was apprised of the rough draft,” Iacono said.
Iacono said the mayor and council had appointed a committee to address the memorial and that the council was never supposed to have the final say on what was put onto the memorial. This committee included Mayor Elwell, Iacono, Louise Rittberg and Mike Gonnelli.
“It was the committee’s responsibility to review all suggestions from the community,” Iacono said. “We got about five or six different ideas. We tried to aspects of them all in this design, and I thought we did a good job. But it was our plan, not the council’s, and we had no intention of coming back to the council with what we came up with, and no one on the council requested to see it before we did it.”
Bueckner called that claim “ludicrous” and questioned how a monument designed to sit in front of the new library could not be reviewed by the Town Council.
“I did ask for reports,” Bueckner said. “I just never got any answers.”