As the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack approaches, the city of Hoboken – which lost 57 people in the tragedy – still won’t have a permanent memorial on the waterfront in time for commemoration events. But the city now has the funding to build a new structure, City Spokesman Juan Melli said.
The City Council voted at their July 6 meeting to authorize a $2.6 million bond to pay for “renovations and improvements to various city buildings and grounds including but not limited to: Park Improvements, 911 Memorial, Municipal Garage, Fire Department, and City Hall.” Of that, $1.47 million will go to the memorial, Melli said.
“We have been able to overcome all those obstacles.” –Mayor Dawn Zimmer
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A year after the attacks, the city did erect a small glass memorial at Pier A Park with the names of the victims etched in it. But it was damaged during a nor’easter in 2011 and had to be removed.
The new proposed design consists of 6-foot-tall glass panels on a stainless steel base with lighting.
“The [original] design needed to change because of challenges with the glass panels,” wrote Melli in an email to the Reporter. “The engineer would not have signed off on the prior design [for use in a permanent memorial] because it would not have been structurally sound. In order to work with the panels, it would have required an additional structure on top which would have detracted from the design. The new design does not require an additional structure on top for support.”
Melli added, “We essentially had to come up with a way to strengthen the panels so they were laminated in layers.”
Mayor Dawn Zimmer said last week, “In the past year, we successfully demonstrated a method to strengthen the panels to make them structurally suitable for the memorial, built consensus on a revised design, and secured the funding for construction.”
Melli said, “The architect for the project, Demitri Sarantitis, is currently putting together the bid plans and specifications for construction. The next steps will be to fabricate the glass panels needed for construction and issue the bid for construction.”
Sarantitis has served as commissioner on both the Historic Preservation and Planning Boards in Hoboken, according to the architect’s website. He previously worked on Pier A Park where this new memorial is to be built.
The bidding process can be a lengthy one. Melli said, “You develop the bid specifications, you issue the bid, if you have qualified bidders, than at the next council meeting, you can award the contract… and then you begin construction.”
Long process with holdups
Hoboken lost more people in the attacks than any other zipcode, outside of New York.
Last year, Zimmer said she was hopeful that the new memorial would be constructed by this anniversary. But it was not to be.
Two years ago, a design was rejected, two bonds failed to pass, and roughly $500,000 was spent with no memorial.
Last year, the city spent $26,634 for planning, largely for a structural engineering consultant, according to Melli. The remainder was “to transport the panels for testing at the Depp Glass facility.”
On Aug. 5, 2015, the City Council passed a resolution to award structural engineering design firm GMS $10,000 from the city’s budget in order to retain them as consultants.
The city does have a Sept. 11 Memorial Tree Grove in Pier A Park. The grove was planted in 2002 in alignment with the former footprint of the World Trade Center. While a living memorial is beautiful in its own right, residents have voiced their frustrations over a lack of a proper municipal memorial after 15 years, through two administrations.
Frustrations
The history of the stalled project began during the administration of Mayor David Roberts. The city proposed an island park memorial and footbridge in the water off Pier A Park, at a cost of $4 million. When the city endured budget problems, the proposal became cost prohibitive.
Over the years, proposals came and went.
Councilman Michael Russo voiced his frustrations last week.
“It’s quite honestly, in my opinion, a disgrace [that we don’t have a memorial],” said Russo. But he doesn’t blame any one individual. He said the process has taken so long due to differences in opinion and the pressure for perfection.
Russo said, “I understand that everyone wants it to be perfect, but the reality is, nothing will ever be perfect, and there will always be some disagreement among people.”
He added, “I think that in every process that happens across multiple administrations, everyone wants to leave their mark. Everyone wants to have somewhat of a say in what that potential memorial is going to look like, how it’s going to be constructed, and how much it’s going to [cost]. That is what contributed most to the delay, because everyone has a different opinion.”
He said, “I think everyone is to blame for this [slow] process — even council members like myself who have sat on the council and who have begged and pleaded to make sure that it was done, and I take some responsibility in that, because I didn’t do enough to get it done, and that to me is very disheartening.”
Councilman Ruben Ramos Jr. said last week, “It needs to get done in the near future. We are trying to get this done.”
Russo said the council can only push the administration so much after they vote.
“It’s like we say in government,” he said. “The buck has to stop somewhere, and the buck stops at City Hall. I don’t put it on just this mayor. I put it on past mayors, on many administrators who have come and gone. There have been many people who have been involved in the potential of the 9/11 memorial and no one seems to be able to get it done.”
Zimmer said she wanted to thank those who have contributed so far, she said, including “the families on the 9/11 Memorial Committee, Mayor Roberts, and the City Council subcommittee.”