Thursday, September 11, 2008

Plan to make Tribute in Light permanent

From Urbanite:

...though the “Tribute in Light” is slated to go dark after this year, organizers and officials say they are determined to see that the makeshift memorial doesn’t disappear.

“New Yorkers would like to see it go on,” said Frank E. Sanchis III, senior vice president at the Municipal Art Society, which organizes the commemoration. “And so would I. We are approaching the future very straightforwardly.”

The contract that the Municipal Art Society has with the Lower Manhattan Developement Corp. to produce the remembrance ends this year, because both believed five years ago that the work on Ground Zero would be largely completed by now.

Sanchis added that he believed it is likely that his group and the LMDC would reach an agreement to continue the project next year and possibly beyond.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a great tribute to those who lost their lives.

It is also a testament to the enherent evil of those who participated in the murders.

Ridgewoodian said...

I agree with Anonymous, it's a wonderful memorial - understated, classy, and powerful. I think it should not only continue next year and the next, I think it should be made a permanent yearly tradition, along with the Reading of the Names and other ceremonies at Ground Zero. I heard somewhere that it costs about $250,000 to put up - that might be a lot for you or me but in the grand scheme of things it's almost nothing. Some philanthropic organization should endow a fund to ensure the tribute's continued existence. If they wanted to take up a collection I'd throw in my fair share.

Anonymous said...

Long live the memorial!

Anonymous said...

but wait, it's MAS doing this! Why don't they do anything for Queens! This is another case of the mainstream preservation community shilling for schekels - this time exploiting 9/11!

Anonymous said...

Please don't make the Tribute of Light permanent. It may end up as yet another tourist attraction, instead of the serious memorial that it's supposed to be. Kep the lights restricted to only 9/11.

Ridgewoodian said...

ANONYMOUS: Please don't make the Tribute of Light permanent.

I'm not sure if you were responding to me. I agree, it wouldn't be a good idea to make it a YEAR ROUND thing; I only meant that it should be lit on the evening of every September 11th.

Anonymous said...

I'm all for tributes, but what about saving energy?

Queens Crapper said...

This was never meant to be a year-round thing; I don't know where you folks are getting this from. They mean it won't come back next year because the contract ran out. Not that they want to make it light up every night.

Anonymous said...

Yup, this is a bit confusing. The lights were "only" funded like $3.5M and run like $350K per year, so hopefully with all the partnership going on, some company/companies/individuals will provide the funding. In the meantime, visit

http://www.tributeinlight.org

if you are interested in signing a petition expressing your interest in making the memorial permanent (at least 9/11 timeframe).