Below the dark sky lies Ground Zero, a cauldron of gray metal railways, pickup trucks and the skeletons of new buildings. Surrounding it all during the winter of 2003 are tributes presented by American citizens and foreigners expressing their compassion for the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001.
On Liberty Street, next to the ruined site, is a sign colored red, white and blue, saying: “Thank You, America, for your prayers and support for all those lost and their families. From the Port Authority and New York and New Jersey Police.” Next to the sign are rows of lavender rings with white flowers. Nearby, a square gray board displays messages written in different colors. One woman wrote in blue: “There is only one thing that I wouldn’t change about the incident—the heart of America has day by day grown taller than the Twin Towers themselves. God Bless America.—Raquel Ortiz.”
In the future, these homemade tributes will be succeeded by a permanent memorial. But what should this memorial look like? Now that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has selected Studio Daniel Libeskind’s design to guide the rebuilding of the WTC site, LMDC officials hope to have a memorial design by September 2003.
The LMDC seeks a memorial that will, among other goals, convey the magnitude of personal and physical loss at Ground Zero; acknowledge all who aided in rescue, recovery and healing; and inspire people to learn more about the events and impact of Sept. 11.
While America waits for the decision on the memorial, people from different pockets of the tristate area are voicing their desires of what they want to see in the official tribute at the WTC site. Many commuters who ride on a white ferry that travels from Hoboken, N.J., to Manhattan through the blue New York Harbor say remembering the victims is the most important aspect of rebuilding at Ground Zero.
Artie Lange, a resident of Union County, N.J., says he wants the memorial at the World Trade Center to have a statue similar to the one that sits in front of the Milford Plaza. Moreover, he says he wants the city to have more tributes to the firemen than to police officers. Additionally, he says he found the names of the deceased soldiers listed on the Vietnam War memorial powerful and says that listing the victims of the WTC attacks on a plaque would be touching.
Robert Malado, a New Jersey resident and a commuter on the ferry, echoes Lange’s response. He says that putting the names of the people who died on Sept. 11 on a plaque like Vietnam is commendable. “Those men and women are heroes.”
Other riders on the NY Waterway ferry, which has the words Garden State above the passenger’s entrance, had other ideas.
A resident from Englewood, N.J., says it’s important to have a memorial because it keeps the memory of those who died alive, and it provides an emotional outlet for the victims’ families. A memorial “makes you think,” she says.
A blonde-haired girl in her 30s from Toms River, N.J., says she hopes the city officials do a “respectful and tasteful job” in building the memorial. She hopes the new memorial respects the memory of the lives lost and doesn’t become a tourist attraction.
Daniel Hansburg, a frequent rider on the ferry, says he prefers to place less emphasis on the memorial. He argues that creating a memorial is a symbol implying America’s defeat by terrorism.
Other ferry riders say they want a portion of the memorial space to be used for commercial purposes.
“The site should be commercial and have office space,” says Laura Ossowski, a resident of Fort Lee, N.J. “The memorial should have a lot of green space.” The place “should be well lit at night, like Paris. It should not be a place of misery. We should remember the good things.”
Tracy Moriss, a ferry commuter from North Bergen, N.J., says, “I hope the majority of the victims’ families get their wishes fulfilled.” She adds that she hopes some of the space by the memorial is used by businesses, which would help revitalize the downtown area.
But others who ride the ferry believe simplicity stimulates the human soul into a peaceful state.
Phyllis Becker, another resident of Fort Lee, says she hopes the memorial is like a garden. “I really like the idea of the garden” at Ground Zero, she says. “A garden is simple.” She adds, “A garden is so beautiful that it makes you think.”
Jordan M. Doronila is a journalism and media studies major at Rutgers-Newark.
