Pembroke Pines Rethinks 9/11 Memorial
PEMBROKE PINES (CBS4) – Pembroke Pines city commissioners are expected to decide Tuesday evening what to do about its 9/11 memorial now that the city no longer wants to spend the money necessary to erect the memorial following an outcry from taxpayers.
The city commission approved a plan last month for a 2,000-square-foot stone and glass memorial including a piece of a World Trade Center girder. Its price tag was put at about $1 million.
But commissioners and other city officials say they've been flooded with calls from residents who object to the expense of the project.
Mayor Frank Ortis says it's a "project everybody loves" but that carries an "expense that people are concerned with."
The issue at this point is where to place the sculptures and the steel girder salvaged from one of two World Trade Center towers.
Originally planned to be an outdoor monument, the design has grown over the last 5-years to include a gallery to house several sculptures. But because the sculptures are made of steel, they would rust if left outdoors.
Commissioners no longer support plans to spend more money to build a structure to house the sculptures and girder due to the city's eroding finances. Instead, they want to consider less costly public sites.
Commissioner Carl Shechter has proposed housing one of the commissioned artworks – an 8-foot-tall, 2 1/2 –ton steel sculpture of a firefighter, in the atrium of the Southwest Focal Point Senior Center. But he hasn't said what do to do with the rest of the sculptures which include two twisted towers and a little girl. Sculptures of a policeman and search dog, and a woman "jumper"' also are planned.
Mayor Frank Ortis and Vice Mayor Jack McCluskey said they now favor housing the sculptures in City Hall, near the entrance to the commission chambers, though that would require some minor reconstruction. McCluskey has also said he would like to hear from an expert about the possibility of applying a protective coating to the steel sculptures, which would allow them to be displayed outdoors.
Whatever the Pines commission decides, the entire project must be completed in time for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks this September.
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