Save The 911 Memorial

Friends,

A few weeks ago a national media effort was launched. Edie Lutnik had spearheaded a sensible, moderate and well constructed solution to the way in which names could (should) appear on the WTC site memorial. At a press conference, it was moving to hear the family members and representatives of uniformed personnel who spoke. They spoke without rancor. They were poised in their grief and respectful in their pleas. I urge you all to go to the link here. Read all the material. www.savethe911memorial.com, and sign the petition. Feel free to pass this link to everyone you can. If you could have seen and heard Lee Hanson speak on the very day his son, Peter, would have turned 38 years old, you would not hesitate to sign this very reasonable petition. To read that Mayor Bloomberg's response was a callous, "you can't please everyone..." was a slap in the face. Apparently, the only one who needs to be "pleased" is Mr. Mayor. We will never be "pleased" by seeing the names of people we love written on a wall of the dead. But, as Edie Lutnik so eloquently and simple stated our position, we want the names and the event remembered with integrity. Thank you, Diane Horning,WTC Families for Proper Burial, Inc.

As you may have heard, Governor Spitzer changed his mind about letting the public be heard on the names issue after only hearing from Mayor Bloomberg. We hope that after he hears from all of us, he will change it back. It is urgent that as many people write to the Governor as possible. Please make your voice heard. The website www.savethe911memorial.com has Governor Spitzer's contact information and below please find a draft letter for your use. Feel free to copy and paste it, personalize or edit it, or write your own letter. Copy and paste your letter into Governor Spitzer's contact information.

Dear Governor Spitzer:

We know you have the courage to save America’s 9/11 memorial: We cannot understand why you went from having your “own opinion” about the names listing on the memorial to announcing you discovered “greater clarity” about Mayor Bloomberg’s plan and will not oppose it.

Mayor Bloomberg alleges, “This is a memorial for America,” and that, “We found a way to display the names in a way that I think will show the enormity of the tragedy.” Yet the “we” he cites was just the Mayor himself. Everyone associated with the memorial knows that it was Mayor Bloomberg who stood in the way of the joint family proposal on the names, in fact, the Board had already resolved to adopt their proposal. How Patty Harris threatened the Memorial Board with Nuclear War with the Mayor if it officially voted to adopt the proposal is now legendary.

What every American knows is any of them could have been one of those murdered and any of those 8 children aboard American Airlines Flight 77 and United Airlines Flight 175 could have been their children, grandchildren, brothers, or sisters. Those soldiers and sailors were America’s son and daughters in the Pentagon serving our country. Those were America’s firefighters, police officers, rescue workers, and medics running downtown and coming running from across our nation and that any of us could have been in that building that day. We read thousands of personal stories about those who died and vowed to “Never Forget.”

Should Mayor Bloomberg prevail, Americans will not recognize the memorial at the World Trade Center when it opens in September 2009. They will find 2,979 names listed randomly and without further identification around two pools in a park, yet – at ground level at Ground Zero – they will find no artifacts or mention of September 11, 2001 or February 26, 1993 with only rescue workers shown the little respect of why they were there. No ages, no affiliations, no real story. Will the memorial “show the enormity of a tragedy” or be about “their lives remembered, their deeds recognized” as the memorial’s charter words prescribed? No, just a list of names in no discernable order.

Sixty-five percent of voters elected you as the Governor of New York and, as such, you now have both the authority and influence to prevent a real tragedy from occurring. We ask that you begin to use that influence by visiting www.savethe911memorial.com, viewing our proposal in comparison to Mayor Bloomberg’s plan, and then publicly announcing that you have not changed “your opinion.” Please consider joining alongside the more than 3,000 9/11 family members who have already signed it.

America needs another hero. Do you have the courage to save its 9/11 memorial?

Very truly yours,

Name: ________________________
Address: ____________________________
City/State:_____________________
Phone: ___________________