WTC MEMORIAL FOUNDATION

As expected, the Mayor gets the nod to chair the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation--or rather, he accepted.

Be careful what you wish.

Full release after jump.

-Matthew Schuerman UPDATE: Eighteen minutes after we got this press release via e-mail, we got another one announcing a $10 million gift to the Memorial Foundation from American Express. It even has a quote from "Foundation Chairman Mayor Bloomberg." That guy works fast.  read more »

The moody designer of the World Trade Center Memorial came across as chastened and media-coached this morning at yet another Ground Zero ceremony (this one to mark "construction of the footings for the memorial," although in reality only "excavation work to build the foundations" began).

"I'm very gratified to be here today," he told a crowd of reporters. "Today we are starting construction. This is a process and I'm looking forward to the completion of this process but it's an incredible moment to be here today and see it begin."

A hint of his deeper feelings came through when Arad, known for his reluctance to compromise and scale down his design, was asked about the emotional process of designing the memorial.

"The process of designing the memorial was very difficult. It began as a very private process and now it involves so many people," he said.

Staff from the WTC Memorial Foundation tried to cut off further questions, but reporters were not having it. Nor was Michael Arad.  read more »

"What I think is most important about this process is that it continues to move forward and we have to make some of these changes to address concerns, whether they are structural or financial," he continued. "But the most important thing right now is to preserve the integrity of the memorial, to create a space where people will come together and find meaning and find other people who will be at this memorial with them and give them the emotional resonance...."

This coming from someone who once said of the memorial redesign process, "I have no choice but to fight them every step of the way." -Matthew Schuerman

Coming to a Bus Stop/Magazine/Newspaper/Website Near You

The national fundraising ad campaign for the World Trade Center Memorial launched today makes no bones about how long it has taken to get this thing off the ground (or in the ground, actually). The theme is "It's time," and, since two themes are better than one, there is another theme, this one for the first phase, "Bringing Objects," which the press release explains:

references the overwhelming need to memorialize which was felt immediately in the wake of the attacks and still persists five years later. The message, "We needed one then. We need one now," conveys the importance of remembering and also stresses the present mandate to build a permanent memorial.

Hey, if you had really wanted to give money before, you could have always visited the memorial foundation's website. But did you?  read more »

Since we know how much you like original documents, we'll give you the full release after the jump.

-Matthew Schuerman

You thought no one could build a memorial in this town for less than half a billion dollars? Oh, yeah? Well, the much-anticipated report by builder Frank Sciame just went up on the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's website. It suggests that embarrassingly simple changes can shave off $285.1 million in construction costs for the World Trade Center Memorial, like combining the entrance to the memorial with the one for the Snohetta-designed visitor's center. The waterfalls will stay, as will "vast museum space below-grade," and the names of victims will move upstairs. It seems like he is proposing no big slashes and burns but we will wait to study the details to say that for sure.

Hey, if you don't like it, there is something you can do about it. See the website for submitting comments. (Deadline: June 27.)  read more »

Press release after jump.

--Matthew Schuerman

It's like The Facts of Life Go to Paris, but really it's The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation Goes to Atlantic City.

Their purpose? To participate in an automobile trade show!

The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation today launched “Personal Tributes,” a digital repository which will highlight tributes created in response to the attacks of September 11th, 2001 and February 26th, 1993. “Personal Tributes” is an extension of the “Story Builder” digital archive which the Foundation launched in January. The Foundation will showcase the inaugural personal tribute, a custom-built 1957 Chevy Bel-Air with the World Trade Center etched into the back window, at the Atlantic City Classic Car Show on February 24th and 25th, 2006.

And here, Gretchen Dykstra struggles with the indignity:

“Our website will give voice to the thousands of people who created personal tributes, highlighting the decorated automobiles, motorcycles, flags, handmade quilts, murals, and tattoos. Through ‘Story Builder’ and ‘Personal Tributes,’ we are forming a comprehensive historical record which will honor the story of September 11th. We hope that people around the world will log-on to www.buildthememorial.org to share their own photographs of tributes and to view others,” Dykstra said.

Features include:

 632 C.I.D. highly-modified Big Block Chevy engine

 High performance 4L80E transmission, with custom manual shift valve body with overdrive

 Narrowed Ford 9-inch rear axle with strange axles and center section, braced housing with 456 gear ratio

 Custom red, white and blue pearl paint by Dupont with silver pearl metallic stars on front end, custom fiberglass tilt nose which opens and closes automatically by compressed air

 Customized etching of the World Trade Center detailed by hand and finished in gold metal flake with frosted accents dedicated to the memory of the 9/11

In seriousness, and with all due respect to Aldo McCoy of Brick, N.J., whose customization of this car mirrors the many personal remembrances of Sept. 11 so many made in the helpless-feeling aftermath of the attacks: Doesn't it seem as though personal tributes have their meaning precisely because they are personal? Done on a small scale, and liable to pop up anywhere--like in Brick, N.J.? Something about bringing the show to Atlantic City seems wrong.

- Tom McGeveran

(Full press release after the jump.)  read more »