Proposals for Flight 587 Memorial Unveiled

On November 12, 2001, as New York was still reeling from 9/11, American Airlines Flight 587 to the Dominican Republic took off and then crashed into the Rockaways. The crash killed all 260 people aboard the plane and five people on the ground. Yesterday, nearly four years later, the city released six proposals for a memorial. The proposals were selected out of 68 that were submitted. Two things about the memorial are certain: it will be located on Beach 116th Street and the Boardwalk (about a mile from where the plane crashed) and it will contain a list of all of the names who died. Other than that, the proposals are striking in their differences and similarities. One contains a bell tower that would ring at 9:16 a.m. every day (the time the plane crashed), one incorporates a platform that rises over the boardwalk, one has all of the names listed on two giant tilted arcs (not to be confused with Richard Serra's infamous "Tilted Arc") and one includes a sort of limestone chapel. None of them seem particularly tacky. A final design should be picked by early October, groundbreaking is slated for later this fall and the if all goes well then the memorial should be completed by fall 2006.

If your curious, Newsday has a photo gallery of the different proposals. What do you think of the them?

Linda Covit's proposed memorial, photograph by Richard Cornett for Newsday