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A Test of Will has a great set of night silhouettes taken at the new WTC Firefighters' Memorial. If you haven't been down to the memorial yet, the Times has an amazing multimedia feature with closeup shots.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2009/11/14/20
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I am not impressed with the memorial.
I would rather see the the money for the memorial go into training Fire Fighters.
There is no reason so many Firemen should have died that day.
However, it would be nice to see a Special Forces Fire Fighting Team. Similar to Green Berets. Fire Fighters that are constantly training to take care of fire related rescue and safety. Something very specialized.
There are already monuments. If 911 happened again, I wonder what would be different.
This memorial was funded with private funds and donated for the benefit of the firefighters.
I think the intentions are certainly noble, but I've seen this thing up close and I think it's quite garish for a memorial. There's nothing somber or reverent about the imagery - rather, it looks like an ad for a Jerry Bruckheimer movie cast in bronze. Awful.
And it was put in a really bad place considering the foot traffic that it's going to draw. That street should be open to heavy traffic again someday (which is why they're restoring part of the street grid within the WTC site), and I don't see how they can do that with the current setup. By doing this, they're treating Liberty Street and Greenwich Street like they're pedestrian malls for tourists. It's awful for the neighborhood, because residents have to come down that way to get to their offices and homes. And cars will have to come down that way someday in the next few years, too.
I have a bad feeling that this is one clear indication that we'll never get a neighborhood back around the WTC site. It's just going to be one big death memorial, forever.
BrianVan:
Even with private funds it would be nice if the focus was not on the "big death memorial, but on making sure it never happen again. After the building goes up and commerce begins in that location, every thing will be as it was before 911. It will be business as usual.
On the day of 911, NYC proved that they don't have many important things in order.
If you click on "an amazing multi media feature" above you will hear a narration. I was suprised to hear the narrator said the memorial is not ment to be artistic, to paraphrase him. What is the point? What's the point of stark, cold bronze that depicts no single person that died that day,in reality.
Have you ever seen the statue of the Polish or Chez. King on the horse in Central Park. Up near 72nd street and, I think, the Great Lawn. He has two Saber Swords crossed over his upper body. That is a powerful image. I would prefer a more powerful statement like that in a monument.