July 7, 2006
The National Call for World Trade Center Memorial Dollars
Hooray, the Port Authority has officially agreed to build the World Trade Center Memorial. Whether to take advantage of construction efficiencies or to just do what others seem unable to do (there's some advantage to being affiliated with the state), we just hope the memorial gets built at some point. But then there is the matter of the $170 million still needed for funds.
Which is why the city and state turned to ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day for print, TV and radio ads that would tell Americans across the country that the WTC Memorial needs donations. You can see the ads here at the WTC Memorial Foundation website. The TV ads show different people taking objects - teddy bear, hat, photograph - and placing them on a sidewalk, and with words "We Needed One Then" coming up. Then the image fades to black with the words "We Need One Now." The radio ads work similarly - different people mention different objects - a prom picture, a fraternity pin - and then a narrator says people built personal memorials back then and now people are "coming together to build a lasting memorial." And the print ads show "personal memorials," with the line "We Needed One Then. We Need One Now." All have the buildthememorial.org URL and phone number for donations.
What do you think of the ads? The ads try to capture the idea of the spontaneous memorials we would see all over the place, and they aren't too maudlin. But will it drive home the point that we're trying to build something other than a place to put teddy bears? Metro got some downtown feedback on the ads from the Jerry Walker, the owner of Walker's restaurant and bar: “New Yorkers are the most giving people in the world, but [the ads] don’t have a clear picture of what’s going to happen there.” Which is an interesting point - should there be emphasis on what the space will be? Walker added that the memorial "should be a place that people use, where people go to work and people visit and they can stop and eat lunch and stop to think about what happened. There’s no argument that we need a memorial. Now we have to get it up, whatever it is.”
|
$170 million for a memorial - that's just absurd
it's a tragic event, but to think you need that much for a memorial is crazy
Um, why exactly do "we" "need" a memorial? The WTC families made million$ off of this already. What are they contributing? I bet not much.
And when they blow up the Holland Tunnel, do "we" have to contribute to that to?
What about when Grand Central is bombed?
Enough.
I just don't get it.
If we (as a city) were to plant a grove of trees, and place a special plaque in a dedicated park, who would say that that was not enough? Does it really have to have office spaces, concession stands, souvenir shops and all the other foofera?
It would be nice if maybe just this one thing could, somehow, be above all the crassness and blatant profit motives. An honest and humble monument would be a far greater tribute to the victims and their surviving relatives.
Why is it that the fat cats want all the recognition for doing stuff that the little hard working citizens wind up PAYING for? ENOUGH ALREADY! I loved those towers just as much as any other NY'er but will not put one dime towards something that PANYNJ/Both Governors/Silverstein and anyone else who has opened their political mouths about this should pay for. The world opened their hearts and purse strings after 9/11 to donate and even that had some fraud scandal attached to it. Let them give up their boats, personal drivers and have only ONE residence and watch how quickly that money would build something grand.
Why must we spend 170M to revisit pain and suffering? It was very tragic, why do we have to feel it over and over again? Isn't it enough to remember a loved one, dead or alive, in our most quiet moment, like, sitting in a toilet bowl? This memorial is driven by greed. Not good for the victims.
I think "efficiencies" is a eupehmism for the fact that the PA is not subject to state and local contracting, safety, etc., laws. Remember how the Twin Towers weren't up to code, because they didn't have to be? Funny how the old problem gets recycled as the new solution.
Comparing the amounts spent per victim on this memorial to the amounts spent on memorials to soliders from World War II and Vietnam creates an interesting perspective:
Vietnam War Memorial: $120 spent for every soldier killed.
WWI Memorial: $434 per soldier
Oklahoma City Memorial: $172,619 per victim
9/11 Memorial: $262,504 per victim
(Figures based on the total costs of the memorial divided by the number of dead. Not adjusted for inflation, but it would take a lot of inflation for the cost of the Vietnam memorial to come close to what the cost of the 9/11 memorial will run taxpayers, foundations, and private donors.)
Maybe we should take some of the $5 to 9 BILLION PER MONTH that we are spending in Iraq and use that for the memorial? The public shouldn't spend a dime on this because our government wastes so much money in so many places. Where'd all that Katrina money go? It went to scammers who bought flat screens. What about the trailers? Um, they're sitting in a lot w/o tenants and we're paying $250k per month for what? Our government is a disgrace and it has been for a very, very long time. Too bad we can't rely on the press for the truth anymore because they're a bunch of lap dogs.
"it's a tragic event, but to think you need that much for a memorial is crazy"?
Hey, this is New York: Go Big or Go Home.
Honestly, I have no idea what an Appropriate budget would be. Maybe this figure is used knowing it will be cut?
The big question is how much money is actually going into the memorial and how much will be for "administrative" costs.
As a professional tour guide, I can assure you that tens of thousands of people from around the world want to see the WTC site, if only to try to believe it actually happened. (Hey, I live in Fort Greene and *I* had to see for myself -- in person, not on teevee -- that it actually happened.) They're looking for a way to wrap their minds around this disaster and to pay tribute to the nearly 3,000 people who died. To be sure, it may become a site, like the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building or Phantom of the Opera, that New Yorkers never visit but which draws busloads and planeloads of visitors every year. Building Michael Arad's elegantly understated memorial is still the right -- and essential -- thing to do. And it is sure to fuel growth in one of the city's largest industries.
As for the ads themselves, I've only seen one print ad and found it far too obscure to motivate me. I like the concept described for the TV and radio ads, though I have yet to enounter them in the real world. I'd like to see more in the ads about the project we are paying to build.
Peace people
We love you