Politics & Government
World Trade Center Steel will be Centerpiece of 9/11 Memorial in Brighton
A piece of steel recovered from the World Trade Centers will serve as the centerpiece to the new 9/11 memorial that was approved by the city council last week.
Plans for a 9/11 memorial to be installed in the green space in front of the are in the works after city council approved the memorial’s installation at last week’s meeting.
The centerpiece of the memorial will be a twisted steel beam, cloaked in rust, which was once part of the World Trade Center’s sky plazas, said Captain Greg Mobray of the Brighton Area Fire Department.
Mobray, along with five fellow firefighters, personally went to New York City to pick up the piece of steel and to visit ground zero for the first time.
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“It was very emotional since it was the first time any of us had been,” Mobray said. “Pictures just don’t do it justice. It was truly eye-opening to see the true magnitude of what happened that day.”
Mobray and his colleagues then went to Kennedy Airport, where much of the steel and ruins from the World Trade Centers is housed, to pick up the beam.
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The beam measures roughly eight feet in length and is three feet wide, Mobray said. It was attained through an application process that started back in 2009. In addition to their application, the fire department had to send in an outline of the memorial, including where and how the piece would be displayed to The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Architect Pete Lindhout of Lindhout Associates has offered his services for free to help design the memorial. With city council’s approval of the memorial coming in just last week, no concept has yet been conceived, though a few aspects of the memorial have been decided on.
“The beam will remain unmodified,” said Mobray. “It will be preserved as it sits and will serve as the centerpiece for the memorial.”
Unilock, a manufacturer of paving stones and retaining walls that has a location in Brighton, has agreed to install the memorial at no cost to the city.
The city plans to host a county-wide 9/11 memorial ceremony on Sept. 11 this year. During the ceremony the memorial will be unveiled.
“This isn’t a memorial for the fire fighters, but a memorial for that day and all those that perished,” said Mobray.
