Flight 93 Memorial Plan Replaced After Tancredo Criticism (Another Victory Against the Libs?)

PITTSBURGH -- Designers of a Flight 93 memorial have made a circular, bowl-shaped piece of land its centerpiece, replacing the original crescent-shape design that some critics had said was a symbol honoring terrorists, officials announced Wednesday.

The new design features most of the same details of the original, which was unveiled in September after a worldwide design competition. A tower with 40 wind chimes welcomes visitors to the site, where they can then walk to a large circular field ringed by 40 groves of red and sugar maple trees, symbolizing the 40 passengers and crew who died on the plane.

Officials say the circle enhances the earlier design by putting more emphasis on the crash site, according to details in the Flight 93 National Memorial's November newsletter. A break in the trees will symbolize the path the plane took as it crashed.

"It is the convergence of the land's beauty and power with the strength and sacrifice of heroic, personal action on September 11th that gave the memorial site its unique sanctity," according to the plan.

In September, Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., criticized the design in a letter to National Park Service Director Fran Mainella. Tancredo said many questioned the shape "because of the crescent's prominent use as a symbol in Islam -- and the fact that the hijackers were radical Islamists."

Paul Murdoch, president of Paul Murdoch Architects, which designed the memorial, had called the criticism of the crescent an "unfortunate diversion," but said they were sensitive to the concerns.

In the newsletter, he describes the new design as an "evolution" of what was announced two months ago. The changes reflect comments from the public, the competition's jury and others, he said.

"In the months to come, the design will continue to develop as more implementation issues are identified," Murdoch wrote in the newsletter.

The original design for the memorial was selected by a jury of 15 made up of design professionals and family and community members and was narrowed down from a pool of 1,011.

Besides the circular bowl, the memorial consists of a Tower of Voices at the entrance of the memorial with 40 metallic wind chimes for each victim. There will also be pedestrian trails and a plaza from which to view the crash site. The victims names will be inscribed there on a white marble wall.

Flight 93 was flying to San Francisco from Newark, N.J., when it was hijacked and crashed. The official 9/11 Commission report said the hijackers crashed it as passengers tried to take control of the cockpit.

The captain of the flight was Jason Dahl, a Colorado resident. He wanted time off to celebrate his fifth wedding anniversary on Sept. 14, so he agreed to take the Sept. 11 flight.

From the Flight 93 Memorial Newsletter for November 2005, describing the redesign on the Flight 93 Memorail Site:

When talking about the tower of voices, it says:

A tower of voices heroically marks the entry to and exit from the memorial site at Route 30. Tall enough to be seen from the highway, set on a planted mound within rings of White Pine trees, the tower houses forty white wind chimes. The sounds of chimes in the wind are a living memory of the forty persons who are honored; many of whose last contact was through their voices.

When talking about the circular grove of trees, now called, "40 Memorial Groves", it says:

The memorial design commemorates the collective act of courage by the 40 passengers and crew of Flight 93 through 40 groves of Red and Sugar Maple trees in a shared, curving embrace of the Bowl's open spaces as it descends to the Sacred Ground. This feature, once called the Crescent of Embrace, is now referred to as the 40 Memorial Groves because with the addition of trees at the Bowls western edge, in the area of the Western Overlook, the Bowl shape is now expressed as a circle.

When desscribing the new design, the newsletter states:

The Flight 93 National Memorial design described in this newsletter is an evolution of the design announced two months ago. Design refinements reflect public comment during and after the competition, conversations with the Partners, the competition Stage 2 jury comments, and issues related to the General Management PLan.

I believe with this design, despite some of the continuing oppostion and interpretations on the web, that through the activism of millions of Americans around the country, we have successfully caused an alteration in the design from the original Red Crescent design, to something that is acceptable for me and mine. The Red Maples are much less pronounced and the arc does entedn around to an alomst complete circle, only nding at the crash site itself on each side. I believe this design will not be confused by future generations to be anything other than a tribute to those 40 passengers and crew who fought their terrorist hijackers and foiled their horrific plans on 911 and thuis achieved the first clear victory of Islamic terrorism on the very day they attacked our nation on our own soil.

The design has gone from something that, at least in my view, was far too obvious a similarity to an Islamic symbol, to something that someone would have to go to some extreme to try and relate to that symbol. Future generations will not do so...they will see it as a dedication to the actions and memory of the passengers and crew.

As I have said before, while I personally think that a better design could be made, this one is a much more complete circle that does not look like the Islamic crescent and is clearly memorializing the 40 passengers and crew and not the terrorists. It is something I can accept and would be willing to visit with my family...and I will.

Here is the mission stetement for this design from the newsletter and the web site:

"A common field one day. A field of honor forever. May all who visit this place remember the collective acts of courage and sacrifice of the passengers and crew, revere this hallowed ground as the final resting place of those heroes, and reflect on the power of individuals who choose to make a difference

May it be so. I intend to post this as a seperate thread. We should all continue to monitor the situation so as to hold their feet to the fire as regards this design.