Politics & Government
World Trade Center Steel is Centerpiece for 9/11 Memorials
By Bay City News Service.
The centerpieces of several Bay Area communities' memorial events on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will be steel from the collapsed twin towers.
The steel was recovered from the World Trade Center after 9/11 and secured in Hangar 17 at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the September 11th Families Association teamed up in 2009 to distribute more than 1,800 steel artifacts from the attack to organizations interested in creating memorials.
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There were conditions to obtaining the steel, including that the memorials had to be displayed in training grounds for uniformed personnel, parks, or other public places, and that the steel could not be sold.
The steel has been distributed to sites in all 50 states and seven foreign countries, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
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In the Bay Area, steel from the twin towers has gone to Suisun City, Napa, Dixon, Vacaville, Travis Air Force Base and the Ross Valley Fire Department.
The received . Artist is creating a steel-and-glass sculpture for a memorial on a site west of Main Street, adjacent to the parking area near department store. Completion is expected in the spring of 2012.
Landscape architect Gretchen McCann will help design a 9/11 memorial garden at the site, where there will be a groundbreaking and blessing at noon on Sept. 11.
Napa Fire Marshal Darren Drake said community groups that are part of the Memorial Project submitted the application for the steel in October 2009 and signed a contract for the metal on Dec. 22, 2010.
Huether visited Hangar 17 to examine the available artifacts, Drake said.
"He came back and said we should ask for all six pieces. Fortunately, we got all six," Drake said.
Napa-based Biagi Brothers Trucking Company volunteered to transport the steel to the West Coast.
"They drove across the country twice," Drake said.
The Napa community memorial will allow people to reflect on the events of that day 10 years ago, Drake said.
"Some people are beginning to forget," he said.
By Bay City News Service.
