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Some families call for Wils to resign from L.M.D.C.
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| By: Josh Rogers and Elizabeth O'Brien |
March 18, 2003 |
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| Downtown Express photo by Ramin Talaie Madelyn Wils
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Over 1,000 people have signed an online petition calling on Madelyn Wils to resign from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. board because they feel she is not sensitive to the concerns of the relatives of people killed in the Sept. 11 attack.
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"Your unconscionable position statements in opposition to including a resting place for 9/11's victims remains at Ground Zero shows that you do not have the compassion,or comprehension of events to represent the citizens of New York City, nor the citizens of the United States of America, and international community who suffered the loss of their fellow citizens on September 11th, 2001," reads the petion started by Thomas J. Meehan III, whose daughter, Colleen Ann Meehan Berkow, 26, worked at Cantor Fitzgerald and was killed.
Meehan put the petition online last week after quotes by Wils in several publications offended him. Two weeks ago, he wrote a letter to Downtown Express objecting to Wils' comment that her son would feel Downtown would turn into a cemetery if the World Trade Center debris were brought back to the site. Some family members have proposed this because they say human tissue is mixed in with the debris.
"Perhaps when your nine-year-old son tells you that 'mommy don't let them build a cemetery or else we will have to move' to you again, you might reflect on the fact that one, your son is with you, and God willing, you will see him grow into a young man, have a family of his own, provide you with grandchildren, something my wife and I will never have," Meehan wrote.
Wils, who is also the chairperson of Community Board 1, is opposed to the Fresh Kills idea, but said she has never opposed the idea of bringing remains back to the site for the memorial, as the rest of the L.M.D.C. board also favors.
"With the L.M.D.C. guidelines, what I said back in December, is when the memorial design gets underway, someone will have to design this (the return of remains) in a sensitive manner," Wils said.
Some of the petition signers have compared Wils to Osama bin Laden. One suggested she be "tarred and feathered" and another, dedicating a message to "my brother firefughters [sic]," wrote: "let's bury her instead." Someone signed under bin Laden's name on behalf of Mohammed Atta.
Wils said the petition included "unkind and extreme comments that certainly make me feel uncomfortable."
A small group of people disagreeing with the petition have signed in order to post their comments. One called the other signers "grief fascists" who have collected millions of dollars in compensation.
Meehan did not return calls on Monday seeking comment, but he has said he is trying to figure out how to remove the objectionable comments.
Some of the disagreement between Downtown residents like Wils and family members has grown out of the idea of building a tour bus garage under the proposed memorial at the W.T.C. site. Many residents, city and state officials say a garage is needed to relieve some of the congestion from buses visiting the memorial. But some family members argue that busses should not be able to drive over the Twin Towers' "footprints," where many human remains landed.
Amid the heated debate over these issues, C.B. 1 decided last week to defer further comment on the placement of victims' remains at the site memorial.
Prior to the emergence of the Fresh Kills issue, the community board passed a resolution saying it would prefer that any tomb-like element in the memorial remain symbolic.
At its February full-board meeting, C.B. 1 tabled a resolution on the board's opposition to bringing anything more than a symbolic amount of human remains to the World Trade Center site for burial. Members decided not to revive the resolution at a meeting last Wednesday of the Executive Committee of C.B. 1.
It was "to the credit of the community board" that it didn't proceed with a resolution when it was not comfortable with the implications, said Albert Capsouto, a member of the board's World Trade Center Redevelopment Committee.
But the board's decision to withhold a public statement on the Fresh Kills issue did not come without a debate.
Many C.B. 1 members said they regretted the "us vs. them" mentality that had sprung up between some victims' families and the board. Members said their position has been misunderstood and misrepresented by family members.
"Our hearts go out" to the victims' families," Paul Hovitz said. "We are not insensitive."
"Throughout this process, we haven't been heard clear enough, or loud enough," said Marc Donnenfeld, who suggested that the board invite a family member to take part in its discussions to deflect tensions.
Other members argued that inviting a family member's participation would only fan the controversy.
Board member Nancy Owens worried that moving forward with the resolution could also spark more public disagreement.
Owens said it bothered her that C.B. 1 was treated as a "vilified group," with chairperson Wils "taking the hit" for the board as a whole.
C.B. 1 Executive Committee members threw their support behind Wils at last week's meeting.
"Her heart is here," Richard Kennedy said. "It's terrible what's happened."
At last week's meeting, the Executive Committee decided to invite Anita Contini, the memorial director for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, to come to a separate meeting in April to discuss plans for the commemoration.
Last Thursday, the L.M.D.C. released what it called the "final" guidelines for the memorial design competition, although officials noted some modifications still might be made.
Wils stressed that the jury deciding the memorial winner should be "agenda-less, impartial and creative."
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©Downtown Express 2009
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