In a city living in the shadow of Albany’s government corruption, a city which itself has dealt with a dark political landscape of voter fraud charges and allegations, and a city which has endured a scourge of recent shootings and homicides, it’s nice to see Troy, New York get a little recognition for a positive story.
The September 11th Memorial Park in Troy, more specifically, Lansingburgh, will finally be able to add a piece of the actual World Trade Center buildings to its memorial. The piece will be installed just in time for the park’s ceremony being held on September 9th.
After a couple of years’ worth of hard work and anxiety, the Troy September 11th Memorial Committee will finally be able to add a piece of the World Trade Center buildings to its memorial just in time for its Sept. 9 ceremony.
The committee has acquired a 110 lb. steel section of the I-beam from one of the Twin Towers. Coordinating Committee Chairman Jim Gordon said that a welder is working on the piece which will be installed in the memorial on Thursday.
Gordon said it was a long and somewhat stressful wait before the committee received confirmation that it would be getting the steel. A press release was put out more than a year ago soliciting requests for the pieces of steel to be incorporated into memorials worldwide. Gordon said the committee applied right away as there were plans to build a memorial in Troy to honor the various first responders from Rensselaer County who went to ground zero.
The entire project has been funded through private donations and means. Jim Gordon, Chairman of the Memorial Committee explained, “To date, between in-kind gifts and monetary donations, we’ve had $25,000 to $30,000 donated to us”.
The park broke ground in July of 2011, with a goal of not only honoring the memories of those who were killed on 9/11, but those heroes who responded to the emergency situation we all watched that day. Gordon explained at the groundbreaking that, “People know the city of Troy as a patriotic city, the home of Uncle Sam.”
And now the city can be known for its dedication to the memory of that September 11th tragedy, an attack on America and an attack on freedom.
“This project, for a lot of us, is three or four years in the making,” Gordon said. “There will always be maintenance that needs to be done and all involved have worked many hours, days and nights raising money and working. Now it’s coming to an end with a very significant exclamation point with this 110 lb. piece of steel.”
And what an exclamation point it is.
Though, with the memories being provided by the park, and the sense of community pride it instills, this is by no means an end to the story.
Many thanks to all those involved in this project, and many congratulations to the people of Troy.