Memorial will pay tribute to 9/11 heroes

Stephen Curran

Thursday, Aug. 15, 2002 | 11:19 a.m.

A place where tourists flock to get away from their daily lives will soon house a testament to the worst act of terrorism in American history.

New York-New York announced plans Wednesday afternoon to construct a permanent tribute to those who lost their lives in the Sept. 11 attacks. The tribute will be located at the base of the Statue of Liberty replica located at the corner of the Strip and Tropicana Avenue.

Construction on the project is slated to begin in October and should be completed by year's end, said Felix Rappaport, president and chief operating officer of the New York-New York.

Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters said it would be an "understated yet magnificent tribute."

Shortly after Sept. 11 the area in front of the statue became an impromptu memorial, as visitors placed poems, photos, flowers, flags and T-shirts in front of the hotel.

Parts of the makeshift memorial still stand in stark contrast to the hotel, where tourists from throughout the world come to escape, Rappaport said.

"We're in the fun business, so when we witnessed Sept. 11 we were surprised they chose this replica of New York City," he said.

Flowers and flags, poems and pictures were removed over time, but more than 3,000 T-shirts from police and fire departments from all 50 states are still draped over the fence in front of the statue, Rappaport said.

The collection of shirts will be housed in a permanent exhibit in the hotel.

Vincent Bollon, general secretary-treasurer for the IAFF, said that keeping the shirts makes the memorial a more permanent tribute.

"It means so much that these shirts will not just be a temporary reminder," Bollon said before a crowd lining the streets and overhead walkways surrounding the hotel. "That says it all."

The tribute, designed by Las Vegas architect Marnell Carrao, will incorporate some of the saved artifacts in shadow boxes built into a granite base.

Items not used in the memorial or exhibit will be archived and stored at the Special Collections Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The announcement came in conjunction with this week's IAFF convention at Mandalay Bay, as the more than 2,500 delegates from throughout the country paraded in triple-digit heat from the Mandalay Bay to New York-New York.

Earlier that morning Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., addressed the union and spoke of how Sept. 11 changed the role of firefighters.

"This is a critical time for the fire service and our country," Daschle said. "You are the ones on the front lines of this new war."

Daschle praised emergency personnel at both the World Trade Center and Pentagon sites, but said that all firefighters deserve recognition.

"We've heard much about the courage of the firefighters of the World Trade Center and rightfully so, but all firefighters are heroes," he said. "Everyone kept working. They were looking for a way to help this wounded nation."

For Tennessee firefighter and union delegate Dennis Carroll, a memorial at the hotel is an appropriate way to remember his "brothers" who lost their lives on the East Coast.

"This is our way of giving consolation to our New York City brothers," Carroll said as he placed a bright red T-shirt with his department's logo on the railing. "I'm very proud of the hotel here."