County raising 9/11 memorial contribution
Private fund raising continues for project
on Mount Mitchill
BY GLORIA STRAVELLI
Staff Writer

The county will pay for a portion of the cost for site work necessary for a memorial to local victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center.

Originally budgeted at $450,000, bids to prepare the site of the county’s Sept. 11 Memorial at Mount Mitchill Scenic Overlook in Atlantic Highlands actually came in over that number, according to James Truncer, director of the Monmouth County Park System.

The low bid on the project was $656,462, entered by winning bidder Precise Construction Inc., Freehold. The contract was awarded by the county’s Board of Recreation commissioners.

The higher bids reflected additional improvements, such as a playground, that were not included in the original estimate for site work, Truncer said. The additional funds will come from the park system’s capital improvement program.

Improvements to Mount Mitchill will include reconfiguring the parking lot, adding walkways and lighting, a playground, the memorial, and interpretive panels that will recount the events of Sept. 11. Truncer said the site work is expected be completed by the fall.

Precise owner Tony Vlahos was a member of the original Monmouth County Sept. 11 Memorial Committee, but is no longer involved, according to committee spokesman Frank Tomaino.

"He has moved on. A lot of the members are no longer active," explained Tomaino, an architect whose practice is based in Deal. "Their job ended when the committee made a recommendation for the design of the memorial."

According to Tomaino, two subcommittees of the original committee continue to work actively on the project: the design committee and a fund-raising committee that is functioning under the umbrella of The Friends of the Parks, the nonprofit fund-raising arm of the Monmouth County Park System.

Consultant Jennifer Anderson, who is coordinating the fund-raising effort for the Friends of the Parks, said Tuesday approximately $71,000 has already been raised toward the total $400,219 needed to complete the memorial. The total includes landscaping, a paved walkway with stones that will present a chronology of Sept. 11 events, a granite slab with the names of the nearly 150 local victims carved on it, and a sculpture.

That puts the total budget for the county’s Sept. 11 Memorial at $1,056,681 — somewhat lower than original estimates of $1.2 million, she added.

Acting on the recommendation of the design subcommittee, Friends of the Parks has awarded a $169,800 commission to local sculptor Franco Minervini to execute his design for the memorial centerpiece, a sculpture of an eagle grasping an actual beam from the WTC site and soaring skyward.

Payment for the sculpture will be meted out in phases as funds are raised, Anderson said, with $12,000 already extended for the first phase of Minervini’s modeling of the eagle figure.

According to Anderson, the county’s schoolchildren have raised almost $6,000 toward the cost of the monument.

"We would love for somebody to step up and match all the funds raised by the local schools," said Anderson, a Monmouth Beach resident. "I’d like to put that challenge out there."

Close to 300 contributions have been received to date from corporations and businesses, individuals and community groups, she said. Close to 50 donations were made in amounts of $9.11, $91.10 or $911.

The target date for dedication of the memorial remains Sept. 11 of this year, but Anderson said there is a degree of flexibility in the deadline tied to the success of fund raising.

"Our goal is to dedicate the memorial on Sept. 11, but if that date comes and goes, we will just continue to raise funds," Anderson said. "We need to see where we’re at in a couple of months to have a better sense of what will be left to do.

"The target date is not a finish point," she said. "We will finish when the job gets done."

The next phase of fund raising calls for seeking support from community groups and service organizations throughout the county and plans include a fund-raising benefit, Anderson said.

"We are very grateful for the community support we have received so far, and we’ll continue to raise funds until the goal is met and we pay proper tribute to the people we have lost that are dear to us," she said. "If that takes until beyond next September, we will continue to work hard to make sure that happens."

According to Anderson, raising funds for the memorial is a community-wide effort.

"There is always the thinking that one or two large gifts could support this project, but the point really is for it to be a grassroots effort and gather support from the community. Everyone should participate because each of us has been touched so personally and so deeply," she said.

"We’re looking at Sept. 11 (as the deadline) at least for the site work," Truncer said, noting that renovations to Mount Mitchill had been planned. "The memorial site work will stand on its own. The parking, walkways, will enhance the visitor experience and isn’t dependent on completion of the memorial."