The 45,000-pound (20,410-kilogram) sphere sculpture that emerged
largely intactfrom the rubble of the World Trade Centre following the
Sept. 11 attacks faces an uncertain future as officials prepare to
remove it from the park where it has been on display for a decade.
"The Sphere," originally dedicated as a monument to world peace
through trade, became an interim memorial in the months after 9/11. A
year after the attacks, Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined Afghan
President Hamid Karzai andofficials from about 90 foreign nations at
its base to light an eternal flame.
Nearly a decade later, the eternal flame could possibly be snuffed
out, and there is no permanent plan for the 25-foot (8-meter)-high
structure made of bronze and steel. Officials said this week thatit
will be removed by the end of the month to make way for renovations to
Battery Park, the green space that has been home to the sculpture.
Some family members of those killed have gathered thousands of
signatures in an online petition urging officials to incorporate the
sculpture into the 9/11 memorial and return it to the spot where it
once stood as a centrepiece of a 5-acre (2-hectare) plaza. Originally,
Bloomberg said the battered globe would likely serve as a centrepiece
for a permanent memorial, but ultimately it wasn't included in the
plans.
Michael Burke, who lost hisbrother in the attacks and has been helping
to lead the effort to get the spherereturned to the plaza, called the
sculpture's exclusion a disgrace.
"It's the last remaining intact artefact of the trade centre," he said
Friday. "It represents the triumph of the values attacked, of peace
and cooperation, over the terrorism, the hatred and intolerance
thatattacked."
As for the eternal flame, plans call for the gas line that feeds the
fire to be turned off. But Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for the mayor,
said the city is still evaluating what should be done.
"We're looking at a variety of options," she said in a statement.
Ron Marsico, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey, which commissioned the statue in 1971, said that Battery Park
had never been intended as a permanent home for it. The agency may
place the sphere in an airport hangarwhere other World Trade Centre
artefacts are alreadybeing stored, he said.
"We are exploring options on where it will be located in the short
term," Marsico said in a statement. "The short-term location will be
used until a permanent home is identified."
Burke said the Port Authority had recently shared some renderings with
him and other family members that depicted thepossibility of placing
the statue on Liberty Street, just across from the 9/11 Memorial. But
he objected that the sculpture, now imbued with such history and
significance, would notbe prominently placed/
"It's not going to be part ofthe memorial experience," he said
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