Committee wants memorial park on building collapse site
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Emergency vehicles at the building collapse site
A committee has formed to lobby for the creation of a memorial park at the site of a building that collapsed last summer onto shoppers at a Salvation Army thrift store at 22nd and Market streets, killing six, according to a press release issued today.
The committee members include Nancy Winkler, the mother of victim Anne Bryan, who started an online petition in September calling for the creation of a memorial.
"A memorial park on this sacred site would honor and remember the six dead while providing a reflective and calming oasis in the center of a dense business district," said Winkler, committee co-chair, in the release. "The committee recognizes the potential of this relatively small but important memorial park to help individuals and the community heal in the aftermath of this horrific, entirely avoidable event."
The group also includes the fiancee of victim Kimberly Finnegan, but is largely comprised of powerful local figures, including the president of the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts, the general counsel for the Philadelphia Housing Authority, the president of big-time developer Brandywine Realty Trust, and a chairman from the legal firm Cozen O'Connor, among others.
Any plan for a park would be contingent on an agreement with the Salvation Army, which still controls the site. The memorial committee said it hoped to "work collaboratively" with the charity. For its part, the city has assigned the head of Parks and Recreation, Michael DiBerardinis, to work with the panel.
Designs and donations are being solicited here, with the help of the Philadelphia Horticultural Society.
