Saturday, September 11, 2010

Remembering 9/11 and the Freedom Tower Cornerstone

Most Americans remember where they were and what they were doing on September 11th when the New York World Trade Center buildings were attacked by terrorists. Nine years have passed and the wounds remain. Today we mourn the loss almost 3,000. A ceremony at the site today was opened by brief comments from Mayor Bloomberg. "Once again we meet to commemorate the day we have come to call 9/11. We have returned to this sacred site to join our hearts together, the names of those we loved and lost," Bloomberg said. "No other public tragedy has cut our city so deeply. No other place is as filled with our compassion, our love and our solidarity."


Construction of Freedom Tower /One World Trade Center is finally progressing after many delays which were the subject of a recent 60 Minutes expose. At one point in time the Tower was projected to be completed in 2009. Back in June of 2004 I was involved with the management of the Freedom Tower cornerstone preparation and installation for the initial groundbreaking ceremony when I was Director of Installation for Innovative Marble & Tile LLC. I was proud to be there at Ground Zero on July 4, 2004 when a 20-ton solid granite block from the Adirondack mountains in NY was laid in place by our crews “TO HONOR AND REMEMBER THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 AND AS A TRIBUTE TO THE ENDURING SPIRIT OF FREEDOM".



Innovative donated that granite block and some of our subcontractors involved in the process of shipping, cutting, polishing and setting the block also donated their services. A video of the cornerstone preparation and initial dedication by Governor Patacki is available on the Innovative Stone website. Initially planned as the first piece of the foundation of the building the cornerstone was eventually returned to Innovative in Hauppauge, Long Island when the plans for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center were revised.


In order to continue to honor the 9/11 heroes, Innovative Stone rededicated the monument at their headquarters in Hauppauge on September 11, 2009 in their newly constructed memorial garden. A second memorial ceremony was held at the Innovative Stone Headquarters this past week on September 8, 2010 to honor the 9/11 heroes. The memorial garden site and Freedom Stone is pictured below.

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