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Flight 93 memorial competition expected to be open to thousands PITTSBURGH (AP) � Thousands of people � from professional architects to university students � may be allowed to submit ideas of how to honor those who died on Flight 93 in a design competition. The Flight 93 Federal Advisory Commission is expected to approve a design competition manual when the group of family members, residents and local and federal officials meets July 30. If the commission gives its OK, the information packets made up of topographical maps and competition guidelines will be mailed out to hopeful designers around the world. The packet will also include video footage of the crash site and information about the area�s history, said Joanne Hanley, superintendent of the Flight 93 National Memorial. The competition is scheduled to begin three years to the day when United Flight 93 crashed into an abandoned strip mine near Shanksville, about 65 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The only one of four planes hijacked Sept. 11, 2001, that did not take a life on the ground was en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when it crashed. All 40 passengers and crew members aboard were killed. The official 9/11 Commission report, released last week, said the hijackers crashed the plane as passengers tried to take control of the cockpit. About 5,200 groups from around the world submitted proposals for a memorial to the victims of the World Trade Center attack. The competition to design a memorial for the victims of the attack at the Pentagon attracted more than 1,100 entries. �In some ways, this site sits in the shadow of the two other sites, but I see that as an advantage because we�re seeing how they do things and we�re able to learn from what they have done,� said Tim Baird, co-chair of the Flight 93 Memorial Task Force�s Memorial Design Solicitation Committee. Given the oft-told story of how passengers and crew members fought back against the hijackers, Baird expects the competition to attract considerable interest. Somerset County officials have fielded calls from people interested in the design competition since the fall of 2001, Hanley said. Design competition consultants Don Stastny and Helene Fried, who worked as competition advisers for the Oklahoma City bombing memorial, are scouting places large enough to display the entries so jurors, family members and the public can view the submissions, Baird said. The entry period closes Jan. 11 and a jury will whittle down the pool to no more than five possible designs by February. The federal advisory commission must submit a recommended design for the memorial by Sept. 25, 2005. In October, the task force had a public hearing at which many residents around the site said they would like to see the land remain largely untouched. Also July 30, the federal advisory commission is expected to designate a boundary for the national memorial. At a November meeting, the advisory commission passed a resolution that recommends to the Secretary of the Interior that resources within 1,500 acres be protected. The task force�s fund-raising committee is expected to tell the commission July 30 about the status of its feasibility study of possible private and public funding resources. Committee co-chair Rick Stafford said the study has fallen behind schedule. Add a comment  |
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