This past Sunday everyone across the world came together to remember the tenth anniversary of September 11th. The day was full of grief, a little happiness, a lot of sadness, remembrance and some regret. The core of all these emotions were at the opening of the National September 11 Memorial.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are to thank for ensuring that the opening of this important memorial happened. The opening of the National September 11 Memorial was set to be revealed in 2013 not 2011. The Port Authority and construction workers altered that because they knew the importance of this particular anniversary, as it has been 10 years.
A monumental amount of work was put into completing the memorial in the last few months of construction. The labor involved was so that this memorial could make all New Yorkers and Americans alike, proud.
A senator from Hawaii, Daniel Inouye, proposed a legislation that would allocate annual funding around the amount of $20 million to the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum. All funds given would need to be matched by non-federal sources, by a combination of admission fees, gifts and fundraising.
Senator Inouye is more than familiar with the importance of funding an institution such as the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum. His home state of Hawaii has something quite similar, the Pearl Harbor Memorial, which has been financed by federal funding.
There has been rumors that the memorial will be placed under the supervision of the U.S. Department of the Interior, thus it will be considered a U.S. National Park. That may not be the case though. The federal support needs to gather a number of approvals and overcome the issues of titling and ownership.
The contribution of the $20 million would only cover about a third of the yearly cost of operation and maintenance. Entrance to the memorial will hopefully remain free. With federal support, they are hoping that it will shave some of the admission fees, which are at the moment, in the range of $20 to $25, which are planned for when the museum finally opens.
The memorial is open but the museum has not officially opened. It is believed that it is wise to take some sort of action now to make sure that when it does open, it will exist as an educational and inspirational monument for future generations.
As the anniversaries of 9/11 continue to come about we as Americans need to keep looking to the future and remember all the lives sacrificed that day.
