File #: Res 0329-2004    Version: * Name: Supporting the families of the victims of Flight 587 in their efforts to establish a permanent memorial.
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations
On agenda: 5/5/2004
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution supporting the families of the victims of Flight 587 in their efforts to establish a permanent memorial on a piece of land located at Beach Channel Drive and 126th Street in the Queens community of Belle Harbor to honor all those who died tragically on that flight on November 12, 2001.
Sponsors: Margarita Lopez, Charles Barron, Tracy L. Boyland, Yvette D. Clarke, G. Oliver Koppell, Bill Perkins, Larry B. Seabrook, Helen Sears, Albert Vann
Council Member Sponsors: 9

Res. No. 329

Resolution supporting the families of the victims of Flight 587 in their efforts to establish a permanent memorial on a piece of land located at Beach Channel Drive and 126th Street in the Queens community of Belle Harbor to honor all those who died tragically on that flight on November 12, 2001.  

 

By Council Members Lopez, Barron, Boyland, Clarke, Koppell, Perkins, Seabrook, Sears and Vann

 

Whereas, On November 12, 2001, American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into the Belle Harbor community in Queens, New York while en route to the Dominican Republic; and

Whereas, The crash of Flight 587 claimed the lives of all 260 passengers on board the plane as well as five other victims on the ground, constituting the second worst passenger aircraft disaster in the history of the United States; and

Whereas, Since the crash of Flight 587, the families who lost loved ones on that day have hoped that a portion of the crash site would be dedicated as the setting for a permanent memorial, an endeavor that has been quite difficult because the actual crash site is spread out through several private properties; and

Whereas, The families of the victims of Flight 587 understand that the actual crash site is located within private properties and recognize the rights of the owners and the desires of the entire Belle Harbor community to put the tragic event behind them and regain a sense of normalcy; and

Whereas, Most of the families of the victims of Flight 587 are nevertheless adamant that a suitable location be obtained in order to erect a permanent dignified memorial which will commemorate their lost loved ones and the tragic event that cost them their lives; and

Whereas, The Flight 587 Families Association was created to help the families of the victims of Flight 587 in their quest to have a permanent memorial erected; and 

Whereas, According to The Flight 587 Families Association, two locations have been suggested as possible site for a memorial, both of which have been deemed unacceptable by the majority of the families because of the distance of those locations from the actual crash site; and

Whereas, According to The Flight 587 Families Association, all of the families of the passengers on Flight 587 are in agreement that a piece of land located at Beach Channel Drive and 126th Street in Belle Harbor overlooking Jamaica Bay, where the tail fell off the plane, provides the most desirable location for a permanent dignified memorial; and

Whereas, Although some of the families of the victims of Flight 587 have argued that even this location is too distant from the actual crash site, they believe that under the current circumstances this location provides the best available option; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York supports the families of the victims of Flight 587 in their efforts to establish a permanent memorial on a piece of land located at Beach Channel Drive and 126th Street in the Queens community of Belle Harbor to honor all those who died tragically on that flight on November 12, 2001.

 

 

 

LS#809

RA 4/28/2004

H:/word/resolutions/lopez/ls#809