The lengthy, intense process of selecting an appropriate memorial to the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings has ended. On April 27th, Newtown voters will choose whether to authorize $3.7 million for the project.
First, members of Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission, First Selectman Dan Rosenthal and designers from the San Francisco landscape architecture firm SWA are presenting their plans to the public on a series of Zoom calls.
In a Monday night call hosted by the Newtown Bee, Rosenthal said SWA's plan fulfills the memorial's mission statement: "'It's intended to remember, honor and celebrate those twenty-six who died as a result of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and serve to provide comfort to those who loved and were touched by them,' and I think that while we're sitting here and what's proposed for everybody on April 27th does just that."
Commission chair Dan Krauss described the project, which features a circular path leading to an elevated pond and a Sycamore tree, saying, "the names are inscribed around the pond."
"It's certainly a sensitive project to all of us," says First Selectman Dan Rosenthal.