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Troy Record, NY
Sept 23 2012
Mayor Rosamilia confirms Armenian Heritage Memorial will be in Riverfront Park
Published: Sunday, September 23, 2012
By Ian Benjamin
TROY - County legislator and former mayor Harry Tutunjian has voiced
his opposition to the possible relocation of a planned monument
commemorating the Armenian genocide from Riverfront Park to Frear
Park.
While there had been previous reservations, at the end of last week
co-chair Ralph Enokian was contacted by Mayor Lou Rosamilia and
informed that the Armenian Heritage Memorial would be placed on the
previously consecrated ground north of the Vietnam Memorial. The
memorial will be created and installed by Grethen-Cahringer Memorials
of Lansingburgh.
The decision comes after years of tension between the city and the committee.
`There have been years of work to make this memorial a reality,' said
Tutunjian, who represents the city of Troy on the legislature.
The memorial effort was conceived, and has been spear-headed by, the
Knights and Daughters of Vartan, a fraternal Armenian service
organization. They formed the Armenian Genocide Memorial Monument
Committee in 2005, which has been working to place a memorial in the
city's vicinity, stating that Troy and its environs have been the
locale of the largest Armenian community in the region.
The memorial will reflect the positive contributions their community
has made to Troy and the capital region, and would serve to honor
victims of the Armenian Genocide, as well as those of all genocides.
That extermination, resulting in 1 to 1.5 million Armenian deaths,
caused the growth of the present day Armenian diaspora community in
America, including that now residing in and around Troy.
Shortly after the committee undertook the memorial project seven years
ago, the Troy City Council passed a resolution authorizing the
monument, but did not specify an intended site. Yet the committee has
hoped the $15,000 monument would find a home in Riverfront Park, and
were prepared to place the memorial on the northernmost end of the
park several years ago. However, then-Mayor Tutunjian urged them to
wait, so as to more fully incorporate the memorial as part of a $1.75
million state grant redevelopment project targeting the park. This
delay caused tension between the group and the city, and the committee
began contemplating other local parks.
`We looked at Frear Park, Beman Park' and others, said Rafi Topalian,
a committee member. Those parks, due to a variety of reasons, were
found unfitting by the committee.
In 2010, the committee's hopes for the memorial by the river grew with
the inclusion of the monument in the preliminary plans for Riverfront
Park, compiled in September of that year. Further strengthening those
hopes was the monument's inclusion in the master plan and first phase,
compiled in March of last year, which was then cemented when the mayor
at the time, Harry Tutunjian - who is an Armenian-American himself - sent
an August letter giving the city administration's word that the
memorial would find a place in the northern end of the park.
In the community's eyes, the letter guaranteed the monument would be
placed in Riverfront and thus would be located in the heart of
downtown and seen by the thousands that pass through the park during
the various concerts and major city events held there. With this
understanding, last December the Genocide Memorial Committee organized
a ground ceremony that consecrated the ground where the monument will
be placed.
In July, however, the new city administration under Mayor Lou
Rosamilia, who attended the consecration ceremony, met with Armenian
community leaders and put forth the possibility of moving the monument
to Frear Park near the Oakwood neighborhood. The Armenian community
wasn't been pleased.
`We didn't take that too well,' Topalian said, explaining that the
ground had already been consecrated, and that the committee considered
the agreement with the previous administration `a contract' with the
city.
Since early in the 20th century, there has been a substantial Armenian
community in the Troy and the surrounding communities, a result of
Armenians refugees fleeing organized killings during the Armenian
Genocide. The Armenians that came to Troy in that diaspora founded the
second Armenian Church in America, became very active in the
community, and so inundated a length of road across the river in
Watervliet that it became known as Little Armenia for a time.
City officials and committee members will meet tonight as scheduled.
http://troyrecord.com/articles/2012/09/23/news/doc505fb9be6144d475962304.txt
Sept 23 2012
Mayor Rosamilia confirms Armenian Heritage Memorial will be in Riverfront Park
Published: Sunday, September 23, 2012
By Ian Benjamin
TROY - County legislator and former mayor Harry Tutunjian has voiced
his opposition to the possible relocation of a planned monument
commemorating the Armenian genocide from Riverfront Park to Frear
Park.
While there had been previous reservations, at the end of last week
co-chair Ralph Enokian was contacted by Mayor Lou Rosamilia and
informed that the Armenian Heritage Memorial would be placed on the
previously consecrated ground north of the Vietnam Memorial. The
memorial will be created and installed by Grethen-Cahringer Memorials
of Lansingburgh.
The decision comes after years of tension between the city and the committee.
`There have been years of work to make this memorial a reality,' said
Tutunjian, who represents the city of Troy on the legislature.
The memorial effort was conceived, and has been spear-headed by, the
Knights and Daughters of Vartan, a fraternal Armenian service
organization. They formed the Armenian Genocide Memorial Monument
Committee in 2005, which has been working to place a memorial in the
city's vicinity, stating that Troy and its environs have been the
locale of the largest Armenian community in the region.
The memorial will reflect the positive contributions their community
has made to Troy and the capital region, and would serve to honor
victims of the Armenian Genocide, as well as those of all genocides.
That extermination, resulting in 1 to 1.5 million Armenian deaths,
caused the growth of the present day Armenian diaspora community in
America, including that now residing in and around Troy.
Shortly after the committee undertook the memorial project seven years
ago, the Troy City Council passed a resolution authorizing the
monument, but did not specify an intended site. Yet the committee has
hoped the $15,000 monument would find a home in Riverfront Park, and
were prepared to place the memorial on the northernmost end of the
park several years ago. However, then-Mayor Tutunjian urged them to
wait, so as to more fully incorporate the memorial as part of a $1.75
million state grant redevelopment project targeting the park. This
delay caused tension between the group and the city, and the committee
began contemplating other local parks.
`We looked at Frear Park, Beman Park' and others, said Rafi Topalian,
a committee member. Those parks, due to a variety of reasons, were
found unfitting by the committee.
In 2010, the committee's hopes for the memorial by the river grew with
the inclusion of the monument in the preliminary plans for Riverfront
Park, compiled in September of that year. Further strengthening those
hopes was the monument's inclusion in the master plan and first phase,
compiled in March of last year, which was then cemented when the mayor
at the time, Harry Tutunjian - who is an Armenian-American himself - sent
an August letter giving the city administration's word that the
memorial would find a place in the northern end of the park.
In the community's eyes, the letter guaranteed the monument would be
placed in Riverfront and thus would be located in the heart of
downtown and seen by the thousands that pass through the park during
the various concerts and major city events held there. With this
understanding, last December the Genocide Memorial Committee organized
a ground ceremony that consecrated the ground where the monument will
be placed.
In July, however, the new city administration under Mayor Lou
Rosamilia, who attended the consecration ceremony, met with Armenian
community leaders and put forth the possibility of moving the monument
to Frear Park near the Oakwood neighborhood. The Armenian community
wasn't been pleased.
`We didn't take that too well,' Topalian said, explaining that the
ground had already been consecrated, and that the committee considered
the agreement with the previous administration `a contract' with the
city.
Since early in the 20th century, there has been a substantial Armenian
community in the Troy and the surrounding communities, a result of
Armenians refugees fleeing organized killings during the Armenian
Genocide. The Armenians that came to Troy in that diaspora founded the
second Armenian Church in America, became very active in the
community, and so inundated a length of road across the river in
Watervliet that it became known as Little Armenia for a time.
City officials and committee members will meet tonight as scheduled.
http://troyrecord.com/articles/2012/09/23/news/doc505fb9be6144d475962304.txt