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MEMORIAL OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE WILL BE PLACED IN NEW-YORK
http://times.am/?l=en&p=12831
While there had been previous reservations, at the end of last week
Armenian Genocide Memorial Monument Committee 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.
Troyrecord.com writes about this.
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 county legislator 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
was not 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://times.am/?l=en&p=12831
While there had been previous reservations, at the end of last week
Armenian Genocide Memorial Monument Committee 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.
Troyrecord.com writes about this.
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 county legislator 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
was not 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.