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ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MEMORIAL APPROVED IN PASADENA
Los Angeles Times, CA
Sept 11 2013
By Joe Piasecki
September 11, 2013, 4:36 p.m.
A proposal to memorialize victims of the Armenian genocide with a
monument in Pasadena received unanimous approval from Pasadena City
Council members Monday, a decision cheered by Armenian American
leaders in Glendale who have joined the effort to see it built.
Organizers of the nonprofit Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial
Committee are raising funds to erect the monument at Memorial Park
in central Pasadena before the centennial observance of the genocide
on April 24, 2015.
Garo Ghazarian, chair of the Armenian Bar Assn. and a member of the
Glendale Civil Service Commission, said Pasadena is a fitting home
for the tribute because the city was the first in Southern California
to embrace Armenian American immigrants before and after the genocide.
That a City Council without Armenian American members united behind
the proposal is "all the more reason to be encouraged that there is
hope for greater understanding and acceptance of what history has
documented so well," said Ghazarian, who was among more than 150
supporters who attended the meeting at Pasadena City Hall.
The monument's design will include a three-column tripod from which
drops of water will fall into a carved stone basin. About 1.5 million
of these symbolic teardrops will fall each year, representing the
estimated number of lives lost during the genocide.
The campaign in Pasadena has also rekindled talks of erecting a
genocide monument in Glendale, a conversation that began more than
a decade ago, according to the Glendale News-Press.
"Building a genocide memorial in Pasadena is setting an example for
what should be done in Glendale," said David Gevorkyan, a member of
the Pasadena memorial committee's board who also serves on Glendale's
city Audit Committee.
Dan Bell, Glendale's liaison to a community group that plans the
annual city-sponsored genocide memorial ceremony in the city, said
members are seeking to revive a dormant nonprofit board previously
in charge of plans for a Glendale monument.
More than 1,000 people signed a petition in favor of the Pasadena
monument and Glendale City Councilman Zareh Sinanyan attended Monday's
Pasadena council meeting to voice his support.
Ghazarian, who co-chairs a committee planning Armenian genocide
commemoration events throughout the western United States, said
Glendale should consider a museum or permanent library exhibit focused
on the tragedy.
"Something significant needs to be done in Glendale," he said.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-armenian-genocide-memorial-approved-in-pasadena-20130911,0,2573738.story
From: A. Papazian
Los Angeles Times, CA
Sept 11 2013
By Joe Piasecki
September 11, 2013, 4:36 p.m.
A proposal to memorialize victims of the Armenian genocide with a
monument in Pasadena received unanimous approval from Pasadena City
Council members Monday, a decision cheered by Armenian American
leaders in Glendale who have joined the effort to see it built.
Organizers of the nonprofit Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial
Committee are raising funds to erect the monument at Memorial Park
in central Pasadena before the centennial observance of the genocide
on April 24, 2015.
Garo Ghazarian, chair of the Armenian Bar Assn. and a member of the
Glendale Civil Service Commission, said Pasadena is a fitting home
for the tribute because the city was the first in Southern California
to embrace Armenian American immigrants before and after the genocide.
That a City Council without Armenian American members united behind
the proposal is "all the more reason to be encouraged that there is
hope for greater understanding and acceptance of what history has
documented so well," said Ghazarian, who was among more than 150
supporters who attended the meeting at Pasadena City Hall.
The monument's design will include a three-column tripod from which
drops of water will fall into a carved stone basin. About 1.5 million
of these symbolic teardrops will fall each year, representing the
estimated number of lives lost during the genocide.
The campaign in Pasadena has also rekindled talks of erecting a
genocide monument in Glendale, a conversation that began more than
a decade ago, according to the Glendale News-Press.
"Building a genocide memorial in Pasadena is setting an example for
what should be done in Glendale," said David Gevorkyan, a member of
the Pasadena memorial committee's board who also serves on Glendale's
city Audit Committee.
Dan Bell, Glendale's liaison to a community group that plans the
annual city-sponsored genocide memorial ceremony in the city, said
members are seeking to revive a dormant nonprofit board previously
in charge of plans for a Glendale monument.
More than 1,000 people signed a petition in favor of the Pasadena
monument and Glendale City Councilman Zareh Sinanyan attended Monday's
Pasadena council meeting to voice his support.
Ghazarian, who co-chairs a committee planning Armenian genocide
commemoration events throughout the western United States, said
Glendale should consider a museum or permanent library exhibit focused
on the tragedy.
"Something significant needs to be done in Glendale," he said.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-armenian-genocide-memorial-approved-in-pasadena-20130911,0,2573738.story
From: A. Papazian