Dealey Plaza, on the western edge of downtown Dallas , is known around
the world as the site where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated
on Nov. 22, 1963.
More than a million people visit the site each year to pay homage to the
fallen president.
There was a 2001 master plan to revitalize the plaza, but only a small
part of it was completed. Conditions at the plaza had deteriorated, and
with the 50th anniversary of the assassination approaching in 2013,
something needed to be done.
In late 2010, Judith Garrett Segura, retired president of The Belo
Foundation, and Nicola Longford, director of The Sixth Floor Museum at
Dealey Plaza, met for lunch and agreed that the city needed to tackle
the problem with more urgency.
Segura agreed to lead a fund drive to help the city of Dallas accomplish
the task.
City Manager Mary Suhm gave a critical boost to the project.
Segura enlisted The Dallas Foundation to serve as the fiduciary agent
for the campaign. Last year, the foundation established the Dealey Plaza
Restoration Fund to help the city of Dallas complete its $2.2 million
restoration plan.
"This is the right thing to do since Dealey Plaza is a national historic
landmark district but doesn't include any federal support for upkeep,"
Segura said.
The plaza dates to the 1840s, when Dallas' first settler, John Neely
Bryan, marked the site as Dallas' birthplace. A century later, under the
leadership of the publisher of The Dallas Morning News, George Bannerman
Dealey, the concrete colonnades and triple underpass were built to serve
as the "front door of Dallas."
The plan to revitalize the plaza includes maintenance work on the steps
leading to the two concrete pergolas, concrete repair, lead paint
removal, and cleaning and painting of the pergolas and the underpass
that serves Commerce, Main and Elm streets. There will also be upgrades
to the lighting and directional and historical signs. The goal is to
complete the project by November 2013.
The Dealey Plaza Restoration Fund has secured more than $1.1 million in
commitments, including $750,000 from the city of Dallas.
Other major gifts include: $125,000 from Downtown Dallas Inc., $100,000
from The Decherd Foundation, $50,000 from Belo Corp., $50,000 from The
Dallas Foundation, $35,000 from The Jim and Lynn Moroney Family
Foundation and $25,000 from A.H. Belo Corporation.
Dallas Foundation president and CEO Mary Jalonick said that all
donations are welcome, regardless of size.
To make a gift to the fund, visit dallasfoundation.org and search for
"Dealey Plaza." You can also mail a contribution to Dealey Plaza
Restoration Fund of the Dallas Foundation, 3963 Maple Ave., Suite 390,
Dallas, Texas 75219-3209.
Dealey Plaza, on the western edge of downtown Dallas , is known around
the world as the site where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated
on Nov. 22, 1963.
More than a million people visit the site each year to pay homage to the
fallen president.
There was a 2001 master plan to revitalize the plaza, but only a small
part of it was completed. Conditions at the plaza had deteriorated, and
with the 50th anniversary of the assassination approaching in 2013,
something needed to be done.
In late 2010, Judith Garrett Segura, retired president of The Belo
Foundation, and Nicola Longford, director of The Sixth Floor Museum at
Dealey Plaza, met for lunch and agreed that the city needed to tackle
the problem with more urgency.
Segura agreed to lead a fund drive to help the city of Dallas accomplish
the task.
City Manager Mary Suhm gave a critical boost to the project.
Segura enlisted The Dallas Foundation to serve as the fiduciary agent
for the campaign. Last year, the foundation established the Dealey Plaza
Restoration Fund to help the city of Dallas complete its $2.2 million
restoration plan.
"This is the right thing to do since Dealey Plaza is a national historic
landmark district but doesn't include any federal support for upkeep,"
Segura said.
The plaza dates to the 1840s, when Dallas' first settler, John Neely
Bryan, marked the site as Dallas' birthplace. A century later, under the
leadership of the publisher of The Dallas Morning News, George Bannerman
Dealey, the concrete colonnades and triple underpass were built to serve
as the "front door of Dallas."
The plan to revitalize the plaza includes maintenance work on the steps
leading to the two concrete pergolas, concrete repair, lead paint
removal, and cleaning and painting of the pergolas and the underpass
that serves Commerce, Main and Elm streets. There will also be upgrades
to the lighting and directional and historical signs. The goal is to
complete the project by November 2013.
The Dealey Plaza Restoration Fund has secured more than $1.1 million in
commitments, including $750,000 from the city of Dallas.
Other major gifts include: $125,000 from Downtown Dallas Inc., $100,000
from The Decherd Foundation, $50,000 from Belo Corp., $50,000 from The
Dallas Foundation, $35,000 from The Jim and Lynn Moroney Family
Foundation and $25,000 from A.H. Belo Corporation.
Dallas Foundation president and CEO Mary Jalonick said that all
donations are welcome, regardless of size.
To make a gift to the fund, visit dallasfoundation.org and search for
"Dealey Plaza." You can also mail a contribution to Dealey Plaza
Restoration Fund of the Dallas Foundation, 3963 Maple Ave., Suite 390,
Dallas, Texas 75219-3209.
What a clever idea so late in the GAME! To ONCE AGAIN change the Plaza so as to wipe out the very last bits of evidence. Was done at least twice soon after the assassination....so best get rid the last vestiges of the actual landmarks, angles and original look by the 50th! Seems to follow the 'logic' of the Grand Game Plan.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
I haven't been to DP since '98, but I haven't read about anything being "wrong" and needing a "face lift". Aside from normal maintenance, it seems to me it should be left alone when possible as too much may have been "face lifted" already. I agree with Mr Dragoo and Mr Lemkin, as well as feeling a sharp pain when I read the headline in Ms Moore's post.
:nono:
Some years ago I delivered a major paper at a Lancer conference in which I argued that Dealey Plaza, as much as Gettysburg or Little Bighorn or the Alamo, is not only hallowed ground but also a battlefield.
I quite seriously proposed that the site be renamed the JFK Assassination Battlefield National Monument.
I then called for us to find ways to "return the fire."
Make no mistake: The proposed desecration of the site of John Kennedy's assassination -- or, if you prefer, crucifixion -- is just that: the act of denying a place its sacred nature.
This is not primarily about defacing evidence.
This is a spiritual matter.
As such, it is hardly unprecedented in American history. It is akin to the widely celebrated desecration of a sacred mountain in the most sacred land of the Lakota peoples: Imagine if post-Renaissance Rome had been sacked by barbarians who proceeded to paint crude likenesses of their chieftains over Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling.
There have been earlier reports of this further desecration, it now appears as definite with the money pouring in. they have already moved the lamp posts, the signs, repaved the street, changed the sewer drain entrances in size, moved some trees, planted others, and lord knows what else that the naked eye could not quite quickly see, the grounds keeper Hudson was the first to let the cat out of the bag, that they were very busy with alterations, re the signs, then also the tree trimming that went on, so that when they were ready for the first re-creation, low and behold, the site of the President's back through a rifles scope was seen right through a hole in the branches and leaves etc...the Plaza to many it appears is like a cemetary, and many feel it should be seen to accordingly, about the only i can think of that perhaps needs doing, is the cleaning of the pergola cement structures, which i imagine would cost a pretty penny, imo the plaza is not to be cleaned up for historys sake it is to be cleaned up,nice and pretty so that when the hordes that they seek arrive, they will be enchanted by the beauty of all, all credit and praise, going to the TSBD and the city for doing such a splendid job in keeping pristine the deathly hollow that their President road through, as the planned execution took place, i somehow get the impression, they are trying with great effort to undo, the cemetary feeling that some within the crowds have mentioned when visiting,that quiet hushed feeling when visiting later in the evening or early morning, as if the echos of the screams still whisper through the Plaza, and they foolishly hope with trimming,sanding, washing, tidying up, flowers etc, they want to make it into a pleasant park, where all will feel cofortable, chasing away the ghosts, especially a man who has stood alone, almost, there for many years Robert Groden he has been a continuous portrayer of all the ghosts, that still haunt the plaza and will continue to do so........by presenting his books which of course all relate to the assassination, of the POTUS he as well as what bits and pieces are left must be removed...i would not put it past them, that on that week-end he may have been already arrested and in the jail house, on purpose so that he will not be in sight.....by doing so, they hopefully will also chase away the ghosts that haunt them......and will continue to do so..no matter how much new is created.......the ghosts echo for the guilt that some still try to evade,that if they had not allowed the ugliness that grew within their borders unchecked, so many years ago that developed into such a crazy hateful state of an enviroment, then the ugly setting in Dallas would not have been so obvious that it was chosen for the crossfire...my 2cents....
They could do it Las Vegas style and have flashing neon and halogen lights with arrows pointing to the 'sniper's window', flashing Oswald did-it signs, X-marks the spot the magic bullet did its magic, a Disney automated Zappy filming, etc. Sorry, making myself want to vomit with my own tongue in cheek description. hutup: But, what they are proposing, let alone what B just outlined they have already done, is just the tame version of the same thing.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
hutup: But, what they are proposing, let alone what B just outlined they have already done, is just the tame version of the same thing.