Ten years after construction started, North Hempstead’s 9/11 memorial is finally complete.
“It should have been completed many years ago,” North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jen DeSena said. “This was my first opportunity to have a board vote for applying the funds this way.”
The final phase of the long delayed project, which started in May and is nearing completion this week, cost $457,176 and was funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, a federal bill signed into law in 2021 by then-President Joe Biden.
DeSena said the board elected to apply ARPA funds to construct a large granite wall in Manhasset Valley Park with the names of all 56 North Hempstead residents who were killed in the attack. She said space has been left to engrave the names of those who died after Sept. 11, 2001, due to illnesses suffered from the attack.
This project also added a walkway around the memorial to ensure easier access, four new flagpoles and additional landscaping.
A smaller memorial plaque was first placed in the park in 2015, and in 2021 a steel beam from the World Trade Center that collapsed that day was added.
DeSena said the town board made completing the memorial a priority this year
“Last year, the town board voted to prioritize this and seize upon the opportunity to finally complete this,” DeSena said. “I’m so grateful that we completed it this year because next year will be the 25th anniversary. We really needed to get this done. ”
She said the memorial was personal to the town board.
“Two of the board members are retired New York City police officers. They have personal experience,” DeSena said. “Councilman Ed Scott actually was involved in looking for survivors after 9/11, and he has some health effects, so this is very meaningful to him. Councilman Dennis Walsh knows many police officers who have died. All of us live in North Hempstead, where we knew people who died.”
She said the company hired to construct the memorial, Galvin Brothers, is based in the Manhasset and Great Neck area and also had a deep personal connection to the Sept. 11 attacks.
“The owners happen to be from Manhasset. They know a lot of the people who are on that wall,” DeSena said. They felt that this was a beautiful tribute and they were very honored to be able to build this monument, which includes their friends and neighbors on it.”
She said she has met and spoken with residents who were widowed by the attack and have come to see the memorial, sometimes watching their loved ones’ names being engraved in the granite.
“One of the widows of a man who died on 9/11 came to see it last week. She was very grateful that the town finally completed this monument,” DeSena said. “Her husband grew up in Manhasset and played at that park. She was really touched and was very glad that the town did not forget.”
This year will be the town’s first year holding its annual Sept. 11 memorial ceremony with the fully completed monument.
