Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories

Grisanti's bill designates pedestrian bridge in Buffalo as 'Scajaquada 9/11 Memorial Bridge'

by jmaloni

Submitted

Fri, Apr 18th 2014 09:35 pm

Bridge spans Route 198 from Nottingham Terrace to Hoyt Lake

New York State Sen. Mark Grisanti has announced the passage of a bill that amends the highway law to designate the bridge that crosses Route 198 into Delaware Park (connecting Nottingham Terrace with Hoyt Lake in the City of Buffalo) as "Scajaquada 9/11 Memorial Bridge." The designation of the bridge was spearheaded by community activists who have been working on this project for more than three years. They seek a memorial in the city to honor those who were killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The latest passage of the bill marks the third consecutive year the designation of the bridge has passed the State Senate. Legislation cannot be signed into law until it is approved by the State Assembly, which has failed to take it up for a vote.

"I am pleased that my colleagues in the Senate voted unanimously in favor of this bill, because they all recognized the significance of 9/11 and how important it is to members of our community," Grisanti said. "For more than a decade, this bridge connecting Nottingham Terrace to Hoyt Lake has been a unifying factor for those who wish to remember the victims of the worst attack to ever occur on our nation's soil. This measure helps move ahead our shared goal of officially renaming it. We believe this will honor the sacrifice these individuals made with their lives and also provide Western New York residents and visitors to our region a place to go and memorialize those who died on that tragic day."

Since 2003, the bridge has served as the site of an annual remembrance celebration on Sept. 11 for local firefighters, police officers, active and retired military and others to visit and pay tribute. Past activities have included speeches, wreath laying, testimonials and other public acts of remembrance.

Now that the designation of the Scajaquada 9/11 Memorial Bridge has passed the Senate, it will once again be sent to the Assembly.

"We have worked very hard on this project, and I applaud the community activists who have pushed for this, particularly Laurie Kostrzewski, who has spent more than three years meeting with various elected officials at the city, county and state levels of government, including myself and representatives from my Buffalo and Albany offices," Grisanti said. "The diligent work of Laurie and other community activists will hopefully pay off. I urge my colleagues in the Assembly to recognize the importance to our community of the creation of this memorial."

Hometown News

View All News