Two Arizona congressmen are leading a bipartisan effort and asking President Obama to help secure federal funding and resources to help build Tucson’s Jan. 8 memorial.
U.S. Reps. Raúl Grijalva and David Schweikert led 31 members of Congress in sending a letter Thursday to the president asking him to work with federal agencies to help identify and secure federal resources to assist the Tucson community in creating a permanent memorial.
Tucson’s January 8th Memorial Foundation has raised about $1.2 million that is being used for the design development of the structure titled “The Embrace” — an interactive metal sculpture with water flowing behind it, through it and over it.
The piece expresses a rift, but also bridges the community that experienced “the incomprehensible violence of Jan. 8,” according to the designers, the Los Angeles-based CSAO, or Chee Salette Architecture Office.
The foundation has begun a $4 million campaign to complete the fundraising for the memorial, said Crystal Kasnoff, foundation executive director. “We are hopeful to begin construction early next year,” Kasnoff said.
The construction of the memorial is part of a public and private partnership between the foundation, Pima County and the city of Tucson.
The memorial will be placed in downtown El Presidio Park to commemorate the six people killed and 13 wounded in the Jan. 8, 2011, mass shooting at a shopping center on the northwest side.
Among the survivors were then U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head. Since the shooting, Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, a Navy combat veteran and retired NASA astronaut, have worked on reforming gun legislation.
Grijalva said among federal resources for the memorial may be offers of grants and preservation efforts.
The memorial “is an important and necessary part of the Tucson community’s healing process,” said Grijalva.
Schweikert said the memorial is “important to Arizona” and “it pays tribute to the commitment that community always comes first.”
“We are overwhelmed at the support we have seen from our members of Congress,” said Kasnoff. “The memorial represents our community and our freedom of democracy.”
