‘Together We Thrive” could be our community’s slogan over the centuries, not just a description of the strength and resilience of our friends, neighbors and loved ones since the Jan. 8, 2011, tragedy at a Congress on Your Corner gathering.
The search for a memorial location has grown into a vision of a true civic plaza offering a gathering place for all — a place where democracy can shine. A lasting tribute will be nestled in that space, commemorating those citizens who came to listen to a congresswoman responding to the concerns of her constituents — a simple act of democracy in action that ended so violently that winter morning.
Another step to create a civic plaza is anticipated this weekend with the announcement of a design team recommended by a panel assembled by the Tucson Pima Arts Council. The panel evaluated the proposals and public input from more than 500 comments online and in an open meeting.
The design team’s memorial and site presentation is just the start of a 12-month site-planning process to incorporate the public ideas already expressed and the many more to be collected.
The January 8th Memorial Foundation was formed by community members to honor those whose lives were taken and for those who survived. From that outpouring of grief in 2011, each step to mourn the dead, to comfort the injured and to support their families focused our community, our resources and our energies to raise funds for the victims, to enhance mental health care access and to promote gun safety. Tucson acted in ways small and large which profoundly demonstrated our concern for each other.
The memorial will inspire future generations to be actively engaged in democracy, to reflect on what happened and to encourage collaboration and make our community better. This memorial would be part of a place with a guiding principle: that the location is freely open to the public and widely accessible.
The suggestion to have the memorial located in El Presidio Park in the heart of downtown Tucson resonated with the foundation board and the broader community. This historic park, adjacent to the offices of city and county government officials, is already a civic space, used for large community gatherings.
The centuries of history in this specific geographic heart of the community make it an important space to come together to reflect on the past and to envision the future.
The park already contains numerous monuments or memorials, although not in any coherent order.
The city of Tucson and Pima County charged the foundation with finding a design team able to develop the space incorporating these goals: improve the usability of El Presidio Park by creating a more coherent and useful civic gathering space; design a new and inspiring January 8th memorial near the western and northern edges of the historic Pima County Courthouse; and incorporate all the elements to make a civic focus for our region where every culture and walk of life has a place to remember and celebrate our community’s resilience.
More than 60 design teams responded to these criteria, as well as another dozen requirements, including responsiveness to the historic nature of El Presidio, sustainability, receptiveness to community input, and to understanding the January 8th Memorial Foundation’s mission.
The selection of the design team marks the beginning of a design process, not the end. Together, designers and community members will forge a design for El Presidio Park and for the January 8th Memorial that meets the functional, memorial and inspirational needs of our community.
We welcome and encourage participation to create this civic plaza and memorial, knowing it is based on our community’s collective spirit.
