OnePULSE seeks public feedback on designs for memorial, museum
If you want to weigh in on the design for the National Pulse Memorial and museum, you’ll have your chance starting next week.
The onePULSE Foundation — which is leading the effort to build the memorial, museum and a “Survivors Walk” that connects the two — will hold three public meetings in March to offer a detailed look at the preliminary design and solicit feedback.
The project, expected to cost at least $45 million, is an effort to pay tribute to the 49 people killed at the Pulse nightclub by a lone gunman on June 12, 2016, and to create a space that foundation leaders say will help the community learn and heal from the tragedy.
The design team, chosen after an international competition, created a preliminary design that includes the remains of the club encapsulated within tall, granitelike walls separated by a walkway that forms part of the Survivors Walk. The walk leads from the former club site on South Orange Avenue to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where the wounded were carried the night of the shooting. The museum will be roughly a half-mile from the memorial at 438 West Kaley St., in a warehouse district near Interstate 4. That land was purchased by the nonprofit foundation for $3.5 million.
The first public meeting will be March 4 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Orlando Repertory Theatre, 1001 East Princeton St. in Orlando. Representatives from the design team and onePULSE Foundation
of top universities preside over multi-billion dollar budgets, and legislators require transparency of how they spend state dollars.
“They have to spend the money in the sunshine they should have to apply in the sunshine,” she said.
The bill passed on a narrow 9-7 vote along largely partisan lines, with Lee the only Republican to vote against it and Sen. Bill Montford of Tallahassee, whose district includes Florida State University, the only Democrat to vote will answer questions from the audience, and the public can also give feedback on comment cards available at the meeting.
The other two meetings will take place March 28 at the CityArts Factory in the Rogers Kiene Building, 39 South Magnolia Ave. in downtown Orlando. The first will be from 9 to 10:30 a.m.. The afternoon meeting runs from 1 to 2:30.
You can also submit comments online from March 4 through March 31 at onepulsefoundation.org/community-update. (The website will not be live until the comment period opens.)
For more information about onePULSE Foundation or to view the design concepts, go to onepulsefoundation.org. for it.
It will be more difficult for the bill to pass a vote before the full Senate.
Florida’s constitution requires a two-thirds vote for a public records exemption and Republicans hold a 23-17 advantage over Democrats in the Senate, four short of the 27 needed to pass the two-thirds threshold. The House version, HB 7081, is also ready for a floor vote.