Broward seeks to honor Parkland victims

Almost a year after the Parkland shooting, Broward County is looking to honor the 17 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students and staff who died in the Feb. 14 massacre.

Officials are considering a plaque, monument or some other fitting memorial that could be placed in a county park in the city, but have not determined just what that would be.

They will seek advice from the Broward Cultural Council, which oversees county art installations, although some commissioners said they would prefer a “conservative” or “understated” memorial to something “artsy.”

During a discussion Tuesday, Broward Mayor Mark Bogen suggested a memorial might be appropriate at the Doris Davis Forman Wilderness Preserve, a county preserve in Parkland that has a boardwalk trail.

Commissioners supported doing something.

“I think it would be insensitive to let this go without doing anything on Feb. 14,” Commissioner Michael Udine said, calling for commissioners “to say we’re doing something tasteful, that’s with decorum, that brings in the 17 families who lost loved ones, that respects their wishes.”

Commissioner Barbara Sharief does not want it to be a “slab” of concrete that recounts the tragedy.

“A lot of what’s been going on, in terms of commemorating the students and the faculty from MSD, has been surrounded by things that celebrate life and celebrate their life,” Sharief said. “I would just ask if we are going to do something, that we take into consideration that these were youthful people, that they were fun-loving people — and that we make it something that’s beautiful and fun, not something drab and black and monotone.”

Parkland Mayor Christine Hunschofsky said there should be collaboration involving the county, city and School Board, since each are planning memorials. The state Legislature authorized $1 million last year for a memorial at Stoneman Douglas, but that won’t occur until after the demolition of Building 12 where the shootings took place. That won’t happen until after the killer’s trial.

Parkland has its own thoughts on a memorial, but leaders will wait until after the anniversary of the Feb. 14 massacre to discuss what it will do, and seek input from the victims’ families, the mayor said. People in other cities that experienced school shootings advised against moving too fast, she said.

“You do not want to do it too quickly because of the trauma that’s going on in the community,” Hunschofsky said. Sandy Hook Elementary, she said, still does not have a memorial six years after the shootings there.

There have been some small remembrances done for the Stoneman Douglas victims, Hunschofsky said — a memorial tree at the city’s tennis center and a bench dedicated to the victims at Pine Trails Park.