For the vics of Newtown
Memorial will honor the 26 people killed 7 years ago
From a bird’s-eye view, the memorial renderings show a web of paths swirling inward from an expansive circle. Looping through gardens, tree groves and ponds, they join at a single point: a sycamore tree, surrounded by a reflecting pool.
Years in the making, “The Clearing” is Newtown’s proposed design for a public memorial honoring the 26 victims murdered in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings on Dec. 14, 2012. Its creators envision a place to remember and respect the deep grief that families here have endured.
Budget issues initially halted progress, but the local board of selectmen and the memorial commission are now ready to move forward. If Newtown voters approve funds for the project next year, the memorial could open by December 2021.
“For me, it’s not so much about the design, but about what it represents,” said Scarlett Lewis, whose son Jesse Lewis was one of the children killed in the tragedy.
Lewis was an early member of The Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission before founding the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Foundation to prevent school shootings. Although she is no longer a part of the commission, she continues to support the memorial.
“It’s incredibly important to honor and remember,” she said. “It takes courage to remember, and it’s a great way to learn from past mistakes.”
Out of nearly 200 submissions, the design by Ben Waldo and Dan Affleck of SWA Group in San Francisco was selected with the local board of selectmen. Commission chair Daniel Krauss said it was
“universally loved” by the victims’ families.
But the estimated cost of as much as $12 million caused concerns. While memorial leaders were greatly appreciative of all financial contributions made toward the project, Newtown First Selectman Daniel Rosenthal said they struggled to find a “white knight donor” who could contribute several million dollars.
Over the past year and a half, the designers worked with Rosenthal and the commission to reduce costs by over $6 million while maintaining the spirit of the memorial. Current estimates place the overall cost at about $3.7 million. In November 2020, Newtown taxpayers will vote on whether to fund the initiative. People often assume limited finances negatively impact a project, but that is not necessarily true, said Waldo. Budget cuts can help distill a design down to its quintessence.
Located on a 5-acre site at 32A Riverside Road in Sandy Hook, the memorial will stretch past two ponds towards the woodlands, covering about 3 acres of the land.
“It was really special to be selected for this project,” said Waldo. “This is an important space to us, and for the community of Newtown.”
“We wanted the design to help bring the town together through a sense of healing,” added Affleck, who grew up in West Hartford.
Before they began drawing, the two studied contemporary memorials for 9/11 and the Columbine High School shooting with an eye toward the unique circumstances of the Sandy Hook tragedy.