Pulse debate: Should shooting site remain?

The central question in planning a permanent memorial to the Pulse nightclub massacre is more complicated than many thought: Should the scene of unspeakable violence, death and sorrow be preserved?

In fact, 45 percent of people who answered surveys about the Pulse memorial said demolishing the building was not important. Many said keeping at least some of the building was important.

That was the most significant issue that emerged from the survey, which was filled out by more than 2,212 people online. Nightclub owner Barbara Poma revealed the survey results for the first time Saturday at the Alafaya Branch Library in East Orlando.

“I was surprised by the answer to that question,” Poma said. “I initially thought we had to tear the building down.”

Fifteen people attended the meeting, the first in a series of community events designed to get more feedback. But construction will begin on a temporary memorial on Feb. 19. The twomonth construction process will restrict access to the building and result in a park-like area around Pulse with seating and a better place to hang mementos.

Pulse was an LGBT club, and the shooting took place early on a Sunday morning as Latin Night was winding down. The entire area around Pulse, 1912 S. Orange Ave., was a crime scene for a week after the attack. But when the street reopened, the vacant black building quickly became a magnet for grief, vigils, flowers, artwork and impromptu memorials. Even now, people visit daily.

At Saturday’s meeting, several people who were at the scene of the tragedy said they agree the building, or part of it, should be preserved.

“To me everything there is important,” said India Godman, who was at the bar that night. “You take down the building, you take away the place they died.”

“If you touch the building, you touch where everybody is,” said Neal Whittleton, security guard at the club who helped people flee.

One neighbor of the club, though, said keeping walls where you can still see bullet holes, or holes that the police created to extricate victims, only invites gawking and disrespect. Some have also said planning the memorial has taken too long.

To understand why anyone would want to keep the building that housed such carnage, Poma cited the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, or even the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where Martin Luther King was assassinated. Over a million people visit Auschwitz each year, and hundreds of thousands visit the Lorraine.

“We have our feelings today — but we have to think about 100 years from now if the building is gone we have lost that historic context,” Poma said.

Out of 2,212 people who took the survey, 60 were survivors of the shooting, while 86 were first responders to the scene and 41 were family of victims.

The survey suggested a variety of words that should be a focus for the memorial. Answers centered on three words: acceptance, love and unity.

Survey takers also identified features that should be part of the memorial, including a wall with the names of the 49 people killed at Pulse, a water feature similar to a waterfall that was inside the club, and night lighting.

There will be no mention of the shooter at the site of the memorial, but he may be mentioned in a museum if and when that is built.

Poma said she did not know how the building would be used if it is preserved, or whether there would be public access to the interior.

“We are still going through the process, and we’ve only just learned that many people want to keep the building,” she said.

Local companies are donating services for the temporary memorial, including Longwoodbased Dix.Hite + Partners landscape architects and Dr. Phillipsbased Jones Clayton Construction.

A much larger town hall meeting was held Oct. 9 about the memorial, where a board member at the 911 memorial in New York City said that one of the most powerful experiences there is seeing part of the foundation of the twin towers.

Five more meetings are planned around the Orlando area.