By Andrew Coen
That will soon change, thanks to an idea from the Ogden Elementary School Shared Decision-Making Committee, which has proposed that Hewlett-Woodmere students create a memorial garden at the corner of Peninsula and Gibson boulevards, where a World Trade Center Remembrance Plaza was to be constructed.
Lisa Laskin, a member of the PTA and the Shared Decision-Making Committee, said the idea for the memorial garden was born after parents and school officials saw the sign and the empty land where the Remembrance Plaza was to be built and suggested that the property could become a community garden. Laskin said she contacted Nassau County Legislator Jeff Toback (D-Oceanside), who told her of the original plans to build a 9/11 memorial on the site and said he would like to see that concept realized.
In recent months, Laskin and Toback have frequently discussed creating a 9/11 memorial garden on the land with contributions from students from Ogden, which is in the Gibson section of Valley Stream. Laskin said she is also hopeful that Hewlett High School students can earn community service credit by assisting in some of the planting and digging on the property, and that the project can begin sometime in the next year.
"The Sept. 11 Memorial Garden is a perfect example of the wonderful things that can happen when students, parents, staff and the community all work together toward a common goal," said Hewlett-Woodmere school board President Howard Weinick. "The garden will be a tremendous source of pride and remembrance - one all Hewlett-Woodmere community members can enjoy."
Laskin said there are no specific plans for the memorial besides the garden. The original plans for the site, which included a memorial for the victims who lived in the southwest corner of Nassau County, specifically the Five Towns and Valley Stream, hit a snag when one of the key organizers of the project, Allan Kroningold, moved to Florida.
Toback, who has played a key role in reviving the project, is pleased that the site will soon see a memorial garden planted by local students. "The county is fortunate that certain groups within the Hewlett-Woodmere district are really diving to the rescue," he said. "It's a big undertaking, and we're glad the schoolchildren are coming aboard."
Laskin said that even though the idea for the memorial garden originated at Ogden, she hopes the entire Hewlett-Woodmere and Valley Stream communities will contribute to the project. "It's a community-based garden and we want the entire community involved," she said. "We don't want to leave anybody out."
