A proposal to provide $20 million a year to the private nonprofit that runs the 9/11 Memorial in New York is under fire from some who believe the World Trade Center (WTC) towers site should be turned over to the National Park Service.
“To have a bailout with no strings attached is not responsible and not what the public wants,” Sally Regenhard of the 9/11 Parents & Families of Firefighters and WTC Victims, told the
Bergen County Record Monday.
The Record reported that questions are being raised about a bill introduced in Congress that would provide about one-third of the yearly operating budget for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center Foundation.
While they agree that taxpayer money is needed to ensure the memorial is well maintained in the future, critics say funds should not be doled out without strict oversight.
The memorial site in lower Manhattan was built mostly with privates funds.
But the Record reported some families of the victims — as well as others — prefer a private-public funding arrangement that allows the National Park Service to operate the site, much the way it does with other memorials. Those include the U.S. Holocaust Museum and the Flight 93 Memorial site near Shanksville, Pa.
Congress is expected to begin hearings on the funding bill later this week.
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