Where the front door of the Salvation Army thrift store once
stood, a tall heritage birch tree now grows.
It's a sapling in a new park at 22d and Market Streets,
built to memorialize what Mayor Nutter calls one of the worst tragedies in the
city's history.
Hundreds gathered Thursday under a heavy gray sky to mark
the first anniversary of the collapse of a four-story wall onto the thrift
store. Six shoppers and employees were killed, while 14 were injured.
Nutter apologized to each of the victims, calling out their
names and those of their relatives who sat before him.
"I am struggling today," Nutter said. "I
cannot even comprehend the pain and heartbreak that these six families are
experiencing."
The victims did not die in vain, the mayor said, quoting
Abraham Lincoln. The tragedy has prompted a review of city demolition
practices, as well as an independent review of procedures and oversight.
The narrow strip of land where the store stood will become a
memorial park. The Salvation Army donated the property to the city, with the
official transfer taking effect last week.
The mayor vowed to do whatever he could to stop development
on the adjacent lot, owned by developer Richard Basciano.
His company, STB Investment Corp., hired demolition
contractors to remove a four-story brick building to make way for a new
development. But because of sloppy work and lax oversight, a falling wall
crushed the thrift store next door.
The victims were Anne Bryan, Mary Rosaline Conteh, Borbor
Davis, Kimberly Finnegan, Juanita Harmon, and Mary Simpson. In addition, 14
people were injured, including Mariya Plekan, who was trapped for 13 hours in
the rubble and lost both legs.
The most searing remarks Thursday morning came from the
stepdaughter of Davis, Maryann McClain Mason.
"It's been one year," Mason said, looking toward
the empty lot owned by Basciano, "and we've not heard from whomever owns
the building that took away my dad."
A committee of citizens plans to raise funds to underwrite
the cost of creating the memorial park. So far, the group has commitments of
$165,000.
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has created a
preliminary design for a park. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,
meanwhile, is conducting a contest among students and alumni for a sculpture
that will become a focal point of the park.
Maj. Robert Dixon, the Salvation Army's director of
operations for greater Philadelphia, told the audience that the organization
did not hesitate to turn over the property for a memorial park.
"We, too, have felt your loss," Dixon said. Two of
the victims were employees of the Salvation Army.
Many neighbors who vividly recall the chaos of that morning
last year attended the ceremony.
Frances Williams lives across the street at the Sidney
Hillman Apartments for elderly and physically disabled residents.
From her window she watched the search and rescue efforts of
firefighters. She recalled the mournful ritual of a silent ambulance taking
away each body pulled from the site.
Then, 13 hours after the collapse, rescuers carried out a
woman and an ambulance siren wailed.
"Everyone screamed," Williams recalled,
"because we knew the woman was still alive."
The survivor was Plekan.
Ines Featherstone, 80, of Southwest Philadelphia, arrived at
the ceremony with a bouquet of orange roses cut from her garden. She placed
them where the birch was planted, in honor of Davis.
Featherstone said she shopped at the store regularly and
knew Davis as the friendly clerk.
"That Friday I promised him I would come back on
Wednesday," Featherstone said.
She said she remembers him telling her, "We've been
missing you."
Source: Philly.com
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