Pulse memorial to get facelift

The memorial at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, is getting some improvements as a step toward a permanent national memorial and museum. A gunman killed 49 people at the club in June 2016; most of those killed were LGBT+ people of color.

“The interim plan calls for a wood fence with murals around the club, which has been surrounded by a chain-link fence since soon after the shooting, as well as lighted benches and a perforated steel wall for visitors to leave mementos,” according to the Orlando Sentinel.

“The designs also show a portion of the shuttered nightclub’s asphalt parking lot being replaced with artificial-turf landscaping, as well as several sycamore trees. The club’s roadside sign would remain, its base encased with frosted polycarbonate panels.”

The improvements are temporary until a more permanent memorial can be designed and put in place.

“Pulse nightclub owner Barbara Poma presented plans earlier this week to Orlando's city council, which voted up the improvements,” the Associated Press reported.

The design for the temporary improvements at the Pulse terror attack memorial. City of Orlando plans.

For more on remembering the victims of the Pulse nightclub terror attack, visit:
49 victims of Pulse massacre remembered in day long services
Building the resistance - #OrlandoStrong

A forum was held in Orlando the same day as the vote on the temporary improvements.

"'We really felt that there was a need to bring the community into the process -- first and foremost -- to explain why we do it, how we do it,’ Poma said. ‘And in doing so, we tried to bring a great group of experts here to Orlando to help us walk through the process and walk this community through the process,’” WFTV said in coverage of the forum.

“Earl Crittenden, chairman of the onePULSE Foundation, said Monday's forum is another step toward healing.

"’The town hall is our first step to make sure the public and the community have a voice in the memorial process,’ Crittenden said. ‘The first act of engagement is for the public to fill out the survey.’

“The foundation's board members have traveled to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City, the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

“The board members will also visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum for research purposes,” said the station in its report.

Copyright The Gayly – October 13, 2017 @ 12:45 p.m. CDT.