Shape of Swissair memorial a shame, NDP says

By David Jackson / Provincial Reporter

Finding which branch of government handles what issues can be a headache even for an MLA, New Democrat Bill Estabrooks discovered this week.

Mr. Estabrooks said Tuesday he wants someone to fix the pathway from the parking lot to the Swissair memorial site at Whalesback near Peggys Cove, established three years ago.

The path winds around rocks for about 100 metres to the memorial, and Mr. Estabrooks said it's worn away enough that the drainage system is visible in some places and it's possible someone could roll an ankle.

"To allow it to deteriorate so quickly is just embarrassing," said Mr. Estabrooks, MLA for Timberlea-Prospect.

Mr. Estabrooks said he spent hours on the phone Monday afternoon, calling a Peggys Cove community organization, Halifax Regional Municipality and provincial departments of Public Works, Natural Resources and Tourism trying to find who's responsible for the path's upkeep.

He said a Public Works official told him a committee of senior bureaucrats is responsible for the site, but the committee hasn't held any meetings yet.

Mr. Estabrooks said the runaround irritated him, and he issued a news release Tuesday calling on the Hamm government to come up with a plan for maintaining the site.

A Public Works spokesman referred this newspaper's call to a Natural Resources spokeswoman, who didn't return the call Tuesday afternoon.

http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2002/10/30/p197.raw.html

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And if that isn't horrible enough, families of sr111 aren't allowed to see the draft until those responsible make their comments.

Just another reason I'm 'glad' that I didn't have Tara's name put on a memorial I didn't want.

I found this on the old yahoo board ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sr111/message/10906 ). There is an address given in the message. Maybe contacting them would help.

C

From: JIMHAUSMAN
Date: Thu Jul 20, 2000 12:29 pm
Subject: FLIGHT 111 MEMORIAL TRUST FUND

THE PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA ESTABLISHED A TRUST
FUND FOR THE CREATION, PRESERVATION AND CARE OF THE
MEMORIAL SITES.<br><br>THE FUND IS ADMINISTERED BY THE
DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE.<br><br>THIS FUND IS WHERE THE FUND'S
ARE COMING FROM FOR THE MODIFICATIONS TO THE
BAYSWATER SITE.<br><br>IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN MAKING A
DONATION TO THIS FUND, THEY MAY DO SO DIRECTLY
TO:<br><br>"FLIGHT 111 MEMORIAL TRUST FUND"<br>%DEPARTMENT OF
FINANCE<br>P.O. BOX 187<br>HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, B3J
2N3<br><br>THANKS YOU<br><br>JIM

Province maintaining path to Swissair site, minister says

By David Jackson / Provincial Reporter

The province is indeed looking after the path to the Swissair memorial site, Natural Resources Minister Tim Olive said Thursday.

Mr. Olive said workers were there Wednesday to straighten up rocks along the path that had moved due to erosion.

He said they also cleaned some of the salt spray on the monument at Whalesback, near Peggys Cove.

New Democrat Bill Estabrooks, the area MLA, said this week in a news release that the path, which winds roughly 100 metres from a parking lot to the monument, had worn away in several places and was uneven.

"It is not in rough shape," Mr. Olive said. "The path itself had some erosion and as a result of that, some of the stones along the path have slipped down the side. That can be fixed and it is being fixed.

"It's been blown all out of proportion and I'm not sure why, because I don't think it's appropriate to treat that site as a political football, quite frankly."

Mr. Olive said Mr. Estabrooks should have called him or Public Works Minister Ron Russell about the path rather than issue a news release.

Mr. Estabrooks said he called several departments on Monday and couldn't get an answer about who was responsible for fixing the path. He then issued the release Tuesday.

Mr. Estabrooks said Thursday he wasn't trying to be political, he simply wanted the path fixed and thought it made more sense to deal with hands-on workers. He said if he had been assured the path would be fixed, he wouldn't have complained in the media.

"I thought it was a no-brainer - someone in the department would take care of me," Mr. Estabrooks said, adding he didn't notice a difference in the path's condition Thursday.

Mr. Olive said workers drop in at the site from time to time to check on it, but there will now be a more regular schedule of checks.

He said the province looks after the site as it would expect a site honouring Nova Scotians to be looked after in another country.

http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2002/11/01/p192.raw.html

From CP:

Memorial site concerns Swissair families


Canadian Press

Friday, November 01, 2002

JANET KIMBER
A visitor looks out to sea at the site of the Swissair memorial at Whale's Back yesterday.

ADVERTISEMENT


HALIFAX (CP) - A group representing the families of those killed in the Swissair crash off Nova Scotia is concerned a memorial site marred by exposed drainage pipes and a crumbling walkway isn't being properly maintained, despite a fund established for that purpose.

Charlene Frenette of the International Aviation Safety Association said the fund, which now has $393,000 in donations, is not being used to repair damage caused by thousands of visitors to the site since the September 1998 crash.

A pathway, the only one in the small shoreline park that overlooks the crash site off Peggy's Cove, has been chewed away in spots by winter thaws, leaving corrugated drainage pipes jutting out of the ground in at least five spots.

The erosion has also caused several markers on the side of the pathway to tumble into an ecologically sensitive area in front of two large granite boulders that list the names of the 229 victims.

``I cannot help but wonder how the memorial at Whalesback could be allowed to fall into disrepair, considering the provincial government accepted public donations, some of which were from families of Swissair Flight 111,'' Frenette said in a recent letter to a Nova Scotia politician.

``Where is this money being allocated if not for upkeep?''

The fund is administered by the provincial Finance Department, but is dipped into by the departments of Natural Resources, and Transportation, which are responsible for maintaining the site.

But the fund, which was created a year after the air disaster, has only been used in 2000, when about $40,000 was spent on landscaping and improvements to some marble tiles and signage.

There were some expenses this year, but Finance officials haven't yet tabulated those invoices since they haven't completed this fiscal year.

The fund was established by a special Swissair secretariat that oversaw the design and creation of three memorials to the international passengers and crew who were killed when the jetliner plunged into waters off the picturesque coastline.

The monuments were also meant to thank people in the shoreline communities who rushed to the site in a futile bid to find survivors.

Frenette, a former member of the secretariat, is dismayed that more is not being done to ensure the popular memorial near the famed Peggy's Cove lighthouse is not being regularly maintained since it is visited year-round.

``There is a fund that should be used to keep up the site,'' she said in Halifax.

Bill Estabrooks, NDP member of the Nova Scotia legislature for the area, has urged the province to repair the damage, which he says has been evident since the spring. He said his daughter told him about it after visiting the area with a friend and finding several black pipes poking up through the ground.

``At this stage I'm pissed off - I just want the God damned path fixed,'' he said Thursday.

``It's a beautiful, scenic Nova Scotia seascape and a wonderfully contemplative place, but it needs to be kept up. It's supposed to be wheelchair accessible and it's an obstacle.''

The Department of Transportation and Public Works dismissed the criticism, claiming work was being done regularly on the site and that the pathway isn't in bad shape.

Department spokesman Richard Perry said work was being done, but there were no signs Wednesday of any repairs. He said it was expected to cost about $10,000 to work on the pathway, which he said was being dealt with swiftly, even though one man who lost his daughter in the crash said the pipes have been protruding for several months.

``I don't think it's taken a whole lot of time at all,'' Perry said. ``It's not in rough shape. The path had some erosion. It's been blown all out of proportion.''

http://www.canada.com/halifax/story.asp?id={5C2FBCAB-F621-440E-877B-D2D0FBB92A6C}

I haven't been in touch with any family members from sr111 that attend the memorial on the anniversaries of the crash or I would ask them what condition they found it to be in when they were there this past September.

I hesitate to bother asking because I never get responses on either board anyway.

That seems like an awful lot of money and should be adequate to keep this memorial in pretty decent shape. Does anyone know what condition it actually is in?