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Lighting the way for Krystle Campbell, Martin Richard, Lingzi Lu and Sean Collier
By adamg on Mon, 08/19/2019 - 9:57pm
The two Boylston Street memorials for the four who died at the hands of the 2013 Marathon bombers were formally unveiled tonight. Chris photographed them.
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dennis simmonds
according to wikipedia dennis simmonds also gave his life trying to apprehend suspects.
Yes, it is frustrating that
Yes, it is frustrating that Officer Simmonds is not more widely recognized for his heroics and ultimate passing from injuries sustained in the gun battle in Watertown. Just because he didn't die immediately doesn't make it any less tragic or him any less a hero. It bothers me we seem to only recognize the four victims, taking nothing away from them of course.
https://bpdnews.com/news/2018/4/10/bpd-remembers-boston-police-officer-d...
Boston Globe
You'll be happy to know that the Globe mentions Simmonds and the plaque commemorating him in its article today.
Simmonds was given an after-thought brick in the sidewalk
Next to the four light towers. The memorial is a travesty. Rip it down. Try again. They have 8 of those light towers at the two Bolyston sites. Have a tower for EACH person. Melt down the others.
Line of Duty
A cop dying in the line of duty is just as sad but more understandable. You could argue that Collier was killed in the line of duty except that he was ambushed in his car and not actively engaged with the suspects at the time they came upon him.
We have all degree of grey here and I guess they chose to draw the line somewhere.
hang on
not gonna make any friends here but,
Collier got ambushed while sitting in his car.
He's a VICTIM.
A lot gets lost in our 24/7 constant state of fear but we gotta be careful,
Simply wearing a badge does not a hero make.
just wow,...
In case you forget, our entire city was on alert in the wake of the bombings. As such, every man and women in uniform was also on alert, ready to to take action to protect others or to prevent another tragedy. In this case, yes "simply wearing a badge" (as you put it) does make Collier a HERO.
You should be ashamed of yourself. But the fact that you took time to pen that comment leads to be believe you're just a biased troll, anti-police zero.
tongue meet boot
By that metric the meter maids were heroes that day too. And Brinks truck drivers, and Target security guards, for that matter.
If everyones a hero, you can never tell who the bad guys are.
more nonsense...sad
"Target Security Guards"?...
I hope (for you) that you're just a super troll, because you make zero sense - sad.
You don't like Police, we get it. Move along now, back to Mom's basement.
FIVE people died at the hands
FIVE people died at the hands of the marathon bombers.
The memorial includes stones for the three people who died in the bombing - Martin Richard, Lingzi Lu, and Krystle Campbell, as well as plaques for both Sean Collier and Officer Dennis Simmonds who died after the actual bombing.
Move the Collier Spire to MIT. Have a Simmonds Spire in W-Town
Rearrange the three spires at the bombing site. Right now the memorial is a hodge-podge of different levels of symbolism. Collier will have a fitting memorial at MIT. The high profile corner at Mt Auburn and Franklin St in Watertown will host the Simmonds spire. Nobody is forgotten. No incident is forgotten. Everyone is honored appropriately
anyone else think...
last nights news segments on this were more than a little weird?
the memorial is nice but they showed tourists taking pictures with it like it was the Bobby Orr statue
"Look maw, get a pictute of me leaning over and pointing to where that kid died."
it felt really, really gross, tbh.
The whole commercialization
felt gross from day 1.
Get yoah Boston Strong T-shirts heah!!
Officer Dennis Simmonds
FIVE.
Officer Dennis Simmonds makes FIVE. He gave the ultimate sacrifice and his repeated refusal to be recognized as such by multiple sources is sickening. His family, like the other four families, is still grieving his loss.
There are two bronzed bricks placed at this memorial, one for Officer Collier, the other for Officer Simmonds. Please adjust your post to honor his life and memory.
Rest in Power, DJ.
Ongoing Maintenance
Does anyone know how this art installation is going to be maintained (cleaning, repairs, when one of the lights blow out, that sort of thing). Who will maintain the structure? The city?
Nothing worse that having these things put in and forgotten and then over the years they become eye sores.
The entire installation cost $2 million dollars so it would be nice to think that there is a plan to maintain it.
No reason to think the worst
It’s on city property, so I’d imagine the city will keep it up, as they do with most of Boston’s other statuary.
I can appreciate your concern, but with respect, such fatalism seems a bit misplaced, as folks around here (ie New England) seem to be pretty dialed in on maintaining and respecting memorium, sometimes to a fault.
There typically is
It's called public art. They don't just stick it there and leave it.
Google would probably answer your questions better and faster than uhub.
Clearing up confusion at the memorial site
Full disclosure I've yet to see the memorial as it is installed
There is some confusion because of the bipartite nature of the memorial -- it actually has two similar sites each of which features:
Cherry Trees, sculptural light poles, brick and stone pavement and the Granite Stone Pillars set on a low bronze podium.
First as for the light poles -- some think that they represent 4 victims -- not the case -- just the need for adequate lighting -- and there are actually 8.
Similarly the cherry trees don't memorialize the victims they are there to bloom about the time of the Marathon in perpetuum -- sort of like an eternal flame
Each of the victims who were murdered on the sidewalk along the Marathon Course are represented by the Standing Granite Pillars which are placed very close to where each of the pressure cooker bombs had been placed and where each of the victims were murdered.
Two of the Granite Stones are fused together to memorialize 8 year old Martin Richard [from Franklin Park near his family's Dorchester home] and 23-year-old Boston University graduate student Lingzi Lu [Donated by BU from the BU Bridge]. They rest on a low bronze podium with an inscription
and near and surrounding the stones are the cherry trees and four light poles.
At the site of the other bomb -- there is a single Granite Stone from Spectacle Island in Boston Harbor for 29 year old Medford native Krystle Campbell [who worked on Spactacle Island] on a similar bronze podium with an inscription
. As in the other site there are cherry trees and 4 light poles.
Both sites also have brick and stone paving with designs in place of the standard sidewalk and the actual edge of Boylston St has been altered by introducing a curving curb thereby bulging the sidewalk into the street.
Finally the two police officers Massachusetts Institute of Technology Officer Sean Collier and Boston police Officer Dennis Simmonds are memorialized by Bronze Bricks with their respective badges located at each of the sites
5 people versus millions
Ironic that this easily blew past permitting and whatever organizations wanted to have a say (at a cost of $2 million) and yet the idea of a permanent installation memorializing the horror of slavery was torn apart via politics.
Perhaps in Boston the history of Black people is just not important enough.
Ask the local chapter of the
Ask the local chapter of the NAACP about that.
Not Ironic & not in the same league
There is no irony at all -- its just a ignorant attempt to co-opt something for a political point
Its actually quite an insult to the people who were victims of the bombing to make your statement -- those who:
And of course the actual people killed by the fiendish brothers and their infernal scheme to try to destroy a celebration of all things that say the best about humanity -- but ultimately failed because of the best of humanity
Finally to put your comment in its proper perspective --- the relevant comparison to a "Slavery Memorial" are other the memorials in Boston to events relevant to Boston but not of Boston such as: the Irish Famine, Hungarian Freedom Fighters, Armenian Genocide, etc.
and of course the Holocaust Memorial
While we're on the subject of memorials
how about placing a proper memorial to the victims of the Cocanut Grove tragedy. A small plate embedded in a sidewalk is hardly a fitting tribute to the memory of the 480 who perished in the fire.