Councilman Gets Support for 9/11 Memorial at Town Square

A Murrieta city councilman’s efforts to bring a 9/11 memorial statue to Murrieta’s Town Square Park have garnered the necessary approval.

Councilman Alan Long began broaching the subject shortly after he was elected in 2010. Then on July 16, Long gained consensus from Mayor Rick Gibbs and Councilman Harry Ramos to form a committee that would eventually evolve into a nonprofit foundation for the purpose of funding the project.

“This is a great cause,” Long told Patch in a phone interview Saturday. “It would be something to honor those who lost their lives and also just a remembrance as a community to remember that event on our soil that hasn’t happened before.”

More than 3,000 people—400 of those firefighters or police—perished during the attacks.

Employees of the Murrieta police and fire departments have been doing a 9/11 anniversary run that originated when Murrieta police Sgt. Daryl Underwood started a 10-mile run of his own shortly after Sept. 11, 2001. Each year, they meet at Town Square Park near the Veterans Memorial and run to Calle del Oso Oro and back.

“This year, I said ‘We need to do something more,’” said Long, who works as a battalion chief for the Anaheim Fire Department.

City staff are currently planning the city’s first 9/11 remembrance event for September, which Long hopes will in turn encourage residents to support a permanent memorial.

Long will be a part of the committee that will raise funds for and design it, and said he hopes the police and fire departments will also supply interested representatives. Those in the community who would like to be involved may call Assistant City Manager Jim Holston’s office at 951-461-6116, Long said.

The memorial, which Long envisions as a statue or similar permanent fixture, would be erected to the right of the Veterans Memorial, he said. A separate foundation is working on completing that project, and the 9/11 memorial committee would function in much the same way.

“Right after 9/11 there was this sense of patriotic camaraderie and I think having something at Town Square Park would help people remember,” Long said.