Southwest Brooklyn to mark grim Sept. 11 anniversary

Sen. Golden to lead 2 events on Sunday

September 8, 2016 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Parishioners at Saint Ephrem Catholic Church in Dyker Heights commissioned this statue of Jesus Christ lovingly holding the Twin Towers and had it erected in a garden outside the church as a tribute to the parishioners killed on Sept. 11. Eagle photo by Paula Katinas

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Residents of Southwest Brooklyn will gather together to mark the sad anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in two ceremonies to be hosted by state Sen. Marty Golden on Sunday.

Sunday is the 15th anniversary of the attack on America that killed nearly 3,000 people in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Golden (R-C-Bay Ridge-Southwest Brooklyn) said ceremonies will take place in Marine Park and in Bay Ridge. The Marine Park ceremony will be held at 3000 Fillmore Ave. next to the flagpole at 6 p.m. At 7 p.m., Golden will host a candlelight vigil on the American Veterans’ Memorial Pier on Bay Ridge Avenue and Shore Road.

In the minds of many Southwest Brooklyn residents, the pier is inevitably linked with Sept. 11. The dock, which juts out onto New York Harbor, offers an unencumbered view of the skyline of Lower Manhattan. On Sept. 11, 2001, hundreds of people flocked to the pier to see the horrific scene unfolding across the harbor.

“We stand here with pain in our hearts, tears in our eyes and images burned into our memories,” Golden told the crowd at a Sept. 11 ceremony on the pier last year.

Both the Marine Park and Bay Ridge commemorations will feature prayers and music. Representatives from the military and local religious leaders will be among the participants.

The Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights portion of Golden’s senate district suffered numerous casualties in the Sept. 11 attack with more than two dozen deaths. The two communities lost cops, firefighters and financial sector employees who worked in the World Trade Center.

In the years after Sept. 11, New York City officially renamed many local streets in memory of victims such as Terence Gazzani, Robert Tipaldi, Jude Safi, Richard Caggiano, Maria LaVache, Firefighter James Riches, firefighter Dennis O’Berg and police Officer Moira Smith.