Pulse families weigh whether building, police should be part of memorial

ORLANDO, Fla. — Emotions ran high Wednesday evening in the upper floor conference room of Orlando City Hall as family members and survivors of the Pulse Nightclub shooting shared their thoughts about what a permanent memorial should include.

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For many of the speakers, the focus was also about who should be included.

The renewed effort to construct a permanent memorial on the site is happening eight years after the tragedy and months after the nonprofit tasked with leading the effort fell apart amid accusations of financial mismanagement.

Having witnessed survivors lose trust in the foundation’s attempts, the new, city-led task force’s third meeting was to ensure grieving families had a chance to be heard before any design decisions were made.

Read: Public invited to Pulse Memorial Advisory Committee’s 3rd meeting

Families spoke of the need for a private space to grieve away from others. Some asked for a space to be dedicated to music and joy that people sought at Pulse. The need for a Chapel was discussed. Many expected each victim to be honored in a personal way, like the temporary on-site memorial provides.

The discussion centered on two questions posed early by one of the committee members, themselves a survivor: should the Pulse building remain as a permanent part of the memorial or be torn down, and should first responders – namely police – be included at all?

The existence of the nightclub building drew less emotions. Some believe it’s an integral part of telling the story of the massacre while others consider it an ugly scar in their lives that would make it too difficult to visit the memorial.

Read: ‘It could have been so much more’: Pulse Survivor Walk will not happen

One mother asked that the dance floor be kept – or at least the shape of it – since that was what drew everyone to the club on June 12, 2016. Another survivor asked that the hole where police punched through a wall be covered up.

Many of the mothers said the building needed to go – and many survivors said they supported whatever the mothers wanted.

Tempers flared when the second question about police was raised. It took law enforcement three hours to breach the building and confront the shooter as he continued to hunt for victims inside the club that night. The survivors and their families have felt a deep sense of betrayal ever since.

Read: City of Orlando hires third party to lead Pulse Memorial project

While a few people said they believed police and other first responders should have a space on the property, along with the context of the agencies’ failures that night, most were vehemently opposed to their inclusion.

Some offered a compromise.

“We need to understand some people were just following orders. Some have PTSD,” one survivor, who advocated for breaking the memorial space up into different components, said. “This needs to be a separate room because some people aren’t going to want to see that.”

Committee members intend to turn in a conceptual design to the city by the end of the year, where engineers will work on adjusting it to something that can be funded and constructed.

The mayor has offered different timelines for the opening of the permanent memorial, either by the 10-year anniversary or his retirement in early 2028.

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