Man Sets Fire to 911 Memorial in New York City: Reveals Lax Security and the Fate of 911 Victim’s Bodies Stored in Temporary Tent

New York City Fiasco: Eight Years and Counting, 911 Victims Still Stored in Temporary Tent Next to Morgue

According to the New York Post, a Harvard Law grad, Brian Schroeder, 26, originally from Texas, allegedly set fire to the 911 makeshift memorial where the victim’s remains are stored. While none of the remains were damaged, many of the mementos left by friends and family were destroyed. Schroeder gave himself up by walking into the 13th Precinct Police Headquarters.

According to ABC News, due to the fire, “little remains inside the chapel”, while authorities were “unsure” whether some of the mementos had been stolen, or, lost to the fire.

From ABC:

The smoldering flames in a section of the facility’s chapel on Manhattan’s East Side were quickly extinguished.

Firefighters got a call at about 9 a.m. to respond to Memorial Park, a weatherproof tent on Manhattan’s East Side where the city is storing the remains of 9/11 victims who have yet to be identified.

The fire damaged a wooden bench, while mementos — pictures, notes, flowers — honoring the dead disappeared.

“Anyone who would set fire to the inviolable Memorial Park chapel is craven and contemptible,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.

Even so, the fire revealed the status of the the remains of the victims eight years after the single most devastating attack upon American soil, and the “Memorial” built by the city, a weatherproof tent next to the Coroner’s office.

For those who believe the government will “fix” the problem of “healthcare”, this is a cautionary tale as the next step planned for the 911 Memorial is due to open in two years, a Memorial “Preview” site, set to open ten years after 911:

From Huffington Post:

Tourists coming to ground zero to see the Sept. 11 memorial often peer through a fenced-off construction site for a glimpse and ask street vendors when it will be built.

It will be at least two years before the memorial to the 2001 terrorist attacks opens to the public. But in an old camera shop northeast of the World Trade Center site, visitors will be able to watch live video of the construction, record their 9/11 memories and even leave with a souvenir.

[Tent where 9-11 victims' remains are/were stored.]

The foundation that will run the finished memorial and museum built the 9/11 Memorial Preview Site, hoping to attract the hundreds of thousands of tourists a year who come to ground zero looking for a 9/11 story and finding a giant construction site.

If you believe “cost” was a factor, think again, as the New York Daily News reported that, as of last year, the cost to build a memorial and museum is expected to “soar past $1 billion with many of the relatives of the victims wondering if they’ll live to see the finished product. According to the Daily News, millions have already been raised and spent on “planning” the memorial. Meanwhile, the victims of the 911 attacks were relegated to a temporary makeshift tent where family members and friends could visit to pay their respects. Even so, this whole fiasco, in this case the word fiasco fits, underscores what occurs when government entities are involved in decisions on what’s “best” for the public. It’s evident to no one had the foresight to take some of the millions spent on “planning” and use it to find a more suitable building for the temporary memorial. Instead, the “bright idea” that a tent would suffice. A tent which housed the remains of the victims of 911, which are still there 8 years and counting after 911. Shame on New York City. You should have, and could have, done more.

By LBG

Image - 911

UPDATE @ 2159 110109: h/t Redstateconfidential @ Free Republic:
From reports:
“I just heard about this and it’s hard to grasp. Clearly my prayers are with [Brian],” said a relative of the suspect. “With all my experiences with [him], he didn’t have any radical agenda. Nothing but a good person.”

No radical agenda?

Then I suppose this is a different Brian Schroeder then:
Harvard Law School has created a task force to recommend methods of ameliorating the effects of on-campus military recruitment on the school’s gay and lesbian population, leaders of a student group said yesterday.
…
The committee is currently comprised of six students, though Paik said that the group is soliciting input from faculty as well. The members include first-year students Alexis I. Caloza ’04, Brian A. Schroeder, and Rosen; second-year student Elizabeth I. Tossell; and third-year students Paik and Peter C. Renn.

Because the Left usually acts like this, it’s hard to distinguish when they’re acting on a drunken dare.
MORE: Speaking of Moonbat Arsonists: Harvard law grad torches 9/11 chapel – turns self in.
~ Mondo