Tears, Cheers Mark OK for Healdsburg 9/11 Monument

After seven years of effort by Ret. Healdsburg Fire Engineer Ben Gilliam, his dream of paying proper tribute to those public safety workers and citizens who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001 finally came true Monday.

"I'm holding back tears," Gilliam said after Healdsburg City Council unanimously approved placement of a 9/11 Memorial at Healdsburg Plaza. "I'm just happy that it's come this far, and we'll be able to recognize these guys."

City Council members, voting in line with a 5-2 positive , said they had no doubts whatsoever that Healdsburg Plaza was the right place for the statue.

Parks and Rec Commissioners had debated whether other sites -- such as , the or the -- would be better than the Plaza because that would reserve the Plaza for strictly local memorials. But project supporters and a majority of city leaders disagreed.

"The Plaza is the right spot," Healdsburg Mayor Gary Plass said. "It's a gathering place; it's the first place that Harmon Heald (founder of Healdsburg) set up in this town."

Healdsburg Vice Mayor Susan Jones echoed that sentiment, adding that she "couldn't talk more because I would get too emotional."

An audience of about 25 supporters cheered after the vote.

"This is extremely important to me," audience member Mike Jacobs. a Healdsburg volunteer firefighter, told City Council during the public comment period. "Before 9/11 happened, I was kind of like the wayward son in my life.

"The day after it happened, I went and signed up as a Windsor volunteer firefighter and stayed there for 10 years, and now Healdsburg," Jacobs said.

Gilliam, who now works for Sonoma County Fire Department, said he was similarly impacted.

"I was ready to board an airplane for New York City the day it happened, but my chief turned me down," he said.

He tried for seven years to get the New York Fire Department to send him a piece of the Twin Towers for a memorial, but got no response, even after sending three letters.

It was only after he met a friend of the New York Fire Commissioner at a 10th anniversary observance last September that the wheels started to turn. A few months later, after Gilliam and two other Healdsburg locals  -- including North Sonoma County Supervisor Mike McGuire -- sent a trio of letters, a package arrived for Gilliam with a piece of an I-beam from one of the ruined World Trade Center buildings.

After that, momentum took over.

Students from a class took the I-beam and designed a memorial around it.

Former Healdsburg resident Fred Velluntini agreed to donate about $10,000 worth of construction and installation costs.

Velluntini, who now lives in Santa Cruz, lost a grandchild in 9/11, said Healdsburg resident Bob Santucci, a friend of the Velluntini family. The family also contributed a statue of a young Boy Scout carrying a folded flag at the Plaza paying tribute to the local veterans.

"They are big supporters of the Boy Scouts," Santucci said. "They continue to think of Healdsburg as their home."

Healdsburg City Councilman Tom Chambers said the project reflects the character of a whole city.

"This is what makes Healdsburg all so special," he said.

Supporters said they hope to have the memorial installed by Sept. 11 of this year.