This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@juno.com. Unity Tested Over Memorial to a Crash in Queens December 25, 2002 By SARAH KERSHAW The deaths of 265 people in the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in Belle Harbor, Queens, last year seemed, during the freshest days and months of mourning, to sew two disparate groups of people together. There were the relatives of the majority of the victims, Dominican immigrants from Washington Heights in Manhattan, whose fathers, mothers, sisters, cousins and children died in a nightmarish instant. Then there were the residents of Belle Harbor, a generally insular, largely Irish-American beachfront enclave of firefighters, police officers and teachers on the Rockaway Peninsula. Things were smooth for a while, perhaps in the strained way that shared sorrow requires. The local Catholic Church flew a Dominican flag, public proclamations about togetherness were made over dinners, and people from both neighborhoods exchanged tissues and embraces last month at the memorial service marking the first anniversary of the crash. But now, as talk turns toward how to publicly remember the victims, a debate is brewing over whether a memorial should be built at the crash scene - Beach 131st Street and Newport Avenue - where five homes were demolished, and where some broken families are planning to rebuild. And a division that some say was only masked by mutual grief has sharpened. Flight 587, an Airbus A-300 bound for Santo Domingo, crashed on Nov. 12, 2001, minutes after takeoff from Kennedy International Airport. Many Belle Harbor residents, including those whose relatives died, say they do not want a memorial at the crash site. "I don't want to see it as a cemeterylike atmosphere," said Gerrie Pomponio, whose husband died when parts of the plane crashed into her house on Beach 131st Street. She is planning to build there again. "It's not where death is," she said, "it's where life is." She added: "It's not the place to put a grave site. It would just encourage people to come and to view, and how could you live like that? How do you go on with your life?" Discussions about an appropriate memorial have only just started - one meeting, organized by the Rockaway Chamber of Commerce, was held two weeks ago with the various groups involved. But many relatives of the victims say they already feel strongly that a memorial to their fallen family members should be erected at the place of death. Many have frequently visited the site, where a wooden wall in front of one of the damaged homes has served as a makeshift memorial since the crash site was cleared of emergency workers. They have left flowers and wreaths, photographs and written messages in Spanish, stuffed animals, even a tiny Nike sneaker for an infant who died on the plane. After the holidays, a group of victims' relatives plan to officially request that the city purchase a plot of land at the crash site for a memorial, said Moises Perez, executive director of Alianza Dominicana, a Washington Heights advocacy and services group that has been deeply involved with the families affected by the crash. The group held a meeting of the relatives several weeks ago, where the request was discussed. "They speak of it as a ground zero," Mr. Perez said. "While a memorial here or there would be nice," he said, "there is a ritual attachment to the place where somebody's body actually separates from their soul." He added, "It's pretty unanimous, and the families want something very special there." Many Dominican relatives of the crash victims have frequently - as often as monthly - visited the site and the makeshift memorial. "That's where it happened," said Benjamin Acosta, whose mother, Magnolia Peņa-Nadir, died on the flight. "I understand the people - maybe the real estate people and the people building houses there - don't want to relive the crisis, but that's where it happened. It's grieving ground. It's a place of memory." But what is making the memorial question in Belle Harbor perhaps touchier than those surrounding the memorial to the World Trade Center attack is that this tragedy occurred on private property. The local Rockaway newspaper, The Wave, has published editorials saying that a memorial should not be placed at the scene of the crash, but perhaps somewhere nearby, on Jamaica Bay, near the ocean, or in the commercial hub of the area, Beach 116th Street. Also yet to be decided is what form a memorial might take - a wall, a plaque, a statue, or something altogether different. The managing editor, Howard Schwach, said the situation - which may or may not develop into a full-blown controversy - was delicate. "The people in Belle Harbor are aware that they are going to come off as racist," he said. "It's a very tricky situation. Because race plays a part and ethnicity plays a part and property rights play a part." He said that while the two neighborhoods, Washington Heights and Belle Harbor, had bonded for a time, "I don't think it was ever true that the communities came together in a genuine sense. They came together in the sense that the Rockaway community welcomed them to this site, but I think the welcome was for a limited time only." http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/25/nyregion/25HARB.html?ex=1041836458&ei=1&en=3bde193ab112981d HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@nytimes.com or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company