‘People Are Traveling From All Over the Country, Really All Over the World’
Orlando city officials are in discussions with the owners of Pulse nightclub to potentially turn the scene of the nation’s deadliest hate crime, deadliest mass shooting in modern history, and deadliest terror attack since 9/11 into a permanent memorial.
Now that the investigation has concluded, police have turned over control of Pulse to Barbara Poma, one of the owners. A large chain link fence erected around the building has turned into a spontaneous memorial for the victims, as people come from around the world to pay their respects. Inside the perimeter Pulse sits empty, its future uncertain.
Poma had intended to repair the damage and reopen the club, but the site has since turned into what Poma describes as a “sacred place.”
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has discussed the possibility of converting the club into a memorial with Pulse owners. “I think we need to determine some period of time that we leave it exactly as is with some adequate fencing because there will be people in the next, I don’t know what that period is but let’s say it’s year, that want to travel here to see it as it exists without making modifications to it,” Dyer told WMFE radio. “There’s some time frame I think that we need to keep it in tact as is, and then after that transition to what the permanent memorial will be.”
Talks are preliminary, but Dyer sounded committed to the memorial. “At some point the city needs to gain control, purchase the Pulse site, and make some determination with a lot of input on what a permanent memorial might look like,” he said.
Interest from the public remains high as people continue to flock to the site. “People are traveling from all over the country, really all over the world. I’ve been, quite honestly, a little surprised at the volume of visitors that we have had,” he continued. “I think there are a lot of people that want to pay tribute.”
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Image by Walter via Flickr and a CC license