A community meeting took place Monday evening, to talk about how to remember the death of Trayvon Martin in a respectful way. His memorial was taken down three weeks ago. Items like teddy bears and pictures were boxed up by the city and are being stored at the Sanford Museum. While some say, it's about time the memorial was cleaned up, others call it an insult.
"After Trayvon Martin was killed there were memorials put at the gate, they were there for several months and at my direction they were removed." City Manager Norton Bonaparte explained to residents, why he took down a memorial forTrayvon Martin outside The Retreat at Twin Lakes,"We were getting complaints."
"The city has not, as of today, answered any questions to my satisfaction." But Seminole County NAACP President Turner Clayton wants the memorial put back up,"We know there's a certain group in Sanford that don't want that memorial up because they lost their Chief here in the City of Sanford."
However, some in the crowd said, memorials shouldn't be place in an area where people don't want them, "I don't disagree that there needs to be a memorial. I try to understand for the people who live there, would I want to look at that everyday?" Another woman said, "I do believe after a certain time they need to come down. They need to go away. The stuff out there, they get rained on."
But Carolyn Sullivan says, she has been taking care of the memorial and plans to put more items up outside the subdivision. She has bigger plans to honor Trayvon Martin in another area, "Forget the memorial, we want a statute and we want it to say do not profile."
While some suggested one memorial to honor all those who have been killed, not everyone agreed, saying Trayvon Martin has made a difference in their lives, "I think it's important that Trayvon be singled out for a memorial, that doesn't mean there can't be another memorial for other victims of violence in this community." However Clayton says, "We want the memorial back up and in the near future we gonna do something else. But it should not be taken down and packed away."
The City Manger plans to look at guidelines in other cities regarding roadside memorials and will then make a recommendation to the council.
