{"id":66583,"date":"2025-07-15T04:09:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T04:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/66583\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T04:09:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T04:09:15","slug":"phillys-30th-street-station-memorial-gets-feedback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/66583\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly\u2019s 30th Street Station memorial gets feedback"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

A new statue memorializing former Congressman William H. Gray III will debut next year at 30th Street Station. This week, Philadelphians can offer their input for the five finalists as to how best remember his legacy in public policy and civic engagement.\n<\/p>\n

The station was dedicated to Gray<\/a> after his death by President Barack Obama.\n<\/p>\n

On Monday, designers started a weeklong effort to solicit feedback on the memorial plans, drawing a steady stream of participants, with about 40 showing up within the first hour.\n <\/p>\n

The presentation of the five finalists<\/a> was laid out past the ticket counters, just before the bathrooms. The finalists \u2014 Hank Willis Thomas, Karyn Oliver, Paul Ram\u00edrez Jonas, Nina Cooke John and Nekisha Durrett \u2014 were whittled down from 119 proposals after an open call for submissions earlier this year.\n<\/p>\n

The effort to further memorialize Gray\u2019s legacy is led by the foundation that bears his name.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe foundation and its purpose was established to ensure that Congressman Gray\u2019s story \u2014 his leadership in Congress, his leadership in the pulpit and beyond \u2014 is not only remembered for the enduring values that he stood for, but also to actively carry forward those values,\u201d said the foundation\u2019s Licy Do Canto.
\n\"FiveFive proposals for the memorial on display (Nate Harrington\/WHYY)\n<\/p>\n

Much of Gray\u2019s legacy could be distilled to his dedication for the people, and the memorialization effort has recognized that connection, hosting five events across the city this week to get as much community feedback as possible.\n<\/p>\n

The project has already \u201cenjoyed tremendous support in terms of its fundraising from a number of folks throughout the city,\u201d said Rosalyn McPherson, president and CEO of the ROZ Group, a firm helping with donations and advising the memorial. \u201cBut now we want much wider public engagement.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

No amount of feedback was turned away \u2014 even a vote for a proposal shouted from a line waiting to board a train. A few passerbys did stop to give the artist renderings a closer look, including Cybele Moon, an artist who lives in Germantown.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re really interesting,\u201d she said about the finalists\u2019 proposals. \u201cI like that each one is very different from the other.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Moon said her favorite was \u201cCrystal Stair\u201d by Nekisha Durrett because \u201cthere\u2019s more to it than just a monument.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The statue will not be the only new installation coming to the train station, as interactive portals educating the public about Gray\u2019s life through his speeches and interviews will be added to the station.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole train station is going to be activated as a memorial to the late congressman,\u201d McPherson said.\n<\/p>\n

The event in the train station was just one of five this week. On Tuesday, the proposals will be displayed at the Parkway Central<\/a> location of the Free Library of Philadelphia; on Wednesday, it will be in the Bonnell Building lobby<\/a> at the Community College of Philadelphia; on Thursday, it will be in the African American Museum<\/a>; and on Friday, it will be held at REC Philly<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Final speeches by the artists will be delivered next Tuesday, and the final approved proposal will be selected sometime in the fall.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":66584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[47194,5229,23003,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-66583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-30th-street-station","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-amtrak","11":"tag-pa","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-philadelphia","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114855291358745077","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}