Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer (L) and City Commissioner Bakari F. Burns speak to the press at City Hall to provide updates on the Pulse Memorial April 9. (Photo by Jeremy Williams)
ORLANDO | Mayor Buddy Dyer announced April 9 that the City of Orlando will take a collaborative approach to the development of the Pulse Memorial to ensure it honors the victims, survivors and all those impacted.
The city has engaged Dr. Larry Schooler to implement an inclusive and efficient process for engaging and communicating with the families, survivors and community, according to a press release.
“Dr. Schooler will serve as a mutual party to gather feedback from the most important stakeholders,” Dyer said at a press conference at City Hall April 9. “We think that is important because the memorial shouldn’t be what I want it to be, what commissioners what it to be, it should be and will be what the families and survivors want it to be.”
Dyer said it is necessary to have a permanent memorial, not just for the families but for the entire community of Orlando.
Schooler has served as the lead facilitator on projects similar to Orlando’s Pulse Memorial effort, including the Virginia Beach 5-31 Memorial Committee and the San Leandro Steven Taylor Sanctity of Life Pavilion project.
To ensure the development process is culturally competent and serves the needs of the stakeholders, Schooler will provide a team that includes fluent Spanish speakers.
“The only people who will guide the future of this memorial are those impacted by the tragedy both in Orlando and in the community of survivors and victims’ families,” Schooler said via a video connection at the press conference. “I’m here to assist with that effort.”
Work is estimated to take place over several phases with interviews and outreach to help shape the recommendations for the development process. Input from this engagement will also inform a process for creating a working Memorial Advisory Committee with members representing the victims’ families, survivors and other stakeholders.
“I am with you here today because I firmly believe that is both possible and probable with our shared effort,” Schooler said.
Schooler said this whole process is based on trust, trust he will earn from the families, survivors and stakeholders through deeds. He says the trust-building will start now.
Throughout the process, Schooler’s team will provide liaison services between survivors and victims’ families to ensure transparency. There will be multiple opportunities for input from the families, survivors and general public before and during the development process.
Dyer said he envisions that the memorial will be partially publicly funded and partially privately funded as the city wants to leave all options for funding open.
The process continues to advise the city’s goals of moving towards the selection of a conceptual design by the end of the year, according to a press release.
Dyer was asked when the memorial will be open for the public, and he said he is not running for reelection and he would like to be the one to cut the ribbon at the permanent memorial. Dyer was reelected to his sixth full term last year, which runs to 2027.
“I want to make it very clear today that we are solely focused on developing a permanent memorial and not a museum,” Dyer said. “We know a memorial won’t heal the pain of the tragedy, but we hope that the thoughts and suggestions from the families and survivors will help us.”
Victims’ families and survivors can visit PulseOrlando.org/InterestForm to indicate their interest in providing input throughout this process.
