A memorial or tribute to the 2016 Pulse night club shooting, one of the gravest acts in Central Florida history, is appropriate and should be built.
Just not at Brownie Wise Park, which residents and nature enthusiasts adamantly say was set aside for conservation and animal habitats.
That was their message at Monday’s Osceola County Commission comment meeting, held the second week of every month for the public to air views on topics not on regular meeting agendas. The public has spoken at that venue in prior months, but Monday’s gathering was the largest and most spirited show of opposition.
Some 20 residents, include one wildlife biologist, spoke against the tribute Monday—nobody spoke in favor of it. While said a tribute had a place, just not at Brownie Wise Park.
“It was reserved for wildlife, and we were promised that,” said Alan Summerton, who referred to the county’s purchase of the land, and noted the 49-foot illuminated structure is not compatible for the planned use of the park.
“Has a traffic study been done on Aultman Road?” asked Charles Owen, a former county commissioner. “It’s a narrow, dark road that wouldn’t be able to handle added traffic. Is there a budget yet? Have there been environmental impact studies? Has there been a formal vote? And is there a funding source?”
Owen asked for the answers to those questions to, at the least, be published online.
Pam Whitmore said at Monday’s meeting she lives adjacent to the park and doesn’t understand memorializing an Orange County event in Osceola.
“And why at a passive park?” she asked. “If taxpayer money will be used, it seems like a waste and an abuse of those funds.”
Traffic and cost was just one concern; many spoke, or showed videos, regarding how a lit structure at night would disturb birds and animals that live on the adjacent Lake Toho lakefront.
Anna Muse read a statement from Christine Leinonen, whose son Christopher who was one of the 49 people killed at the Pulse Nightclub shooting.
“I believe the memorial design is very beautiful, and the artist is extremely talented, and we would be proud to see his work somewhere else,” the statement said. “The priority is and always should be the native wildlife. As a mother I would be mortified if my son’s death contributed to causing unnecessary deaths or injury ... I would suggest you nix the memorial altogether, wait until you can develop another memorial plan, move this to an appropriate place that would work well with the environment, or make a scaled-down version of this that isn’t a detriment to the wildlife but is designed as an asset to the native wildlife.”
Wildlife biologist Mary Marine told commissioners that birds caught in the vertical tribute lights at the annual Sept. 11 tribute in lower Manhattan die by the thousands due to disorientation, and that would happen to a lesser extent at Brownie Wise.
“The reason they are doing this is to honor life. There are other ways to do it that aren’t so inappropriate,” she said. “For that reason, to the extent of 49 feet with light beams shooting into the air— look at the data from the 9/11 memorial—we know this does not honor life and the victims’ families with dignity.”
She went on to say that there are federal laws that certain environmental studies must be done before breaking ground.
“They are breaking the law until they do that,” she said. They (the county) have not made them public.”
Others offered up a smaller idea, such as memorial benches surrounded by brick pavers inscribed with the victims’ names.
The four commissioners present did not stay to comment on the opposition when public comment ended, and the county’s public information team said there was no comment from the county following the meeting. They asked for requests be emailed; the News-Gazette sent such a request Tuesday for any type of budget or cost analysis of the projects, if a planned October groundbreaking is still on schedule and for any County comment regarding the opposition. No county spokesperson replied to the request as of Wednesday.
In June, around the time of the sixth anniversary of the Pulse shooting, the county postponed the groundbreaking to October, during LGBTQ+ History Month, “Where we look forward to welcoming the victims’ families and survivors along the shore of Lake Toho to celebrate our community-led efforts coming into view,” a release from the county stated.
In June 2024 the county held a gathering to unveil the artist Jefrë-designed “Wings of the Rainbow” piece. At the time, county leaders said a third of the 49 victims had a connection to Osceola County—they lived here, they worked here, or their families do. Leaders quoted a price of $250,000 and noted that plans for an Orlando memorial were slow-moving and inconsistent in the eight years since the shooting. At the time it was said to be funded by yet-uncommitted county American Rescue Plan Act funds, but public and private donations and reduced figure from ARPA have been noted since.
A change.org petition asking the county to relocate the tribute had garnered over 550 online signatures by noon Tuesday.
