In the glow of a Monday sunrise, workers packed and removed several large boxes containing objects from inside the Pulse Nightclub.
It was the beginning of a promise to build a new memorial honoring the victims killed at Pulse almost 10 years ago.
“The work scheduled for Monday represents an important step forward in the city’s ongoing commitment to the Pulse Memorial,” said Ashley Papagni, an Orlando spokesperson. “This activity is part of the necessary preparation for future site clearing and construction planned for next year and is being carried out thoughtfully and respectfully.”
Workers were tasked with removing 16 named objects, including a bar top, wall art, and chandeliers.
On a dark, early morning in June 2016, a gunman killed 49 people and injured 53 others who were enjoying Latin night at Pulse, a dance club that welcomed the LGBTQ+ community.
Since earlier this year, Gomez Construction has been working from conceptual designs developed by an advisory committee in coordination with survivors and family members of the 49. The design process is still ongoing.
The objects taken Monday will be placed in climate-controlled storage. They could be used for the future memorial.
Those items include:
- Two chandeliers
- Signage and posters
- An ornamental framed mirror
- The bar top
- Track lighting, including track
- A cash register
- The primary section of the breach wall
- A portion of the sunburst wall inside the club
- A portion of the “Glitter” wall inside the club
- As much of the wood floor as possible
- The rectangular ceiling pendant lights
- An iPad
- The numbers on the outside of the building
- Tiles from the outside patio bar
Maryjane East, 26, of Longwood, was outside the club as crews worked. She visits the club frequently to honor the lives of those lost and hopes a new memorial will keep their names alive in the collective memory of the community.
“The people, we need to know the people we lost that day. They didn't all know each other, and we don't know how (some of them) knew each other, but they became a community that we lost all at once, and they will always be united by this,” she said.
Earlier this year, the road adjacent to the Pulse site was a source of controversy when the Florida Department of Transportation removed a rainbow-colored crosswalk. It had been painted on West Esther Street at South Orange Avenue in honor of the LGBTQ+ community members who were killed.
The erasure kicked off a repeating cycle of protesters coloring the crosswalk with chalk and the state washing it away. In August, East was one of three protestors who were arrested under suspicion of criminal mischief, court records show.
They were charged with interference with a traffic device at the cost of $1,000 or more - a felony - after allegedly coloring in the contentious crosswalk and writing the words “Right to free speech” into the blackened spaces.
The next day, they were freed by a judge with no pending charges.
Removing the colored crosswalk was an affront to the memory of the victims, East said. She keeps coming back to the Pulse site to keep their memory alive.
In the spring, the city will begin demolishing the nightclub building. Construction of the memorial is scheduled to start next fall.
After the artifacts have been removed, workers will take down the large “Pulse” sign that towers over passing traffic on Orange Avenue. Then the plan is to begin clearing the site.
