The City of Orlando purchased the former Pulse Nightclub property from its former owners back in October 2023 for $2 million and has slowly been gathering itself to tackle what to do next to honor the victims of the nightclub shooting and move the long-delayed project forward with some (overdue) grace and dignity.
The City of Orlando announced yesterday that it had engaged the services of former journalist-turned-consultant, Dr. Larry Schooler as a lead facilitator for its Pulse memorial project, by engaging and communicating with the families and survivors of the tragedy. Dr. Schooler comes to the project after serving on similar initiatives like the Virginia Beach 5-31 Memorial Committee, and the San Leandro Steven Taylor Sanctity of Life Pavilion project.
According to the city’s press release, work is estimated to take place over several phases and will involve interviews and outreach with key stakeholders and small focus group discussions, to help inform and shape recommendations for the development of the public and stakeholder engagement process for the memorial. Victims’ families and survivors can visit pulseorlando.org/interestform to indicate their interest in providing input throughout this process.
Input from this outreach and engagement will also inform a process for creating a working Memorial Advisory Committee with members representing the victims’ families, survivors and other stakeholders.
The annual Pulse Remembrance Ceremony will take place at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, June 12, with doors opening at 6 p.m. The ceremony will be preceded by the ringing of the 49 bells at 4 p.m. at the adjacent First United Methodist Church.
