9/11 Memorial Steel to Be Signed at Giants Stadium

[Maxman]

9/11 Memorial Steel to Be Signed at Giants Stadium

NEW YORK (AP) -- Steel bound for the Sept. 11 memorial is going on tour at Giants Stadium.

Giants and Jets fans will be able to sign two 37-foot beams being used to build the memorial to the 2001 terrorist attacks before their teams' home openers, while New Yorkers will be able to sign the beams at a spot near ground zero on Sept. 10 and Sept. 11, the foundation building the memorial said Tuesday.

The National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum collected Americans' signatures on pieces of Sept. 11 memorial steel during a 25-city tour to raise money for the memorial. Two new beams, weighing nearly 4 tons each, will collect New Yorkers' signatures. The first steel columns raised for the Freedom Tower, the skyscraper replacing the World Trade Center towers, were covered with New Yorkers' signatures.

``Signing the steel beam is a special opportunity for people to contribute to this national tribute and to be a part of history,'' said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, chairman of the memorial foundation.

New York Giants fans will be able to sign steel on Sept. 4, at the stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., through the first quarter of the season opener against the Washington Redskins. The steel will be on display at the stadium for the Jets' home opener Sept. 14 against the New England Patriots.

On Sept. 10 and the seventh anniversary of the attacks, New Yorkers will be able to write messages in Battery Park in lower Manhattan.

The foundation also announced a Sept. 9, $1,000-a-plate benefit in downtown Manhattan to raise money for the memorial, featuring actor Denis Leary, rocker John Mellencamp and pianist Lola Astanova.

Leary, who cocreated and stars in ``Rescue Me,'' an F/X television show about New York City firefighters struggling with the aftermath of Sept. 11, is the master of ceremonies for the foundation's first annual benefit.

The foundation raised $350 million to build the twin reflecting pools built over the twin towers' footprints at ground zero. Construction began in 2006, but its opening date is uncertain.