The Crescent City Council voted unanimously to temporally re-erect the Tsunami Memorial Fountain at the Mason Mall prior to the 60th anniversary of the fountain dedication, March 28, 2024. Councilors are investigating relocating the Fountain to Beachfront Park. Here’s the background of the Memorial fountain:The Tsunami Memorial Fountain and bronze monument was commissioned by the city in 1965, in memory of the 11 lives lost during the 1964 tsunami. Memorial design artist Bruno Groth passed away in 1992. Originally, water jets sprayed from the bronze monument and lights from the pool illuminated the display at night.#placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');The water was allowed to cascade over the basin ring into a perimeter drain around the exterior of the basin. In the 70s, a permanent trench was removed so the water was recirculated solely within the pond. The memorial remembers the 11 people who died during the 1964 tsunami. Contributed photo Prior to 2006, most likely due to age and maintenance issues, the perimeter drainage trench was removed and filled in with concrete and the fountain heads were capped. Public works repaired the plumbing and the structure functioned as a fountain for the next decade.On July 29, 2019, the monument structure was severely compromised due to vandalism.The monument was removed for safety reasons and stored at the city’s corporation yard. Since that time, councilors directed staff to perform an engineering design to reinstall the fountain and allocated $1,800 for the redesign of the monument’s foundations.At the recent City Council meeting, councilors discussed several fountain options totaling as much as $48,000 above the previously allocated $5,000 to re-erect the monument before the anniversary of its dedication early next year.During the discussion on how to proceed, the council learned grant funding may be available to permanently move the fountain to an as of yet, undetermined location at Beachfront Park. The city was immediately directed to explore possible funding assistance to repair and improve plumbing, electrical, concrete capping, tile veneer work and establish a maintenance contingency fund.For the time being, councilors voted to use the $5,000 allocated, in its 23/24 fiscal budget to re-weld the bronze monument to its foundation.This story is evolving and will be followed up prior to the March 2024 budget. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });