Karen Heller: Why the rush for a second 9/11 memorial in Phila.?

Say you and a buddy have an idea for a 9/11 memorial to be placed in a city park, perhaps Franklin Square. Though you lack design experience, one of you sketches the concept on a napkin.

What are the chances of the memorial being built?

Turns out pretty high in Philadelphia, if you know the right people.

"Mending Liberty," the creators' name for the memorial, was on a fast track for review and final approval by the city art commission Wednesday before The Inquirer's Stephan Salisbury started asking questions.

The design, a half-size Liberty Bell suspended between a miniature Twin Towers, was withdrawn Tuesday afternoon.

The memorial's directors met Mayor Nutter in January, and subsequently with Everett Gillison, the mayor's chief of staff, with the goal of unveiling the memorial in September. Michael Walton, Nutter's security chief, is listed on the memorial website as a project architectural and design consultant.

But the city already has a 9/11 memorial, quite a handsome one, fashioned from a piece of steel from the World Trade Center, on the banks of the Schuylkill.

Nutter should know, as he officiated at the September dedication.

And this is not a mayor, or an administration, known for fast-tracking much of anything. While Nutter constantly promotes his commitment to transparency, this process was far from open. Why so keen on this memorial? We still don't know.

The project's founders believe there is room for two "totally different concepts. The memorial down at the Schuylkill is not for tourists," said Jeffrey Little, a contractor and former Republican ward leader, who drew the design on a napkin. His father, the late Frank "Duke" Little, was a Traffic Court judge and ward leader.

His fellow memorial director, Steve Saymon, is a retired New Jersey police officer and a Lower Manhattan first responder. He carries in his pocket a two-inch piece of steel from the site and suffers from multiple illnesses due to his rescue work. Saymon collected a section of a World Trade Center beam, a limestone block from the Pentagon, and soil and stones from the Flight 93 crash site near Shanksville, Pa., all of which would be incorporated into Little's design.

The $35,000 memorial would be a gift to the city raised from private funds. Supporters, according to the Phila911.com website, include the city police and fire departments, a strip club, a motorcycle group, and two pubs.

I don't doubt the two friends' sincerity and commitment - Saymon was close to tears talking about his dream - but city officials sure seem to have circumvented the established process in trying to get the memorial built quickly with no artistic or public oversight.

Memorials are not pop-up shops or a moment for amateur endeavors. They are lasting, significant works of art that, when done correctly, enrich the landscape and public experience.

The Mayor's Cultural Advisory Council's public art advisory committee was not pleased. "Given the major civic importance of the event that is to be commemorated, this memorial deserves to be carried out at the highest artistic level and should be on a par with the best of the city's significant collection of monuments and public art," the committee, led by Penny Balkin Bach, responded, in an official statement, to the proposal and vetting process - or noted lack thereof.

The project's directors should work with the public-art office, the committee proposed, to "design a process or competition for the memorial." It also questioned the location of bustling Franklin Square, home to a playground, mini-golf, burger shack, and memorial for fallen police and firefighters.

Gillison told Little that "he would help us in any way and would support us in any way they can." Little and Saymon met with the mayor's chief of staff again Wednesday after the project was withdrawn from consideration. The city's chief cultural officer, Gary Steuer, told Salisbury that the design was being "tweaked" and that "we're confident that when it comes up before the art commission, it will be approved."

The partners continue to fervently believe that Philadelphia has room for two 9/11 memorials. After all, every state has one. Saymon erected one in his home of Brooklawn, Camden County. And he told me he has inquiries to build three more.