Brooklyn Bridge Park wants help naming a new meadow located near Pier 6. Although park officials are suggesting it be deemed after a bird or flower, there’s a bid for it to be named “The Christopher Hondros Memorial Meadow,” in memory of the fallen war photographer and former DUMBO resident.
The idea was first raised by Patrick Whalen, photo editor at the Wall Street Journal, who was struck after seeing an announcement that the park was holding a naming contest for its new lawn. “It hit me like a bolt of lightning,” Whalen tells DNAInfo.com. “I knew this would be the perfect way to pay tribute to Chris and remember the true friend he was to so many of us in the photojournalism community who reside in Brooklyn, and it would also be a nice way of having his name permanently tied to a city he truly loved.”
Adds Stephanie Gaskell, a journalist and friend of Hondros, “Chris was constantly traveling to some of the most remote and dangerous places in the world, but he always loved coming home to Brooklyn. I know he would find this a fitting tribute—a place where those who loved him can celebrate his life (and) take in the amazing views of the city he loved and embodied.”
Hondros was killed in a grenade blast while on assignment in Libya in April 2011, alongside friend and fellow photographer Tim Hetherington.
Whalen and Hondros’ allies ones are asking anyone moved by the idea to write to BBP at info@brooklynbridgepark.org by March 20, 2013. The winner will be announced on April 1.
