Survivors of a Parkland school shooting say she was betrayed by a change in a memorial garden she helped create three years ago.
Victoria Gonzalez and teacher Outside Marjorie Stomman Douglas High School for the 17 people who were killed in 2018, they created the monument “Project Development Love.”
Gonzalez now says school supplies have been taken a few feet away to pave the way for what authorities call a renovation project.
“I feel like a total betrayer and I have not seen or heard of the compassion they should give,” Gonzalez said.
Manuel Oliver has lost his son Joaquin in a mass shooting and does not want the garden to move.
“You don’t move things in an organic space, you don’t have to move them,” said Oliver.
Joaquin Oliver and Gonzalez were close friends and she started the garden by remembering her. When the flowers are removed, she says, some of the monuments have been back since Wednesday. But, for Gonzalez, the process of how the garden was solved annoyed her.
They had to talk to the Creator of this place so that they could be guided by where he was going.
In a statement, Broward County Public Schools officials said MSD “will continue to be a place where the love of the project will be visited by gardeners and community members and will be remembered on February 14, 2018 for those who lost their lives in the disaster.”
“A beautification project is currently underway,” the statement said. He is working with one of the instructors for the project school, inviting the first gardeners and others to participate. The school, in partnership with the City of Parking, will help with the cost of beautification. , And for further maintenance of the site. The beauty pageant is expected to be completed before the start of the new school year. Everyone is welcome to visit. “
Gonzalez says his plans were already in place before he was asked to participate. She is asking the mayor of Parkland to be part of the new memorial garden, but she is not sure she wants to attend.
“I don’t think this is a safe place for me to be,” says Gonzalez.
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