A few weeks ago, I was in the car with my husband, driving through downtown Binghamton. We passed a small greenspace; it’s easy to miss & nestled in a busy intersection. It’s the Memorial Park in honor of the American Civic Association. At its center, there’s a broken column, surrounded by thirteen glass birds in flight. Each bird represents a life lost in one of the most devastating events in our city’s history.
There’s something we noticed about Binghamton—it’s that many of our most beautiful public spaces are named in honor of its most tragic moments. Places designed for reflection, built from heartbreak. There’s something eerie about it.
As we drove by, I started telling him about April 3, 2009. It was the day a man walked into the American Civic Association on Oak St. in Binghamton NY & opened fire. I told him about the families hopeful for good news that never came, and the advocates who held them in their grief. I told him about how this one day changed our city, and how it pushed everyone to think differently about emergency planning and how to move in a crisis.
In this episode, we’re going to revisit that day—not just to recount the timeline of events, but to understand what it meant for the people in that room, for the families who lost someone, and for a city that will never forget.
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