Residents of Fourth Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues in Park Slope still can’t figure out why a memorial plaque in honor of Lt. David Fontana, one of eleven
firefighters from Squad 1 who died on 9/11 at the World
Trade Center, was stolen.

In 2002, the plaque was placed on a tree in front of the Fourth Street brownstone where David, Marian, and Aidan
Fontana used to live. There was a small dedication ceremony around
Christmas of that year. "We invited Squad 1 over for a little
dedication. Some kids from my son’s chorus at MS 51 stood on the stoop
and sang a couple of song," writes Sarah Greene in an e-mail to
OTBKB. "My husband, Bill, talked about how we planted that tree a few
years before, and when he watered it some mornings, Dave would come out
and they’d chat. So we thought of it as ‘Dave’s tree’."

This weekend there are plans to hang flyers all over the Slope. A reward of $100 is being offered for the plaque’s return.

The plaque, which reads, "In Memory of Firefighter Dave Fontana –
Beloved Husband, Father, Neighbor, Artist, Hero," was discovered
missing on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 13th. "It was there in
the morning because my husband watered the tree around 10 a.m," writes
Greene.  "But Liz O’Connell noticed it was missing in the afternoon."

Anther Fourth Street resident wrote e-mails to MS 51, as well as to Larry Woodbridge, the administrator for the John Jay building. "I spoke with the evening custodian at John Jay, someone from the Grecian Coffee Shop, and mentioned it at the Bagel Shop this morning. I also spoke with someone from the management company across the street from the tree –she said they will certainly keep their eyes and ears open and said they would be glad to make a donation for a replacement," she wrote in an e-mail to Ms. Greene. "The mood on the block is sad."

No one can quite figure out why someone would steal the plaque in honorlocal Park Slope hero. Perhaps someone wanted a 9/11 souvenir.
The theft could possibly be connected to the publicity surrounding the
recent publication of Marian Fontana’s book" A WIDOW’S WALK: A MEMOIR OF 9/11. Or it might have been a school prank – there are two
schools within blocks of the plaque.

If you have any information about the missing plaque, contact: Sarah Greene at
sarahgreene@nyc.rr.com or louise_crawford@yahoo.com