La Quinta officials will dedicate a memorial Wednesday in honor of those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The city will unveil the memorial at 4 p.m. at 78275 Calle Tampico. It will be the first in the Coachella Valley to have a piece of steel from the World Trade Center, city spokeswoman Andrea Carter said.
The dedication will also serve as an Eagle Court of Honor for 18-year- old Andrew Davis, who started the project to earn his Eagle Scout rank. He raised about $20,000 for the memorial and made a presentation at a January 2011 City Council meeting.
After the presentation, artist Robert Radi told the city he wanted to pay for shipping the steel. He also designed and redesigned the display for free, according to Carter.
The city donated more than $35,000, along with the land, Carter said.
Davis' family has a personal connection to the attacks. His father, Mike Davis, was in New York at the time working at the U.S. Open tennis tournament. He had planned to go to the Stock Exchange, but decided at the last minute to come home, according to Carter.
"The subway that we would have taken would have taken us right by the (Twin) Towers," Mike Davis said.
A few years later, he showed his son an article about a boy who helped get a memorial built in his town.
"Andrew, although he was only 6 at the time, has a distinct memory of the day that his dad could have been taken away from him," Carter said.
Mike Davis said Andrew "decided that this is something that everyone should remember and reflect on."
