ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The city of Rochester removed a street-side memorial set up by the parents of two young men who died in a motorcycle crash. News10NBC’s Erin Mahon spoke with the parents about the significance of the memorial.

Nearly a month ago, two motorcyclists collided with a car at the corner of Lake Avenue and Phelps. Glen Sutton, father of one of the victims, established a memorial for his son at the site. Friday morning, he discovered that almost everything from the memorial was gone.

Rochester police and members of the Department of Environmental Services removed the memorial and packed it into orange bags, taking it to a city building on Mount Read Boulevard.

Police say they took the original one down because of a city policy that maintains the safety of public right-of-ways. Officials said they received 16 calls about incidents in the area since the crash.

“Absolutely I’m putting it back up. The memory of my kid and my nephew, absolutely,” Sutton said. “This is where my son took his last breath, and I gotta have something for him, you know?”

Chanderae Martin, the mother of the second victim who confirmed his death with us Friday, was there with Sutton Friday morning putting the memorial back up.

“All I have now are memories. This was my spot to come to,” said Martin.

Sutton said he will continue to reestablish the memorial with the help of friends and family, adding candles, photos, and clothes to the site.

The district manager at Aldi clarified that while the parking lot belongs to Aldi, the patch of dirt where the memorial sits is city property. The city owns the patch and the sidewalk it sits on. Technically, Aldi is responsible for maintaining this patch of dirt, but it doesn’t belong to them.

News10NBC asked the city for its policy on memorials and their removal but was told to submit a Freedom of Information Law request. This story will be updated when we get that back.

RELATED: Community holds vigil in memory of Lake Avenue motorcycle crash victim

AI assisted with the formatting of this story. Click here to see how WHEC News10NBC uses AI