While many residents and community activists may have hoped that plans for an Essential Workers Monument in Battery Park City had perished in tandem with the political demise of former Governor Andrew Cuomo (who resigned in disgrace, in August), his successor may have other ideas.
Visiting the World Trade Center site last Wednesday as part of the twentieth anniversary observances of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, newly installed Governor Kathy Hochul told a reporter from NY1 News that her predecessor, “was correct — there needs to be an appropriate memorial.” When asked about local opposition to Mr. Cuomo’s original plan, Governor Hochul added, “it will be very easy for me to reach out and get the opinions of the community, but this absolutely has to happen.”
Ms Hochul’s announcement comes in the wake of months of controversy, which began on June 24, when then-Governor Cuomo announced that he planned to create a monument (located in Rockefeller Park), to honor the service and sacrifice of New York’s essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This disclosure came as a surprise to Lower Manhattan community leaders and elected officials, who had not been consulted by the Governor, or his original Essential Workers Monument Advisory Committee — a panel that did not count any Downtown residents among its members, and never held a single public meeting. The further revelations that the Governor planned to begin construction within 48 hours, without any public comment or review, and have this project completed by Labor Day, sparked bitter criticism.
Residents of Battery Park City reacted with fury, mounting a four-day, round-the-clock protest in Rockefeller Park, during which local parents and children camped out in early July, through blistering heat and torrential rains, to prevent demolition work from beginning. This same group, rallying under the social media banner of Pause the Saws, also began preparing for litigation, seeking legal remedies to delay construction work.
BPCA chairman George Tsunis answered these concerns by appearing at the protest and announcing, “this site is off the table.” He also convened multiple days of meetings with community leaders, seeking a compromise solution, which focused on possible alternate sites within the community.
This process culminated on July 12, when Congressman Jerry Nadler led a rally at the Irish Hunger Memorial — the lawns beside which were proposed as one possible alternate site, after the plan for Rockefeller Park had been shelved. Hours before this event, Mr. Tsunis announced a further compromise, saying, “we will put together a new and expanded advisory committee comprised of local stakeholders, essential worker representatives, and others to review options within Battery Park City to select a site and design for a welcome and world-class monument our essential workers so richly deserve. We want grieving families of lost essential workers to know that Battery Park City respects their sacrifice and contribution, but Battery Park City residents feel strongly and potential litigation by residents would further extend the process.”
The membership of that new Advisory Committee was announced on July 28. The panel’s 17 members, include Mr. Tsunis, and two other members of the BPCA board: Martha Gallo (the Authority’s vice chair, who lives in Battery Park City), and Catherine McVay Hughes (who lives in Lower Manhattan, and is a former chair of Community Board 1).
Also serving on the Advisory Committee will be nine Battery Park City residents and local leaders who are not affiliated with the Authority. These include three members of Community Board 1 (CB1): Tammy Meltzer (the Board’s chair), Justine Cuccia (who chairs CB1’s Battery Park City Committee), and Robin Forst (a public member of CB1, who also serves as vice president of the Gateway Plaza Tenants Association). They will be joined by Glenn Plaskin, a longtime Battery Park City tenant advocate. The panel will also have five members of the Battery Park City Neighborhood Association, the grassroots organization formed in the wake of the Pause the Saws protest: Tristan Snell, Kelly McGowan, Gregory Sheindlin, Rafael Torres, and Kavita Beren — all of whom participated in the Rockefeller Park protest.
The fact that a majority of this panel consists of Battery Park City residents may represent a significant step in the direction that protestors and community leaders originally called for, in terms of greater transparency and consultation with local leaders.
Mr. Tsunis said, “the new Battery Park City Essential Workers Monument Advisory Committee brings a diverse array of local voices together with representatives of essential workers groups and other stakeholders to develop recommendations for a monument befitting the service of those who sacrificed so much for all of us. I look forward to building on the productive, community-based dialogue from these past weeks to deliver a fitting and meaningful monument in Battery Park City’s public space that all New Yorkers can appreciate.”
That noted, one point of contention appears to remain. As Mr. Tsunis noted, he envisions the work of the Committee as aiming, “to deliver a fitting and meaningful monument in Battery Park City’s public space.”
At CB1’s meeting on July 28, multiple Board members voiced their ongoing reservations about locating the Essential Workers Monument anywhere within Battery Park City. These concerns stem from the fact that the community was among those least-affected by COVID-19 of any in New York State, and that the local shortage of affordable housing means very few essential workers can live here. (In a related development, several elected officials in areas of New York where COVID-19 exacted a more grievous toll have volunteered to have the Essential Workers Monument located in their districts.)
A resolution enacted at that meeting urged the Governor to, “place the monument in a location outside of Battery Park City” and “use the monument as an opportunity to add green space and trees to a community that is lacking in those amenities.”
The same resolution demanded that, “the BPCA pledge in writing that no more memorials or monuments will be constructed in Battery Park City and that by-law revisions be made so that the pledge is binding upon future Governors and iterations of the BPCA.”
This last injunction was a reference to the fact Governor Cuomo had already built several other such tributes in the community in recent years, including the Hurricane Maria Memorial (at Chambers Street and River Terrace) and the Mother Cabrini Memorial (near South Cove). Each of these, along with the Essential Workers Monument, seemed calibrated to curry favor with politically important constituencies as he faced (prior to his sudden departure from office last month) a tough bid for a fourth term in 2022. In each case, Battery Park City appeared to have been chosen for no more compelling reason than it is one of the few areas of New York City over which the Governor exercises direct control. As Mr. Tsunis acknowledged during a July 7 meeting of CB1’s Battery Park City Committee, “we are suffering from memorial fatigue.”
Matthew Fenton
