The BroadsheetDAILY ~ 10/13/20 ~ Remembering the Woman Who Said: “the World Is Poisoned with Erroneous Theories and Needs to be Taught Sane Doctrines” Mother Cabrini

Mother of Exiles

Remembering the Woman Who Said: “the World Is Poisoned with Erroneous Theories and Needs to be Taught Sane Doctrines”

The newly unveiled sculpture of Mother Cabrini and two children—precariously afloat in a paper dinghy crafted from folded paper—represents her devotion to the young, and her many voyages, often against daunting odds.

On Monday, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo observed Columbus Day by presiding over a ceremony at South Cove, along the Battery Park City Esplanade, to dedicate the Mother Cabrini Memorial—commemorating the 19th-century Italian-American nun who founded more than 60 orphanages, hospitals, and schools to help New York’s needy, and later became (in 1946) the first naturalized U.S. citizen to be canonized a Catholic saint.

“Last year, on this very day,” Mr. Cuomo said, “we announced that we build a statue to Mother Cabrini. There was no doubt that she deserved it, that Mother Cabrini had not received the proper recognition that she deserved. And New Yorkers wanted to memorialize her. We did it in one year. We formed a commission, found a location, identified the funding, and the sculptors brought it to life and did a magnificent job.”

The Governor continued, “I would submit to you today that the Lord works in strange ways, and this Columbus Day, the celebration of Mother Cabrini is even more appropriate than when we announced it last year. Today, the lesson of Mother Cabrini is even more vital because of the difficulties that we are facing. We all know that these are challenging times, but we also know that in the book of life, it is not what one does when the sun is shining that tests our mettle—it’s what one does in the fury of the storm. And that’s where we are today. The pressure, the stress, the difficulty revealed a true character of people and of society. We see it today.”

“Saints are often forged in the crucible of adversity,” he added. “Mother Cabrini was tested by seemingly insurmountable challenges. She was trying to help new immigrants who had no skills, no money and couldn’t speak the language. She came to New York at the time of small pox, typhoid and tuberculosis—all deadly diseases for which there was no cure and there was little healthcare and there was stifling poverty. And she was in a new country—a woman, a nun, and it was 1889. Women were not empowered, the traditional role of the nun was to serve the priests, and on top of it all, Italians were victims of intense discrimination.”

The Governor quoted Mother Cabrini as having said, “the world is poisoned with erroneous theories and needs to be taught sane doctrines. But it is difficult to strengthen what has become crooked.” He added, “so true.”

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo:”The lesson of Mother Cabrini is even more vital because of the difficulties that we are facing. We all know that these are challenging times, but we also know that in the book of life, it is not what one does when the sun is shining that tests our mettle—it’s what one does in the fury of the storm.”

The Memorial was designed by the husband-and-wife team of Jill and Giancarlo Biagi. The South Cove site is an open plaza, surrounded by a mosaic created with stones from Mother Cabriniʼs birthplace (SantʼAngelo Lodigiano, Italy), and offering views of both the Statue of Liberty and the new sculpture (of Mother Cabrini and two children, precariously afloat in a paper dinghy crafted from folded paper), along with its interpretive panels, which highlight key moments in Mother Cabriniʼs life. According to the artists, the statue represents Mother Cabrini’s devotion to children, and her many voyages, often against daunting odds.

The Mother Cabrini Memorial is one of a pair of monuments that Mr. Cuomo has planned for Battery Park City. The other will commemorate Puerto Rican victims of 2017’s Hurricane Maria, a storm that claimed thousands of lives on that island. As with the Mother Cabrini memorial, the Hurricane Maria plan began with a press release, followed by the appointment of a commission to select a location and preside over a design competition.

Mr. Cuomo appears to have settled on Battery Park City for his recent spurt of memorial building, at least in part, because it is one of the few areas of New York City that, as chief executive of the State government, he controls directly. The Lower Manhattan location also effectively guarantees significant media coverage and public visibility for both projects. This is in spite of the fact that Battery Park City has scant significance in the narratives of Puerto Rican or Italian-American immigrants to New York, and is home to very few residents living below the poverty line.

In the case of the Mother Cabrini Memorial, the project offered Mr. Cuomo the further inducement of snubbing Mayor Bill de Blasio, with whom he has an acrimonious relationship. Mr. Cuomo’s announcement last year, timed to coincide with 2019’s Columbus Day Parade, followed a decision by the de Blasio administration to erect statues to seven women who had made significant contributions to New York’s history. Although many additional statues and memorials to women are planned by City Hall, Mother Cabrini was not included in the first round of honorees.

Designating Battery Park City as a reliquary for monuments has proved controversial. In a 2019 meeting of the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1 (CB1), Tammy Meltzer asked, “does the community get to have any kind of say in this conversation, or the chance to weigh in”?

“Always,” replaced Nick Sbordone, vice president of community relations at the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA), in a reference to the BPCA’s concerted effort in recent years to increase transparency, consult with residents on major decisions, and include community leaders in planning. Whether this commitment is shared by the Cuomo administration, however, remains an open question.

“But we did a resolution saying we didn’t want it in Battery Park City,” Ms. Meltzer said, in reference to the planned Hurricane Maria Memorial. This measure, enacted in December, 2018, observed that, “all public land within Battery Park City has already been designated for uses on which the community relies;” that, “Battery Park City has more memorials per square foot than any other neighborhood in New York City;” and that, “there are numerous locations within the State that could be better suited.”

The same resolution called upon the Mr. Cuomo to set up, “a process [of] communication and transparency with the community prior to the placement of any new memorials in Battery Park City—or anywhere else in Lower Manhattan.” In the event, neither of the commissions overseeing the planned memorials ever held a single public meeting, invited comment from residents, or liaised in any way with CB1, before the decisions to locate their respective memorials within Battery Park City were announced.

Mr. Sbordone answered, “that resolution asked for representation on the commission and that the BPCA not pay for it.

Ms. Meltzer rejoined that, “the representation on the commission has never bothered to come to a CB1 meeting and is someone who does business with both the City and the State.” This was a reference to the fact that Elizabeth Velez (who sits on the advisory board for the Hurricane Maria Memorial) is a trusted confidante of the Governor’s, who served on the board of the Committee to Save New York, a controversial and secretive organization started by Mr. Cuomo in 2010, which was comprised mainly of real estate developers, bankers and lobbyists. The group was the State’s top lobbying spender in 2011 and 2012, but Mr. Cuomo shut it down the following year, after critics pointed to close ties between donors and State government. Ms. Velez also operates a construction contracting company that does business with both City Hall and Albany. According the multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation, Mr. Cuomo promised Ms. Velez a seat on the board of the Battery Park City Authority in 2016, but her appointment did not go through, for reasons that never became public.

Ms. Meltzer continued, “they never actually bothered to come to a BPCA or CB1 meeting to get any type of community input. So, from our perspective, there has been little to no engagement.”

“We’re looking at this from a community perspective,” she added. “Can you tell me where in Battery Park City there is a memorial to anybody who lived in Battery Park City and was lost on September 11, 2001? There is nothing here that represents the residents who were here on September 11. And yet, there’s a hurricane memorial coming. It could beautiful, and I’m sure it will be very interesting. But it would be nice if the community got to have some input on the final two selections.”

Mr. Sbordone responded that, “one of the benefits of having BPCA staff involved is that we are constantly reminding folks that this is a residential community.”

A further concern about both memorials is cost. The Cuomo administration has announced budgets of $700,000 for the Hurricane Maria project, and $750,000 for the Mother Cabrini monument. Given that these amounts are a fraction of the cost needed to merely to repair several existing pieces of public art and infrastructure within Battery Park City in recent years, whether those budgets are realistic remains an open question.

Battery Park City activists and leaders have a record of opposing plans for additional memorials that they believed conflicted with the interests of the community. These include successfully derailing proposals to locate two relics of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 within the neighborhood: the so-called “Survivors Staircase” (a flight of 38 steps that once led from Vesey Street to the World Trade Center plaza above) and the Sphere (a metal globe sculpture originally located on plaza between the Twin Towers, and heavily damaged when they collapsed). Both were initially slated for relocation to sites within Battery Park City. But each was instead incorporated into plans for the new World Trade Center complex when the community objected to these proposals.

But State officials have an equally long record of vetoing these concerns and locating within the community monuments that often seem calculated to curry favor with politically significant constituencies. One illustrative case in point is the Irish Hunger Memorial, which was dedicated in 2002, at the corner of North End Avenue and Vesey Street, in spite of the fact that Battery Park City has little discernible connection to the history of New York’s Irish-American community.

A further measure of this perceived disregard was evident in Monday’s ceremony: Not a single resident or community leader was invited to participate. Justine Cuccia, a co-founder of the grassroots organization Democracy for Battery Park City (which seeks a greater voice for residents in governing the community), observed, “this was one of those rare opportunities in politics that is easy to get right, and difficult to get wrong. You actually have to work at getting it wrong. But they still managed to drop the ball, by making clear that the Cuomo administration sees no role for people who live here in making decisions about this community.”

All of that noted, Monday’s ceremony was not without humor. Governor Cuomo lauded the site overlooking South Cove by observing that it is, “right on the shore of the Hudson with a view of the Statue of Liberty, with a view of Ellis Island, and a view of Mother Cabrini’s home borough of Brooklyn.” In fact, the site faces due west, toward New Jersey, and 180 degrees away from Brooklyn.

Matthew Fenton

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In this report, Mr. DiNapoli finds, there were 1,981 operating restaurants and bars before the pandemic began, which places Lower Manhattan behind only the Chelsea/Clinton/Midtown Business District PUMA area, with 2,661 such establishments. (Together, these two areas account for nearly 40 percent of the City’s restaurant jobs.) To read more…

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The result is 2.5 acres of woodland forest, coastal grassland, maritime scrub, and a rocky tidal zone—all culminating in a breathtaking view of the Hudson River. Additionally included in the design are a multi-use recreation field and a spacious sunning lawn, as well as boardwalks and seating areas. To read more…

Eyes to the Sky

October 6 – 18, 2020

Planet Mars Will Surprise You

A rusty-gold star-like celestial body shines suspended above the eastern skyline at nightfall. It is heaven’s celebrity of the month. Even though I knew that planet Mars is predicted to be at that location after sunset, a rush of surprise overcame me when, approaching a clear view to the east, the planet’s brilliant light pierced the darkness. Mars is brightest for the year in Earth’s skies. On the 6th, it will orbit closest to our planet since 2018 and arrive at “opposition” on the 13th.

DOWNTOWN CALENDAR

8AM

China Institute

How can U.S. and Chinese businesses navigate the new challenges to achieve success in the face of strained U.S.-China relations and a volatile world? In three sessions over three days, the world’s leading business executives and thinkers will help chart the way to success in a decoupling world, demystify China’s new economic policies and opportunities, and shed light on how U.S. and Chinese companies can still work together to create more jobs. $50-$120 OCt 13 through Oct 15

10:30AM

Battery Park City Authority at the Irish Hunger Memorial

Exercise in disguise! Join in on the fun featuring easy-to-follow Latin dance choreography while working on your balance, coordination and range of motion. Come prepared for enthusiastic instruction, a little strength training and a lot of fun. Participants are expected to bring their own equipment: weights, water bottle, hand towel etc. Program is first come, first served for up to 15 participants. Masks and contact information required upon arrival. Spatial parameters will be set. Participants must remain 6 ft apart for the duration of the program. All programs will be held in accordance with New York State reopening guidance. Free

3PM

Nature in the Park

Battery Park City Authority at Rockefeller Park

Celebrate the nature found in our beloved BPC parks. Pick up a self-guided worksheet that will invite you to tour the gardens investigating plants and trees, as well as the pollinating insects and birds that visit the parks of BPC. Participants are expected to bring their own pencils and clipboards. Program is first come, first served for up to 20 children with accompanying adults. Masks and contact information required upon arrival. Activity is self-guided. Participants must maintain six feet of physical distance between households. All programs will be held in accordance with New York State reopening guidance. Rockefeller Park.

Free

6PM

Youth & Education Committee

Community Board 1

Live Remote Meetings – https://live.mcb1.nyc

AGENDA

1) Senator Kavanagh Town Hall on Young People’s Civic Engagement – Discussion

2) Review of ventilation requirements in school buildings by Joshua Adams, Department of Buildings – Discussion

3) Updates on remote learning and planning for 2020-2021 academic year by Katherine Maro, Program Manager, NYC DOE & Stephanie Barreto-Lastra, Community Affairs Borough Manager, NYC DOE – Discussion & Possible Resolution

4) Capital and Expense Budget Items for FY 2022 – Discussion

CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS

Swaps & Trades, Respectable Employment, Lost and Found

To place a listing, contact editor@ebroadsheet.com

Quatrain Alley

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Rice and Beans

They are better

together.

Me and Jayden

We are better

together.

Josh, PS1 student

TODAY IN HISTORY

October 13

1976 – The first electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle is obtained by Dr. F. A. Murphy, now at U.C. Davis, who was then working at the C.D.C.

54 – Emperor Claudius is poisoned to death under mysterious circumstances. His 17-year-old stepson Nero succeeds him.

1773 – The Whirlpool Galaxy is discovered by Charles Messier.

1792 – In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House since 1818) is laid.

1884 – The International Meridian Conference votes on a resolution to establish the meridian passing through the Observatory of Greenwich, in London, England, as the initial meridian for longitude.

1892 – Edward Emerson Barnard discovers D/1892 T1, the first comet discovered by photographic means, on the night of October 13–14.

1923 – Ankara replaces Istanbul as the capital of Turkey.

1962 – The Pacific Northwest experiences a cyclone the equal of a Cat 3 hurricane. Winds measured above 150 mph at several locations; 46 people died.

1976 – The first electron micrograph of an Ebola viral particle is obtained by Dr. F. A. Murphy, now at U.C. Davis, who was then working at the C.D.C.

2010 – The Copiapó mining accident in Copiapó, Chile comes to an end as all 33 miners arrive at the surface after surviving a record 69 days underground awaiting rescue.

1925 – Lenny Bruce, American comedian and actor (d. 1966)

Births

1201 – Robert de Sorbon, French minister and theologian, founded the Collège de Sorbonne (d. 1274)

1862 – Mary Kingsley, English explorer and author (d. 1900)

1909 – Art Tatum, American pianist (d. 1956)

1921 – Yves Montand, Italian-French actor and singer (d. 1991)œ

1925 – Lenny Bruce, American comedian and actor (d. 1966)

1925 – Margaret Thatcher, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2013)

1926 – Killer Kowalski, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (d. 2008)

1941 – Paul Simon, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Deaths

54 – Claudius, Roman emperor (b. 10 BC)

1974 – Ed Sullivan, Variety show host (b. 1901)

Credits include wikipedia and other internet sources

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