NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — The battle over where to put a monument honoring essential workers who helped New York through the pandemic continues with Battery Park City residents saying the current options are unacceptable.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants the "Circle of Heroes Monument to Essential Workers" erected in Battery Park by Labor Day.
Residents were successful in stopping the concrete memorial from going up in a coveted green space at Rockefeller Park where children play.
The state-run Battery Park Authority proposed two alternative sites — one next to the Esplanade Plaza Volleyball Court and another just 15 feet away from a memorial to the victims of the Irish famine, which drew strong opposition from residents at a community board meeting Wednesday night.
"Really, I don't think they would want to squeeze next to the Irish Hunger Memorial, they wouldn't want trees to be cut," resident Ibtesam Khurshid said.
"It's insulting for both groups that they're put right next to each other and it seems like they're pitting one group against the other," resident Mira Argle said.
Residents want a seat at the table when a final decision is made, but they fear it won't happen given the timeline, which they would also like to see extended.
There is a sense a memorial fatigue in the neighborhood, which is already home to the Police Memorial, Holocaust Memorial, Hurricane Maria Memorial, Mother Cabrini memorial statue and the nearby Sept. 11 Memorial.
"Battery Park City has gotten two or three memorials just in the last two years," said Gregory Sheindlin of the Battery Park City Neighborhood Association. "I think if we sit at the table with the Essential Workers Advisory Committee they'll see that, but right now we're being told there are constraints."
The essential workers memorial will feature an eternal flame and 19 maple trees, recognizing nurses, doctors, hospital staff, teachers, transport workers, police, ambulance/EMT, firefighters, corrections, sanitation, National Guard, store employees, government employees, building service workers, utility workers, delivery drivers and construction/manufacturing.
It will honor both the survivors and the fallen.