NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Gov. Andrew Cuomo backed out of a plan to build a memorial to essential workers in a green space at Battery Park City in lower Manhattan.
Battery Park City Authority Chairman George Tsunis said this week that the green space is off the table.
“This site is going to change. It’s going to be a new site,” Tsunis told residents in Rockefeller Park on Thursday, according to video posted to Instagram.
Battery Park City residents have been vocal about not placing the concrete “Circle of Heroes” memorial in the green section of the park, where they say their children play.
Tsunis was appointed by Cuomo and doesn’t live in Battery Park City, but he said as a father he understands why residents wouldn’t want the memorial there.
“When there are other alternatives we can go to, we go to, we pivot,” Tsunis said.
He said the new location will be in a more commercial area, nowhere near where kids play. He didn’t rule out having the memorial placed somewhere else in Battery Park City.
The memorial will feature an eternal flame and 19 maple trees representing the different types of essential workers who kept the city moving during the pandemic.
Related
