Governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans to construct a monument in lower Manhattan that would honor essential workers that aided America during the pandemic Wednesday.
Cuomo plans for this new park to be constructed, and open by Labor Day. It would be called the “Circle of Hero’s” featuring red maple trees, a circle of pavers, and an “eternal flame.”
The memorial would pave over the largest section of grass that still exists in New York. Naturally New Yorkers gathered in protest of this.
Children use this patch of grass as a soccer field, some use it for picnics.
“Parks were vital to the city getting through COVID and we just want to make sure that we don’t end up doing something that we can’t take back,” Snell continued. “We want to measure twice and cut once.” Tristan Snell, of the Battery Park City Parents Association told the New York Post.
“These trees, this green space, it’s the largest green space south of Central Park,”
“This location was chosen in an open process by 23 leaders representing hundreds of thousands of essential workers, and the site design allows for people to continue to enjoy the park space,” a spokesperson for the governor said. Clearly these leaders did not take into account how their citizens felt.
