After a community uproar that echoed across the Atlantic, the Battery Park City Authority has decided to slow its roll on the monument for essential workers and regroup — this time with local voices included in the discussion. That takes the Labor Day deadline away and allows for the process to be more thoughtful, at least here’s hoping.

“To continue incorporating public feedback into the process, 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,” said the statement from George Tsunis, the chairman of the BPCA. (You can read his full statement below.)

Over the past two weeks, local residents launched a sit-in on the original Rockefeller lawn site; then slept overnight there in tents to keep the diggers at bay; then fought off two more proposals for Esplanade Plaza and the lawn next to the Irish Hunger Memorial. Then the Irish diaspora got involved, arguing that a memorial hard up against theirs would be a disservice to that community as well.

The new plan intends to allow more members of the community to be included in discussions, though who will be involved and when those will take place is still up in the air. And there is no longer a push to get this done by Labor Day. Phew.

(My friend J. emailed with a great suggestion: make the Renwick Smallpox Hospital on Roosevelt Island a memorial to essential workers, since it was once filled with them. Love this idea! The ruins are already on the National Register of Historic Places — the only ruin in the city with that designation — and Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation is a state public benefit corporation, similar to the authorities that are the BPCA and the HRPT. Plus the ruins need help. Plus there’s already an awesome memorial there — Four Freedoms — that would complement another memorial…)

Full statement from George J. Tsunis BPCA Chairman:

“Over the past two weeks we have heard two things clearly and consistently: the love that our community harbors for its parks and public spaces, and its desire to honor the enduring efforts of essential workers over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this active and unprecedented feedback loop we have also heard the community’s concerns about the proposed Essential Workers Monument, listened to those concerns, and incorporated that feedback into the decision making process with the Governor’s Office, essential workers, and other stakeholders. To continue incorporating public feedback into the process, 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. While this will move opening of the Essential Workers Monument beyond Labor Day, which we felt was a significant date as essential workers are largely union members, there will be an essential worker recognition on Labor Day nonetheless. We want grieving families of lost essential workers to know that Battery Park City respects their sacrifice and contribution but BPCA residents feel strongly and potential litigation by residents would further extend the process.”