tree cutting scheduled to start at 7am monday morning protesters gathering at 630am- bring your signs! — urban cowgirl on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

You poor folks! Andy is doing the exact same thing to us in North Brooklyn. Don't give up. — Maureen Boler on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

Horrible idea. Kids need more space to play in a neighborhood with not enough open space as it is. Horrible waste of taxpayer money as well. — Sean Minnihan on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

You submitted three comments: two at 11:30pm-ish last night and one at nearly 2 in the morning. I approved them today. Comments are approved at my discretion, not just on content but also on timing. And I do not have to tell people why. — Tribeca Citizen on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

CONSTRUCTION TO BEGIN MONDAY AM emails can be sent to the governor’s representative at: Dan.Dornbaum@exec.ny.gov with a cc to: State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick glickd@assembly.state.ny.us State Senator Brian Kavanaugh kavanaugh@nysenate.gov City Councilwoman Margaret Chin chin@council.nyc.gov I recommend emails make *specific requests* along with personal appeals: • an in-person public community meeting help ASAP with Governor's office, BPCA, Glick, Kavanaugh, and Chin present • At that meeting, members of the community should have the opportunity to ask questions about this monument and receive details from the Governor's office and BPCA • No construction should commence, and the park should be made fully available again until the community can participate in this meeting — urban cowgirl on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

7:00 am Monday protest to stop the killing and taking of the trees. Please all come and support our trees! — A2 on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

These meetings will probably be too late - trees will come down before you know it. Write to Cuomo here and ask for a cease work order until the community can weigh in. https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form — Heide Fasnacht on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

Agree. He also put the Mother Cabrini statue in BPC recently, as well. All about him. Anything to deflect from his scandals. — NYCBPC on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

Hello I have submitted comments (2) and while they appear to be under review they have yet to be posted, while a post after mine was submitted has been posted. If you do not plan to publish my posts - please have the courtesy and professional integrity to let me know the specific reason you choose not to do so. Regards — Jen on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

Signs of protest being posted on the orange barrier netting. Have your children fill it with signs and get a news crew down here. Then chain your kids to those trees. HOW on earth could they chop those down!?! On manhattan we don’t get new green land, it only gets chopped down. This can’t happen. — Nyc on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

Wonder how that will impact the conversion of the Solaire - another building potentially removed from the rental market. — Jen on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

The best monument for essential workers is truly affordable housing. Most essential workers are scraping by on low wages, poor working conditions, and long hours. They cannot afford to live in Manhattan, and must commute long distances to get to work, too far away to come and "admire" the concrete monument that supposedly honors them. Let us tear down some of the luxury housing where Cuomo's wealthy donors live and replace it with housing with reasonable rents where the essential workers could afford to live — Peter L. Gale on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

This is absolutely ridiculous. Everyone agrees honoring essential workers should happen, so politicians can strike out the inevitable “straw person” argument in that respect. This monument makes no sense in the space proposed other than to “check a box” and “grease someone’s pocket”. Rockefeller Park is a beautiful, serene space with little shade. Children sit every morning (in the shade of the beautiful trees) listening to musicians play in the very spot this monument will be erected. Diminishing the Park will add to the continued neighborhood decline, which all residents see every day. Further, disrupting this park so politicians can cut a ribbon and “pat themselves on the back” for their accomplishments is shameful, and the fact that the Community has had no opportunity to voice their concerns, is not democratic. Shame on you BPCA, Council-people, Community Board 1 etc. If this all goes through pretty sure lots of people will vote you out of your positions - one way or another. If we have to go to Albany and disrupt your cushy relationships - pretty sure we will. Respectfully submitted — Jen D River Ter on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

The park and green space is important. And necessary. During COVID the lawn was a gathering space. The City needs green spaces. The City needs waterfront spaces. Put the monument somewhere else or make it a vertical column or statue on the cemented area so it does not destroy the park and trees we all use. Thank you. — Yao Zhang on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

I have been a resident of River Terrace since 2003 and of the larger FiDi district since 1999. Please please do not allow this abomination to be built. There is so little green space and waterfront space in NYC. This park is already overcrowded and enjoyed not just by areas residents like me, but by visitors, families, Stuyvesant High School and other area school students, by exercise and yoga groups, picnickers, toddlers listening to music. This is what the park is for. Please build the monument where it will not displace so many people from such a rare and treasured resource: park and trees and water!!!!!!!!!!!! Pass it on! Eric — Eric Beckman on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

We are absolutely in favor of honoring the essential workers who were instrumental in keeping New York City running during the pandemic, often at great risk to their own health and welfare. They are heroes and deserve to be honored and treated as heroes. A monument or memorial in their honor is a fantastic idea and one that I am sure the entire community supports. But it does not seem appropriate, or even respectful to these heroes, to eliminate a beautiful, frequently used and vital piece of open space in their names. Rockefeller Park is an oasis of open green space that provides a critical refuge to the residents of the entire city. It is particularly important to the children of Lower Manhattan as it provides space for kids to run and play or to simply sit in the grass and enjoy the outdoors. The space where I understand this large memorial would be placed is a particularly beautiful space where families enjoy the breeze coming off the river in the shade. It is often littered with families on picnic blankets, frolicking children, soccer balls, frisbees, footballs, and all manner of games and toys. Destroying this beautiful, beloved, vital and busy space would be a travesty. Surely there is a better location for a memorial. Let's continue the conversation about where best to honor these heroes. And let's not do irreparable damage to this beautiful park without consulting all those that might be impacted. — GF on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

I was away and missed today's (6/26) rally. If you haven't yet, can you post the time of the Monday protest? Will we assemble super-early to beat the chainsaws? — Komanoff on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

Compromise: monument to be designed by Salvatore Garau. Can be called “NYC Clapping.” — Cobaye on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

Oh, and the fire? If you haven't lived near an eternal flame, get ready for: smoke. — J Frank P on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

Foley square would be the place for this. But if they put it where they plan, I'll join the skateboarders who are *definitely* going to rip it to shreds. — J Frank P on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

I believe there is a protest scheduled Monday am to stop the cutting down of these beautiful trees. — A2 on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

Oops!! Sorry, will correct. — Tribeca Citizen on Fireboat McKean arrives at Pier 25 for a summer vacation

This is Battery Park City Authority property, not Hudson River Park. Though I will note that HRPT is a state/city authority built on property owned by both: from 34th Street south is the state. That's why there are two monuments there as well -- one to the AIDS memorial, which was built into the landscape quite nicely, and the LGBT Memorial, which was sited after the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting. — Tribeca Citizen on State breaks ground on huge monument for Rockefeller Park lawn

Right-o — Tribeca Citizen on Where in Tribeca?

The McKean was actually welcomed by the FDNY 343 which is the new state of the art fireboat that replaced the McKean when it was taken out of service. — Tracy Conte on Fireboat McKean arrives at Pier 25 for a summer vacation