Photo by Beyond My Ken via Wikipedia
On January 12, the Mayor’s Office of the City of New York released the preliminary city budget for 2024. Included is $62.3 million in funding toward the restoration of an Upper West Side landmark.
Advertisement
The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, and surrounding Plaza, “commemorates Union Army soldiers and sailors who served in the Civil War.” Located along Riverside Drive at 89th Street, the monument is one of only five in the City Parks Systems with landmark status. First unveiled in 1902, the Monument most recently went through extensive renovations in the 1960s, when $1 million was spent on a new roof and fixes to the interior.
More recently, in 2017, a Parks Department report found the structure to be in a “near-catastrophic state of decay.” What’s more, the surrounding area, including the plaza, stairs, and park itself, needs significant stabilization. The restoration of the monument has recently been championed by City Council Member Gale Brewer, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue, and other city officials.
In 2019, Riverside Park Administrator John Herrold said of the monument that while it was “meant to be a beautiful place to remember the past and war and people who were lost… it’s very hard to even think about that when you’re seeing the neglect and what that neglect represents.” Many Upper West Siders may only have experienced the structure from a distance – it’s long been fenced off and inaccessible to the public. But the interior as described includes carved marble, statuary niches, green mosaic fronds, and other ornamentation and artistry. Based upon the “ancient Choragic monument of Lysicrates” in Athens, the intention for the space has been not only physical beauty, but a place of calm reflection.
Advertisement
The 2017 study estimated a restoration cost over $30 million, but, according to Gale Brewer, “all during the Bloomberg and de Blasio years nobody put the time and money together.” Now, Mayor Adams has earmarked more than double that amount – so hopefully Upper West Siders will be able to enjoy a restored Monument and Plaza some time soon.
The city and state need to put more funds into the upper west side neighborhood. It is the jewel of Manhattan and serves so many communities.
The next project they need to fund is the west side Highway aqueduct relocation. It is a dangerous place for hundreds of thousands of pedestrians park goers and cyclists.
We want more police presence and we want more trees planted in our neighborhood!
Bravo!!! It is a welcome and long-overdue piece of good news. I have been donating to Riverside Park Conservancy, earmarked for this project as well. Let’s get to work – this is a gem of the Upper West Side!
Obscene amount. It looks like a big payoff for kickbacks. Needs to be investigated.
Oh Harry…(sad trombone)
We should put more money into our parks!! I think billions should be invested not millions!
I appreciate the need for this project, but it’s hard to get behind it in a time where the budgets of our public libraries are being slashed. What’s more important, remembering the past, or educating the future?
Dear Eric,
We want more funding for our parks; the library is a joke it’s for the transient to sleep. If we funded our parks I would have a nice place to walk.
We need more funding for our upper west side parks
Never gonna happen. We already got rid of statues of “horrible hideous” Teddy Roosevelt (!) and Thomas Jefferson (!!!) because of the ultra-woke City Council. You think they are going to allow $60 Mil to be spent fixing up a monument to (mostly) White dead guys? More likely to allocate funds to actually tear it down. I’m not joking.