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City and state leaders have abandoned New York City’s once-glorious tribute to its Civil War heroes on the Upper West Side – even as the outgoing de Blasio administration has devoted a staggering $700 million to nearby beautification efforts.
The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument at the end of West 89th Street in Riverside Park is a towering neoclassical marble temple supported by 12 Corinthian columns that sits at the apex of the serpentine green space in one of the America’s most exclusive neighborhoods.
But it’s fallen into disrepair, shackled off from the public and abandoned to time, weather, overgrowth and neglect – a symbol to some of America’s neglect of its troops overseas. A tattered, faded pink banner from Memorial Day clings sadly to the chainlink fence surrounding the stately temple; a tree grows out of the southwest corner of the crumbling foundation.
“It’s an incredibly elegant and beautiful monument and it’s a tragedy to have it look the way it does,” Peg Breen, president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, told The Post. “This city is very cavalier about its history.”
Then-Gov. Theodore Roosevelt presided over the laying of the cornerstone in 1900. Benjamin Guggenheim, brother of the museum namesake, dug the ceremonial first spade of dirt, 12 years before he died heroically aboard the Titanic.
The monument opened on Memorial Day 1902 amid great pomp and circumstance, including a parade of Civil War veterans. The city’s Memorial Day parade ended at the monument for decades, though that practice ended years ago. The landmark still hosts a Memorial Day ceremony each year.
The Parks Department lists $659 million in “active” projects around Riverside Park, including $348 million to rehabilitate the Overbuild, a series of bridge structures underneath the park; $200 million to rebuild the 79th Street Rotunda, and $90 million to reconstruct the 79th Street boat basin.
But not a dime to fix the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, despite a distressing city report in 2017 that found the historic memorial beset by safety and structural issues: asbestos, lead paint and PCBs, along with erosion, fissures, cracks, failed drainage systems and “100% deteriorated mortar joints.”
The report put the repairs pricetag at $29 million to $30 million, about 4.5 percent of the current Riverside Park outlay, while noting that it was last overhauled in 1962 – fully half its lifetime ago.
“We remain committed to restoring the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument and continue to seek the funding needed to repair this historically significant landmark,” said Parks spokeswoman Megan Moriarty, offering no timetable.
Local leaders in 2018, including Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), signed a letter to then-Gov. Cuomo imploring him to help fund the project.
The “monument is an architectural treasure and icon of American war memory,” the letter stated. “It is the most important of the city’s memorials honoring the service of the Union forces from New York who served in the Civil War.”
The plea fell on deaf ears.
“All during the Bloomberg and de Blasio years nobody put the time and money together” to fix the monument, said Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who will soon join the City Council representing Upper West Side District 6, and who penned the Cuomo letter.
She hopes with a new city administration in 2022 will come a renewed focus on the monument.
“The fact that the city has allowed this important monument to fall into disrepair over many years is an embarrassment, and it’s only getting worse,” Dan Garodnick, President & CEO of Riverside Park Conservancy, told The Post.
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