Statue Honoring Mother Cabrini To Be Built In NYC's Battery Park, Gov. Cuomo Says
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – When the de Blasio administration said they didn't plan to build it, Gov. Cuomo promised he would.
Now, a statue honoring Mother Cabrini has a spot picked out for it right in Manhattan.
Gov. Cuomo says the upcoming statue will be placed in Battery Park's South Cove – direct view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
"The Commission chose a site that perfectly symbolizes her commitment to helping new Americans settle in the United States," Governor Cuomo said in a statement Friday.
"We want this memorial to pay tribute to the charity and goodwill she spread to countless others in her lifetime, and I look forward to seeing the designs that the artists propose to capture that spirit of her generosity."
Mother Cabrini arrived in New York in 1889 and became known as the patron saint of immigrants.
She is also the first American to be canonized by the Catholic Church.
Despite all of that, a New York City program asking the public to vote on influential women deserving a statue snubbed the local icon – even though she was the top vote-getter.
Mayor de Blasio's administration ignored the overwhelming support for the patron saint, instead choosing seven other women, many of whom had half as many votes.
Cuomo would then swoop in on Columbus Day to announce the state would commission the statue if the city wouldn't.
The governor appointed a 19-person commission to study proposals for the statue's design and location -- leading to the Friday's Battery Park announcement -- and has committed up to $750,000 for the upcoming project.