Cuomo Announces Hurricane Maria Memorial Coming To Battery Park

BATTERY PARK CITY, NY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo marked the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria Thursday by proposing a Battery Park City monument to honor the victims of the storm that pummeled Puerto Rico.

Cuomo signed an executive order forging a Hurricane Maria Memorial Commission to develop recommendations by Sept. 30, 2019 for the monument's design and installation at an undetermined-spot in The Battery.

"New Yorkers have always had a deep connection with our brothers and sisters in Puerto Rico," said Cuomo. "And this memorial will show that this country loves and respects our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico and we will never allow what happened to happen again."

The state's existing NY Stands with Puerto Rico Rebuilding and Reconstructing Committee will appoint members to the memorial commission, which will include artists, academics and community leaders.

After submitting recommendations to the governor, the commission will issue a Request for Proposals, commonly referred to as a RFP, to select a team for the memorial's construction.

In an August report to Congress, Puerto Rican officials put Hurricane Maria's death toll at nearly 3,000 and estimated the cost of recovery at $139 billion. The Trump administration reject those figures, and initially pegged the death toll at only 64.

Photo courtesy of Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock