Photos: Roosevelt Island's New FDR Memorial Unveiled

ROOSEVELT ISLAND, NY — The East Side has unveiled its newest attraction: the FDR Hope Memorial, which opened to the public Saturday on Roosevelt Island.

The memorial is located "in a peaceful grove" in Southpoint Park near the island's southern end. It depicts former President Franklin D. Roosevelt — the island's namesake — seated in the wheelchair he used for much of his life, reaching out to greet a girl holding a crutch who, like him, is disabled from polio.

Their two bronze figures sit on an engraved granite plaza shaped like the Oval Office, surrounded by accessible benches and inscribed pavers that document progress in the nation's treatment of disabled people, according to organizers.

The memorial was first proposed in 2009 by the Roosevelt Island Disabled Association, whose members noted that the island's other portrayal of FDR at nearby Four Freedoms Park does not make his disabilities apparent.

Saturday's unveiling coincided roughly with the anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. Those in attendance included U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney; Borough President Gale Brewer; City Councilmember Ben Kallos; Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright and Shelton Haynes, president and CEO of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation.

"It was an honor to be chosen for this project, which celebrates FDR as an inspiration to the
disabled — especially the island residents who’d survived polio and those who are dealing with
post-polio syndrome, and celebrates Roosevelt Island as a beacon leading the movement to
mainstream people with disabilities," the artist, Meredith Bergmann, said in a statement.

Previous coverage: Roosevelt Island To Open New FDR Memorial Honoring His Disability