BY JULIANNE CUBA
The city this spring will break
ground on renovations to a
long-shuttered World War
II memorial Downtown —
one year later than initially
planned, due to an accounting
error that left offi cials scrambling
to come up with enough
cash to complete the project.
In March 2017 , news broke
that the Department of Parks
and Recreation collected the $4
million it needed to make the
shrine inside Cadman Plaza
Park handicap accessible, and
that the memorial — which is
normally open to the public
for special programming and
events — would be brought up
to code within 18 months.
But that pot of money — a
mix of taxpayer dollars allocated
by Borough President
Adams and Downtown Councilman
Stephen Levin, and
payments that the United
States General Services Administration
made to the
Parks Department in order to
use other city land as a temporary
parking lot — turned out
to be $1-million short, according
to a Parks spokeswoman,
who said the agency expected
to receive some $2 million in
payments from the Feds, but
only got half that.
“Our records indicated
that there was approximately
$2 million available from the
United States General Services
Administration, but
upon looking into it further
we discovered there was only
about $1 million,” the spokeswoman
said.
Agency leaders then tapped
the beep and Mayor DeBlasio
for the extra green they
needed to make the memorial
accessible to all by installing
ramps and an elevator from
the ground fl oor to its basement
NOT OPEN YET: The Cadman Plaza Park monument will still only be open to the public by appointment or for
special events, such as this 2015 Memorial Day ceremony, following the renovations. File photo by Cate Dingley
bathrooms, according to
the rep.
And now, Parks Department
leaders claim they have
all the money they need to
make over the shrine, whose
interior features the names
of more than 11,500 Brooklynites
COURIER L 10 IFE, JAN. 11–17, 2019 M B G
who died in WWII,
and will still only be open to
the public for special events
or by appointment following
the renovations.
“The most important thing
here is that the project is fully
funded, on track, and moving
forward,” the agency spokeswoman
said.
But some veterans who
served in the war and lived
to tell about it fear they may
never get to see the spruced up
memorial, and the names of
their fallen friends within it,
due to the years of delays.
“Before we kick the bucket,
my brother and I want this
thing to get done so people can
go visit,” said Marine Parker
Jack Vanasco, 91, a WWII vet
who fought alongside his now
93-year-old brother, Roy Vanasco
. “A lot of guys we grew
up with, played ball together
with, are on that wall — at
least a dozen or so.”
Forward march at
WWII monument
City starting repairs to memorial a
year late due to accounting error