Should Roosevelt Island's FDR Memorial Honor and Recognize Overcoming Disabilities Or Architect Louis Kahn - Meeting 5/27 To Discuss

Image of FDR Memorial Wheelchair in Washington DC from Ability Unleashed

RIOC President Steve Shane reports that the Frankin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute (FERI) will be giving a public presentation regarding their proposed Southpoint Park Roosevelt Island memorial to the architect Louis Kahn, regularly mischaracterized as a memorial to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, on Wednesday May 27, 7PM at the Good Shepherd Community Center.

Kahn FDR Memorial Sculpture Room From Village Voice Runnin Scared

From RIOC President Steve Shane:

We have just posted on our website under the Community Information tab the FDR Four Freedoms Park SEQR EAF & Environmental Assessment with its exhibits. Please be advised that it has not been reviewed or acted upon, but is for information and question, to make sure that the "hard look" required bySEQRA has been accorded by RIOC's Board, including such issues and questions as the community may have. Please feel free to copy and disseminate further.

As you know, FERI is going to be making a presentation of the whole project, again, including all that is contained in the EAF, on Wednesday evening at the Good Shepherd, 7 PM.

Roosevelt Island Doctor Jack Resnick will also be making a presentation at the meeting in support of the Roosevelt Island Disabled Association's (RIDA) idea to truly honor President Roosevelt as a man and President with a disability who overcame tremendous challenges to become a great leader. The RIDA Board Of Directors issued the following statement explaining why it is so important to publicly recognize that FDR was disabled with Polio and used a wheelchair:

On behalf of the Roosevelt Island Disabled Association and it's many disabled members we want to voice our opposition to a glaring deficit in the current proposal for the FDR Memorial to be built at the Southern tip of Roosevelt Island.

President Roosevelt was disabled by Polio before he was elected President of the United States and used a wheelchair almost exclusively. A statue of President Roosevelt sitting in a wheelchair or standing with the help of his crutches would be most appropriate here on an Island where many disabled people reside, both in apartments and in the two chronic care hospitals. In the same manner that our first black president, Barack Obama, has inspired so many school- aged black children to aspire to higher achievements, once thought to be impossible, such a memorial would have the same effect on the disabled community when viewing a statue of one of our most beloved presidents and realizing that he, too, was disabled and was able to overcome his disability and be elected to the highest office in the country. What an inspiration that would be for the multitude of disabled visitors, especially our wheelchair bound war veterans returning from Iraq, to visualize that despite their disability anything is possible. The memorial, as shown in the artist's sketches. does not portray FDR as disabled and we feel that this is an injustice to us all. It is said that “A picture is worth a thousand words.” In this instance, a statue of FDR depicted as our first disabled President would speak volumes to the millions of visitors, disabled and non-disabled who will be visiting The FDR Memorial for generations to come.

Roosevelt Island Disabled Association Board of Directors and it's members

Dr. Resnick proposes:

... The FDR Memorial on this Island should focus on the President’s strength in conquering his disability. Many possibilities come to mind. For instance, he should not be memorialized with a bust. We should see a greater-than-life-sized statue of him sitting in a wheelchair – and he should face north toward Goldwater and Coler Hospital...

The Executive Director of Roosevelt Island's Coler Goldwater Hospital has lent his support to achieving a Roosevelt Island FDR Memorial:

... particularly one acknowledging the tremendous goals he achieved in spite of his disability - a major factor in a large part of the President's life.

The full text of statement is below.

Coler Goldwater Chief Supports Disabled FDR Memorial For Roosevelt Island

The decision as to what a FDR Memorial on Roosevelt Island will ultimately be is in the hands of the Roosevelt Island Board of Directors, of which 7 of the 9 are residents of Roosevelt Island. As stated in the February 6, 2009 Conditional Designation Letter for the proposed FERI supported FDR Memorial below:

... RIOC retains all rights at any time to revoke this Agreement and the FDR Project will be subject to approval by RIOC's Board of Directors...

A vote of the RIOC Board may be scheduled for the June 25 meeting.

There's more here.