While walking in Southpoint Park last Sunday, I noticed the Roosevelt Island FDR Hope Memorial

is almost ready for unveiling.

The FDR Hope Memorial depicts President Franklin D. Roosevelt sitting in his wheelchair greeting a young girl standing on crutches. According to the FDR Hope Memorial Committee:

Celebrating Franklin D. Roosevelt’s perseverance despite the paralysis of his
legs, the FDR Hope Memorial provides inspiration to those struggling with the
extraordinary personal challenges of all forms of disability. The memorial is
located near the southern top of Roosevelt Island in NYCwith the United
Nations within FDR’s view….

There have been many delays and setbacks since the FDR Hope Memorial was first proposed in 2009 ,

Image From RIOC October, 2020 Newsletter

as a protest by the Roosevelt Island Disabled Association (RIDA) and others, of the then proposed Louis Kahn designed FDR Four Freedoms Park failure to recognize FDR as a disabled person .

As reported in 2015:

… The efforts to build a memorial on Roosevelt Island depicting President Roosevelt in a wheelchair began in 2009 when RIDA opposed and protested the Louis Kahn FDR Four Freedom Park design proposal for not portraying in any manner President Roosevelt as a disabled person.

RIDA and the FDR Four Freedoms Park organizers subsequently reconciled
and have been working together to bring the FDR Hope Memorial to
fruition….

During last evening’s Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Board
Of Directors meeting, Acting RIOC President Shelton Haynes reported that:

…the FDR Hope Memorial is now completed and we hope to have unveiling very
soon, weather permitting and social distancing permitting….

Here’s a 2012 interview with FDR Hope Memorial Sculptor Meredith Bergmann and former RIDA President/FDR Hope Committee Chair Jim Bates (now deceased) at an early design mock-up presentation of the FDR Hope Memorial. (At the time of interview, the Memorial included FDR’s desk which was not included in final design)

Also, in 2015 former RIDA President Virginia Granato , who was very involved in early stages of the project before she passed away, described what the FDR Hope Memorial meant to her.

RIOC took over the FDR Hope Memorial project and has brought it to completion and a soon to be scheduled unveiling.