Contact: Colleen Roche or Kim Serafin (212) 788-2958
Also attending the event were City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, former Mayor Ed Koch, State Senator Catherine M. Abate, Council Member Kathryn J. Freed, and Robert's brother, Duncan Wagner.
"I am honored to be here to help dedicate this beautiful new park to the memory of a great public servant," said Mayor Giuliani. "Robert F. Wagner Jr. was dedicated, creative and selfless, and totally devoted to the community of New York. He challenged us with new ideas. As we stand today in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty which represents our nation's and our City's highest ideals, it seems appropriate to dedicate this park in honor of a man who represented humanity's highest ideals."
"When I first met Bobby in the winter of 1992, like many people, I was struck by his intelligence, his encyclopedic knowledge of the City and his vision for urban America. But I was also struck by his warmth, his humanity and his decency. He became a close advisor and a friend," the Mayor continued. "Unlike many here who knew him much longer than I did, Bobby and I didn't share a great deal of our past histories. What Bobby and I shared was the future."
Robert Wagner Jr., the son of three-term New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner and the grandson of US Senator Robert F. Wagner, began his New York City political career as a City Councilman-at-Large. He later served in the Koch Administration as Deputy Mayor, Chairman of the City Planning Commission, President of the Health and Hospitals Corporation and President of the Board of Education.
Wagner Park is the latest segment of Battery Park City's 25-acre continuous park system, which is designed for public accessibility and a wide variety of waterfront activities. The new park provides a link between Battery Park and Battery Park City.
Battery Park City is one of the largest and most important urban development projects in the country. The World Financial center contains over six million square feet of office space and private developers have built more than 4,500 apartments. Thirty percent of the 92 acres is preserved as parks and open space.
The Battery Park City Authority is a public benefit corporation created by the New York State Legislature in 1968 to develop Battery Park City as a new residential and commercial community.