At the November 1, 2021 Schenectady City Council Commettees Meeting, City Corporation Counsel Andrew Koldin told Council members that he had looked, and did a search within the  Comprehensive Plan for Gateway Plaza, and could find no place where there is any mention of the Liberty Statue Replica being returned to Gateway Plaza after being stored during re-construction. He added that he found nothing saying to return or not return, relocate or not relocate the replica.

Well, we have been correctly saying at this website, in Letters to the Editor, and statements at Council meetings, that the Plan approved by the Council and signed by the Mayor in 2013 provided that the Liberty Statue was to be returned to Gateway-Liberty Plaza after construction, and therefore we wanted Her returned “as promised”.

Below are screen shots from the Final Gateway Plaza Plan, each of which indicates that the Statue of Liberty would be relocated within the Plaza after construction. See our posting “Respecting Lady Liberty”, tinyurl.com/RespectLL, for discussion, links, images, etc., that help explain this very unnecessary controversy with Mayor McCarthy.

MASTER PLAN of the GATEWAY PLAZA PROJECT: Shown on the COVER of the Final Comprehensive Plan for Gateway Plaza, and within the Plan Document: Item #6 in the Legend says “Relocation of Liberty Replica” and shows its designated relocation spot in the Plaza along State Street.

DETAIL FROM MASTER PLAN

Explanation Given to Advisory Committee in “Kick Off” Session – Statue of Liberty should be incorporated into the project

EXPLANATION GIVEN IN PUBLIC SESSION re LADY LIBERTY 

REFINED OPTIONS A  & B, GIVEN TO STEERING/ADVISORY COMMITTEE, EACH SHOWING “RELOCATED STATUE OF LIBERTY” on the Master Plan plat

LINE ITEM IN PLAN BUDGET SHOWING $20,000 to RELOCATE THE STATUE OF LIBERTY in the PLAZA

Why did Andrew Koldin feel he needed to deny any directive in the Final Gateway Plaza Plan to return Lady Liberty? My best guess is so he and the Mayor could argue that not returning the Lady to Her Home did not violate the Plan the Mayor had approved in 2013.