“Mother Cabrini is famous for having created a great work of public housing in Chicago, and that is part of her legacy,” Mr. Cuomo said.
He said, “She was one of the greatest public housing pioneers we have known and if we ever had a dream of expanding the City of New York, she became that dream’s first and foremost forerunner.”
Under Mr. Cuomo’s tenure, the first phase of a transit hub was built in Hell’s Kitchen, and the mayor advocated for expanded low-income housing in the five boroughs.
As he spoke, Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, a Queens Democrat, stood a few feet away, wearing her “Good Jobs, Low Wages” buttons.
“It was a no-brainer for me,” she said of supporting the proposal. “I’m thrilled to see the miracle.”
(State Senator John Sampson and the state assembly passed a bill in 2014 establishing the infrastructure development fund for the First Avenue towers. The legislation has yet to become law. Mr. Cuomo said he would sign the legislation.)
Mr. Cuomo’s announcement of the statue, greeted by a standing ovation, came less than two weeks after he declared “Movin’ On Up” as a slogan for his third term, which begins on Jan. 1.
