In his article, “
Monuments to Disrepair” in the December 30, 2021 issue of The New York Times, Zachary Small notes that dozens of monuments and public artworks in New York City require repair and conservation, but may never receive them because of lack of funding, city bureaucracy, and governmental priority given to the construction of new monuments. While private businesses and nonprofits have been encouraged by the city to sponsor the maintenance of monuments, it is felt that private sponsorship results in inequitable maintenance with more monuments in wealthy neighborhoods receiving funding. . Four years ago, Mayor de Blasio announced that $10 million would go to the commissioning of statues of women. To date, only $1 million has been given to the project and no statues have been dedicated. We will have to wait and see what the incoming mayor does about public monuments. #conservationinthenews