Statue honoring Justice Ginsburg may be in installed in Brooklyn Bridge Park

BP Adams’ drive to rename Municipal Building after the late jurist gains support

September 22, 2020 Raanan Geberer

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams called once again on Sunday for the Brooklyn Municipal Building to be named after the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Photos: John McCarten/Brooklyn Eagle

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One of Brooklyn’s most iconic heroes, the beloved and recently departed Ruth Bader Ginsburg, will possibly be remembered by creation of a statue of her likeness in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Also, in a series of public remembrances, including a rally Sunday hosted by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, the BP revived his campaign, which he introduced in 2018, to rename the Brooklyn Municipal Building for RBG.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo made his remarks about the statue possibly being located in Brooklyn Bridge Park at a teleconference on Monday.

In Cuomo’s original proclamation on Saturday calling for a statue in Brooklyn to honor Ginsburg, who died Friday, the governor didn’t specify where the statue should be located. However, he mentioned Brooklyn Bridge Park as a possible location on Monday, “on a site that would overlook the Statue of Liberty.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer spoke at Borough Hall on Sunday. A day later, he spoke at a rally at James Madison High School.

“She is a Brooklyn native, and we’re very proud of that,” he added.

At the Borough Hall rally on Sunday, Borough President Adams was joined by a wide array of elected officials, civic leaders, representatives from advocacy organizations and everyday Brooklynites and other New Yorkers.

Adams has been calling for the renaming of the Brooklyn Municipal Building since he started a change.org petition online to that effect. The petition reads, in part, “The life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a quintessential New York story. She grew up in Flatbush, the daughter of Jewish immigrants.”

As of now, the petition has gathered more than 100,o00 signatures. Many of those who signed it have taken to Twitter, asking for more people to sign the petition. “Mayor Bill de Blasio: Rename the Brooklyn Municipal Building for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg – Sign the Petition,” read many of the tweets.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams spoke on Sunday, reminding New Yorkers to vote.

At the rally on Sunday, Adams called Ginsburg “a symbol of women’s rights and the fight for equality.” Many people who came to rally wore buttons or T-shirts with the image of the late justice, and some wore Ruth Bader Ginsburg masks.

“I am who I am because she was who she was. That is why this is so important and we need to be clear on the narrative that she not only made one gender great, she made America great,” the Brooklyn Paper quoted the borough president as saying.

Also at the rally, people signed a giant sympathy card that Adams planned to deliver to Ginsburg’s family.

A day later, on Monday, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a lifelong Brooklynite, and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx-Queens) addressed another rally in front of James Madison High School in the Kings Highway area, Ginsburg’s alma mater.

Assemblymember Robert Carroll spoke in front of Borough Hall.

Addressing the crowd at the rally, which was streamed online, Schumer asked people “to honor her legacy and to make sure that her legacy is protected. In a male-dominated legal establishment,” he said, “she pushed her way through with brains and strength and fortitude and changed the world for women, long before the world caught up.

“In her last wish,” Schumer said, “she said that she should be replaced when a new president is installed.”

Also at Madison, a pop-up memorial for Ginsburg sprang up, with hand-written signs saying “We Love You RBG.”

Throughout her old neighborhood, Ginsburg is still revered. Gothamist interviewed William and Diana Brenneisen, who own the house on East 9th Street that Ginsburg once lived in.

“She’s a wonderful woman, she’ll be truly missed by everyone, the community, even the country itself, because she was a strong powerful woman in her judgment on various matters,” Diana Brenneisen, once a legal secretary, said.

Nicole Rodriguez paid tribute to the late Supreme Court justice with her face mask.

When Adams originally started his drive to get the Brooklyn Municipal Building renamed for Ginsburg, the borough’s legal establishment got behind him, the Eagle reported at the time.

Carrie Anne Cavallo, then-president of the Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association, said, “As one of Brooklyn’s most well-known legal minds I cannot think of someone more deserving of this tribute.”

David Chidekel, then-president of the Brooklyn Bar Association, said, “Not only is she a great justice and a great New Yorker, she is a native of Brooklyn and went to high school here.

“Moreover, she has supported the BBA and swore in Justice Miriam Cyrulnik as president of the BBA,” Chidekel said.