NEW YORK â The stateâs monument to honor COVID-19 pandemic essential workers will be in a different area of a New York City park after thousands of people Tuesday continued to sign an online petition pushing back against the planned location. The Essential Workers Monument, also called the Circle of Heroes, is slated for Battery Park City in the southern tip of Manhattan. The estimated $3 million project, to feature 19 maple trees in a circle with an eternal flame in the center, is set to be completed this summer and open Labor Day, Sept. 6. The monument will be constructed in a corner of Rockefeller Park instead of the main section of the green space after thousands of city residents expressed frustration, disappointment and anger over the chosen location.