Have you ever walked up to a NYC Park and wondered who is this park named for, what did they do? Near the Battery in Lower Manhattan is a space of tranquilty with undulating and calming paths in the midst of city chaos. It is named for Elizabeth Harriott Berger. Ms. Berger was a civic leader and champion of Lower Manhattan. President of the Alliance for Downtown New York and President of the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association, she helped re-imagine and shape Lower Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks and led recovery from the effects of Superstorm Sandy. Under Ms. Berger's leadership, the Alliance and the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association successfully advocated for full funding and timely completion of the Fulton Street Transit Center. Rather than focus on the district as the location of a terrible tragedy, Ms. Berger, renowned for her indefatigable energy and exacting intellect, was driven by a vision of Lower Manhattan as a place teeming with vitality and potential and a proving ground for municipal innovation. "Liz Berger's passion, sophistication and drive shaped Lower Manhattan as surely as any skyscraper or bulldozer," said Robert R. Douglass the Chairman of the Alliance for Downtown New York and the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association. With decades of experience in government, community affairs and strategic planning she established and built government relations practices at the law firms Lord Day & Lord Barrett Smith and LeBoeuf, Lamb Greene & MacRae and the Law Offices of Claudia Wagner. Ms. Berger is credited with creating the Department of Government and External Affairs at Lincoln Center. She served as an Assistant Mayoral Representative to the New York City Council during the Koch administration. A graduate of Yale College where she created her own major, The Study of the City, Ms. Berger was also involved with a variety of civic organizations in New York City beyond her professional obligations. She was at various times a board director of The Municipal Art Society, Film Forum, Second Stage Theatre, American Museum of Natural History Planetarium Authority and the New York Building Congress. She was also a mayoral appointee to the board of the Trust for Governors Island. In a statement Mayor Michael Bloomberg said of Ms. Berger "Liz Berger loved our City with passion and gave her great intelligence and inventiveness to New York without reserve. She was more than an advocate for Lower Manhattan, she was a partner in building its future. As new transit hubs, skyscrapers, full access to our waterfront and a fresh vitality emerge downtown, Liz's influences are everywhere to be seen. The vision of Lower Manhattan as a model 21st century business and residential district, was thanks to her tireless work. (The information above was copied from New York Building Congress Centennial.) Please take time to visit this amazing and calming park near the Battery named after Elisabeth H. Berger. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_H._Berger_Plaza