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Vallone Introduces Bill For Mother Teresa's ESB Lights
By
Jaya Saxena
Published Jun 9, 2010
Modified Jun 9, 2010
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By
Jaya Saxena
Published Jun 9, 2010
Modified Jun 9, 2010
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[UPDATE BELOW]
The Empire State Building will honor nearly anything with its lights. Tonight they're going yellow for the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. Tomorrow they're going blue, green and yellow for Caribbean Week. Last October, they lit up for the Grateful Dead. But the building has refused the Catholic League's request for them to light up white and blue for Mother Teresa's 100th birthday on August 26th. Now, City Council member Peter Vallone Jr. has formally proposed a bill requesting the building honor the late nun.
"She deserves better. She's one of the greatest women history has ever known," says Vallone. Because there's no better way to be honored than having people confuse your colors with those celebrating the 25th anniversary of Crain's New York Business.
Vallone says he never got a straight answer from the building officials as to why they ignored the Catholic League's request. The lighting schedule only goes up to July 5th, so its unclear what or who they plan on honoring instead. The Battle of Manzikert? Will Shortz? Women's Equality Day? Last year, the building went all white for nearly two weeks surrounding the date, which is the standard "ESB Lighting," so it would serve them well to at least celebrate something.
UPDATE: Empire State Building owner Andrew Malkin said in a statement, "As a privately owned building, ESB has a specific policy against any other lighting for religious figures or requests by religions and religious organizations." He also noted that the building honors many religious holidays like Christmas, Hanukkah and Eid-ul Fitr. Fair enough, but if that's the case then why, as Daily Intel points out, did they dim the lights for the death of Pope John Paul II in 2005? An ESB spokesman said at the time, "We solemnly honor this great man of peace and the legacy he leaves for future generations." Is dimming somehow less controversial than lighting?
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empire state building
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