Following several days of protests and sit-ins, including three nights, in which Kelly McGowan slept in a tent, the determined dad, and lots of other Battery Park City residents finally got the victory that they were looking for.

“We want to honor the workers, we want to do the right thing, but we also want to honor the people who spent decades building this oasis of New York that is used by everybody all over the city,” McGowan said.

The governor’s office has confirmed to NY1 that despite some initial construction getting underway earlier in the week, plans have been scrapped to tear up trees and other green space at Rockefeller Park, in order to build the “Circle of Heroes” monument that had been championed by Governor Cuomo.

The monument honors all of the front line workers who carried New York through the pandemic, but it would have meant cutting down mature trees and replacing them with red maples, a concrete path, and an eternal flame.

"I think we were heard, and the tents came down, but we’re ready to get back up if we need to!" said Pamit Surana of Battery Park City.

Surana said the Battery Park City Authority has assured him and other members of the newly formed Battery Park City Neighborhood Association that their voice will heard, as a revised memorial moves forward, at a yet to be determined location in Battery Park City.

“We want to make sure it meets many of the commitments that the Battery Park City chairman made, specifically no fire,” Surana said. “We found this is not a good place with kids around.”

Emergency room doctor, Rafael Torres, said he's touched that the state wants to honor him and every other front line worker who risked their lives during the pandemic.

"You think about all the people you lost,” Torres said. “And how much time you were away from your family, and how hard it was for everybody. It’s not a time I want to relive ever again.”

Yet as a resident of Battery Park City, Torres is relieved that Rockefeller Park and all of its greenspace that means so much to his family will be kept in tact, after his community banded together.

“It just shows the power of grass roots political action,” Torres said.

Looking ahead, a rally is being planned for Monday afternoon starting at 3 p.m. at Rockefeller Park, in which elected officials are expected to join community members to discuss future plans for Battery Park City and the “Circle of Heroes” monument.