Even City Council Speaker Christine Quinn can’t get Anthony Malkin to budge in his refusal to illuminate the Empire State Building blue and white in honor of Mother Teresa.
“I urged him to reconsider,” Quinn said yesterday. “And sadly, their position has not changed.”
In response, Quinn is urging New Yorkers to place a light in their front windows on Mother Teresa’s 100th birthday on Aug. 26.
Malkin said the privately owned building has a policy against lighting for religious individuals. But in 2000, the skyscraper was lit up when John Cardinal O’Connor, archbishop of New York, died. And in 2009, the building was lit in honor of the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, a Catholic order of nuns, according to Bill Donohue of the Catholic League. Donohue first asked for the building to be illuminated for Mother Teresa, and is threatening a massive protest outside the building on Aug. 26.
Quinn and Mayor Michael Bloomberg also declared Aug. 26 a citywide day of service.
“They are not interested in keeping the light of Mother Teresa alive,” said Quinn. “We are not going to wait for the Empire State Building.”
