Clarke Grad and Town Officials Move to Preserve Lindbergh's Take-Off Site

, a graduate, Town Supervisor Kate Murray and Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby announced their plans on Tuesday to recommend landmark status for the take-off site of Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 trans-Atlantic flight, located behind the Mall at The Source in Westbury.

Murray and Goosby pledged to recommend the site for landmark status to the Town of Hempstead in response to a quest by Sackowitz to see it protected from prospective development.

According to an article in Newsday, lenders took ownership of the mall since no buyers were willing to pay $148 million to pay off its debts at a foreclosure auction on Tuesday.

Scott Tross, the attorney representing the mall's bondholders, told Newsday that they will not hold on to the mall and that they will eventually sell it.

The mall, which opened in 1997, has struggled in recent years after the departure of Fortunoff, which filed for bankruptcy in 2009 along with other major retailers, according to Newsday.

Goosby and Murray said that they are determined to preserve the site.

“I am committed to working with Kate Murray and the entire Town Board to see that Lindbergh’s take-off location receives designation as a landmark,” Goosby said.

“Protecting our region’s history is part of preserving our identity,” Murray said. “I am grateful that Councilwoman Goosby and I have an opportunity to work with Adam Sackowitz to safeguard part of the Lindbergh legacy.”

Sackowitz, a junior at Hofstra University, came up with the idea of the Long Island Aviation History Act. The bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a feasibility study of certain historic aviation sites located on Long Island for possible inclusion into the national park system. Sackowitz went to Capitol Hill in July to see the introduction of the act.

Michael Ganci contributed to this report.

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