State Sen. Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr. (D-Howard Beach, Ozone Park, Woodhaven, Glendale, Middle Village, Maspeth, parts of South Ozone Park, Ridgewood, Woodside, The Rockaways) yesterday fired off a letter to First Lady Chirlane McCray and her selection panel for the ‘She Built NYC’ for an explanation on why the panel ignored the people’s choice of Mother Frances Cabrini and failed to include the saint for a statue.

The ‘She Built NYC’ initiative previously held a vote where members of the public could choose which influential women who helped shape New York City they would want to see the city erect a statue of. Those results were recently released and Mother Frances Cabrini, an Italian-American who came to New York in the 1800s and who helped support the Italian immigrants here by creating orphanages, schools, hospitals and more, won with more than double the votes of the second-place selection.