BY CYNTHIA MAGNUS | “It’s important to support the organizations that support us,” said Elizabeth Williams, a member of the Community Board 1 World Trade Center Redevelopment Committee. The committee’s September 12 meeting included an update from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, as well as an update from the MTA on the Fulton Street Transit Center.
Several board members called for greater transparency from the L.M.D.C. in terms of its grant selection process to Downtown non-profits and the overall management of its remaining funds.
Angela Rossi, L.M.D.C. director of projects and programs, spoke about the $17 million in funding for community and cultural enhancement grants for programs, services, and facilities to aid the continuing transformation of Lower Manhattan.
Williams questioned whether financial need was a consideration in grant awards. Some of the grantees, said board members, are organizations that are already well-funded. Among the grantees are the Museum of American Finance and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
“L.M.D.C. money is not usually used to fund a fundraising gap,” said Rossi. “The projects and institutions that we fund do need to have some sort of track record, there has to be a community need for the service that they’re providing.”
Among the applicants denied were the Church Street School for Music and Art, the New York City Police Museum, and the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy.
Board member Tom Goodkind said, “Choices were not as community-based as they were presented. The L.M.D.C. was severely lacking in sensitivity to the community.”
There will be no further grant allocations by the L.M.D.C. for cultural and community enhancements at this time said Rossi.
Committee Chair Catherine McVay Hughes expressed concern that the L.M.D.C. and Bovis Lend Lease have been in court for over a year for disputed funds related to the 130 Liberty Street site, and questioned whether a time frame exists in which a settlement would be reached. She asked L.M.D.C. spokesman John De Libero to clarify whether Bovis has put a lien on the 130 Liberty Street site. De Libero declined to comment on what he called “ongoing litigation.”
Hughes worried that money intended for the community will be decimated by legal costs. “The money is evaporating as we speak,” she said.
“L.M.D.C. is taxpayer money,” continued Hughes, “It’s supposed to be a transparent process. We need a detailed update on how much money L.M.D.C. has remaining, specifically allocated-versus-dispersed funds.”
Board member Joel Kopel said, “My feeling at this point is that I’d like to see better accountability.”
Concerning the agency’s remaining funds, Kopel said, “The federal government through taxpayers has given the L.M.D.C. that money. Taxpayers deserve to know where it’s being spent.”
Hughes asked the L.M.D.C. to give an accounting of its finances at the committee’s October 17 meeting.
Uday Durg, program executive for Lower Manhattan Projects, delivered the MTA’s third-quarter update to the committee. He said the Fulton Street Transit Center reconstruction is proceeding according to schedule with an expected completion date of 2014.
Hughes said “the past year has been a big step forward” with the MTA’s opening of the 135 William Street subway entrance. The Sept. 6 opening of the southbound Cortland Street entrance is “very helpful for the people who work and live and visit down here,” said Hughes. She is also pleased that the “hub” will be a L.E.E.D. (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified structure.
Approximately 60 percent of the project has been completed so far. Hughes said of the MTA project, “They’ve had timetables and they’ve met them.” Kopel said, “I am very pleased. I think they set some reasonable deadlines and met those.”
Retail space will become available through the MTA’s real estate agency by the third quarter of 2012.
Hughes called the progress made by the MTA a “huge win for the area” and a welcome improvement to Downtown’s infrastructure.
