Friends not fond of Pier 40 lawsuit

John Doswell, co-chairperson of the Friends of Hudson River Park, said despite the recent strongly worded six-page letter the Friends sent to the Hudson River Park Trust criticizing the failure of the Pier 40 development process, the Friends do not anticipate filing a lawsuit or being party to a lawsuit. The Friends’ letter called the process in which the Trust failed to pick a developer “legally flawed” and, for how the decision was reached, a violation of New York State’s Open Meetings Law. But Doswell said the Friends did recently discuss the possibility of a lawsuit to force the Trust to pick one of the developers that it rejected, but that there was not much sentiment for it and some members felt there simply was no legal basis for such a suit. “It’s not been on the table for the Friends,” Doswell said.