Many of Downtown’s movers and shakers networked last Wednesday at Friends of Community Board 1’s second annual “Dare to Dream” fundraising gala at the Regent Wall Street’s Grand Ballroom. Madelyn Wils, chairperson of Community Board 1 and president of Friends, the non-profit fundraising arm of the community board, greeted architect David Childs of Skidmore Owings & Merrill. Childs is the lead architect of the proposed Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site and based on Gov. George Pataki’s new timeline announced last week, he has until Dec. 15 to agree on a design with architect Daniel Libeskind. S.O.M.’s Marilyn Jordan Taylor, who developed the C.B. 1-Downtown Alliance plan to redesign the East River waterfront, was one of the honorees.
The money raised last year helped the Millennium High School open on Broad St. last month and fundraising efforts for completing the school’s construction continue. At least $200,000 was raised at this year’s event before expenses and money will help pay for things like surveys of residential needs and concerns, special meetings and the board’s newsletter.
Also honored was Tim Carey, president and C.E.O. of the Battery Park City Authority. Carey was recognized for his efforts to open the neighborhood’s first permanent ballfields over the summer and for requiring environmentally-friendly features in all new buildings constructed in B.P.C.
David S. Rockwell, founder and C.E.O. of the Rockwell Group, which refurbished the St. Bernard’s school in the Village for P.S. 234 students displaced from Tribeca after the Sept. 11 attack was also honored. Rockwell Group also built the viewing platform to the World Trade Center and is working to open a new arts center, the Incubator, perhaps near Fulton St.
Other guests included: Joseph Seymour, executive director of the Port Authority, which owns the W.T.C. site; Julie Menin, one of the 13 jurors who will select the design for the W.T.C. memorial; Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver; Assemblymember Deborah Glick; State Sen. Martin Connor; Councilmember Alan Gerson; and the state’s first mother and brother, Margaret and Lou Pataki. Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, who is designing the W.T.C. transit center, had a ticket for the event, but could not attend because he was in Europe.
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