By JOSH ROGERS |The hot air balloon that floated over the Seaport Sunday and triggered mistaken fears about terrorism, was hired by the area’s biggest developer Howard Hughes Corp., and not the city — contrary to other media reports.
“Several residents of the South Street Seaport expressed alarm, having received no prior notice and fearing the worst,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who represents the neighborhood, wrote in a letter to the city’s Economic Development Corp., Mon., Sept. 29. “As is well known, residents of this community lived through the awful trauma of 9/11…and many are justifiably concerned by the possibility of future terrorist attacks, particularly from the air.”
The New York Post had reported earlier on Monday that the city hired a company, Digital Design and Imaging, to take photos for future development plans.
But the balloon was in fact commissioned by Hughes Corp., a firm spokesperson, Jeremy Soffin, told Downtown Express. He said the firm’s contractor had all of the necessary permits including from the N.YP.D. to conduct the flyover.
“We apologize to anyone who was alarmed by the photo balloon and will work closely with community leaders to provide notice of any future aerial photography,” the company said in a prepared statement.
A spokesperson for E.D.C., which manages the neighborhood’s city-owned property, also said the balloon was not hired by the city.
Hughes operates the Seaport’s mall and is currently rebuilding Pier 17. It also has proposed building a 600-foot tower on the site of the New Market Building, as part of its plan to redevelop the area, but the idea was almost unanimously rejected by local politicians and community leaders, and the firm is currently revising its plans.
These leaders were hoping that Hughes would present its revisions Oct. 8 at a private meeting of the Seaport Working Group, and at a public Community Board 1 meeting Oct. 18, but a company spokesperson said those presentations would be rescheduled.
The firm is scheduled to appear before the Landmarks Preservation Commission Nov. 18, but it’s unlikely they would appear then unless they had already presented to the working group and C.B. 1.
Presumably the Sunday photos will be used at all of those meetings.
A spokesperson for the city’s Office of Emergency Management did not immediately respond to a question about why the city did not issue a Notify NYC alert as it often does to alert citizens to upcoming aerial activity.
