What’s to be made of waterfront activist Arthur Schwartz’s filing a lawsuit, essentially single handedly, against the Hudson River Park Trust over the failed Pier 40 redevelopment process?
There seems to be a leeriness on the part of some community members and politicians at the Greenwich Village Democratic district leader’s action.
Although the Friends of Hudson River Park decided in October not to file the lawsuit, their attorney, Schwartz, in fact, did file it, and now has activated it, with his playgrounds organization as plaintiff and with a court date set for Feb. 3.
Yet, local youth sports leagues are anxious to get a full-size field built on the W. Houston St. pier for use by this summer, and others are curious to see what the Hudson River Park Trust will offer in the way of an interim plan for the pier. The general outlines of the interim plan are familiar: the field and more parking spaces. The field, pegged at $5 million, would take up to two months to build.
However, we think the lawsuit has potentially more positives than negatives. There’s simply no denying the Trust fumbled the Pier 40 redevelopment process when after over a year invested on the project and tremendous community input, the authority finally decided not to pick any developer.
The Trust continues to be vague on when a new request for proposals for developers for the pier will be issued — or if one will be issued at all. A marketing study may be done at some point, we are told. In the meanwhile, the interim use plan for the pier is set to last for up to seven years and maybe longer. Exactly how long, no one really knows.
In short, the lawsuit could force the Trust to show its hand — and, in the case a weak one exists, to set some concrete benchmarks, in the form of a real timetable for the pier’s development. And the suit could also do what Schwartz ultimately wants: compel the Trust to either pick a developer from the last round of proposals it rejected or reissue a new R.F.P. for the pier.
To the fears of some that Schwartz will end up the only one at the negotiating table with the Trust if the suit succeeds, he offers assurance that he would include the local elected officials and community members who want to be involved. That’s obviously an important consideration.
Now that Connie Fishman has taken over as the Trust’s new president, she has an opportunity — and an obligation — to address the ongoing problems that have plagued the Trust over the past year, from the implosion of the Pier 40 process to the lack of communication with the public and community boards that resulted in the ice-skating rink mess.
We have a hunch this lawsuit will help clarify and open up the way the Trust operates. It’s high time the Trust met its obligations at Pier 40 — and in its operation of the park in general. Rather than circle the wagons, Fishman should use this occasion to figure out how to move the park forward more sensibly and effectively.