BY SEAN EGAN | The shape of Manhattan’s West 40s and the daily routines of hundreds of thousands of commuters hang in the balance as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey continues ahead with its plan for a new bus terminal (PABT), even as residents and elected officials speak out against the project and its process — which, they assert, lacks transparency and overlooks their input.
June 13’s Community Board 4 Clinton/ Hell’s Kitchen Land Use Committee meeting, which took up the PABT issue, served as a prelude to events that unfolded over the following week.
The Port Authority’s actions have met with increasing criticism on CB4 since the project first came to light in late 2015. Since then, the agency launched a design competition and has already narrowed down the selection to five finalists. That does not sit well with the CB4 committee, which feels that the community is being ignored — particularly worrisome, given the project’s potential use of eminent domain, a process by which government can force the sale of privately owned land for public purposes, thereby threatening the displacement of residents and neighborhood businesses and institutions.
After a spirited discussion in which committee members firmly condemned any eminent domain scenario, they agreed to draft a letter to the Port Authority voicing their opposition. As Manhattan Express went to press, that letter was expected to be approved at CB4’s July 27 full board meeting.
Alan Green, a longtime Hell’s Kitchen resident who is deacon of Metro Baptist Church at 410 West 40th Street as well as a cast member of Broadway’s “School of Rock,” said a land grab by the Port Authority could destroy his place of worship and residence.
“Hell’s Kitchen is a special part of the city and the thought of eminent domain scares all of us,” Green wrote in a follow-up email, echoing the sentiments of many in the community and noting that he found the idea of expanding the PABT an “archaic” short-term solution, especially since the Lincoln Tunnel is unable to handle increased bus traffic.
“There are seven non-profits, including my church Metro Baptist, in those few blocks that do incredible work,” he wrote. “Where would they possibly go and have the same space and accessibility to those in the community who are most in need of help?”
On the morning of July 21, a group of elected officials joined residents at a press conference calling on the Port Authority to immediately terminate the design competition. Standing outside the agency’s headquarters at 4 World Trade Center, Congressmember Jerrold Nadler, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, State Senator Brad Hoylman, and State Assemblymembers Richard Gottfried and Linda Rosenthal lined up to deliver statements decrying the way in which the project’s development has been handled to date. CB4 chair Delores Rubin and a representative of City Councilmember Corey Johnson were also on hand.
Nadler, citing a lack of community and neighborhood stakeholder engagement, said, “This is a non-starter. Eminent domain must be off the table for this project.”
Brewer, highlighting the need to address quality of life concerns, quipped, “The Port Authority has put the bus before the horse,” while Gottfried chided the agency for encouraging proposals that would require eminent domain, while itself being able to sell off its current bus terminal site for a huge windfall.
“Residents of Hell’s Kitchen should not be thrown under the bus terminal,” Hoylman said, criticizing the Port Authority for not considering all of its options, including locating a new facility in New Jersey, with a rail link to Manhattan — a scenario that has gained traction among some Manhattanites.
A July 25 editorial from the Newark-based Star-Ledger, however — “New Yorkers, listen up: The Port Authority Bus Terminal belongs in Manhattan” — pushed back hard against that idea.
After speaking with the press, the electeds headed to the Port Authority’s board meeting, armed with a jointly written letter addressed to agency chair John J. Degnan and vice chair Steven M. Cohen outlining their concerns in detail.
“It would be a grave disservice, not only to our constituents, but to all the people of New York and New Jersey, to proceed with the competition for a new PABT before a thorough and public examination is conducted of all of the outstanding issues and all of the available alternatives regarding a new bus terminal,” reads the letter, which also calls on the Port Authority to respect current residential zoning regulations, examine how any new PABT would fit into the city’s overall network of major transportation hubs, and carry out an environmental impact study.
Ruth Arcone, an 18-year Hell’s Kitchen resident who works at the Dwelling Place, a women’s homeless shelter at 409 West 40th Street, spoke out against the project at the agency’s board meeting, voicing fears about losing her job as well as a valuable neighborhood resource.
“The main people who are going to benefit are the commuters, and mainly from New Jersey, and it seems like they’re going to get most of the benefits and we’re going to bear the burden,” she said in an interview following the meeting. “[Port Authority officials] don’t seem to be aware of the impact it would have, or they don’t care. And the other thing is it’s just not a reasonable, logical way to do things. It would be a very temporary solution. Things would be better for a while, and then it would be back to the same-old, same-old!”
In a press conference after the board meeting, Degnan said the design competition would not be called off.
“I don’t see a reason to defer a process which is simply an early step in what needs to be an inclusive process going forward,” he said. “It’s not designed to come up with a definitive concept that will be implemented exactly as represented.”
Degnan pledged that the Port Authority would be more “aggressive in initiating” dialogue with elected officials and the community about the project going forward.
Cohen made clear, however, that the agency intends to pursue a new terminal in Manhattan as opposed to New Jersey.
“I’m confident that the concept that is ultimately approved by the board will minimize, if not eliminate, the concerns about taking private property having an adverse impact on the neighborhood,” Degnan asserted.
In a July 26 written statement, Hoylman said, “I’m deeply troubled by Port Authority Chairman Degnan’s stubborn refusal to hear out the legitimate concerns raised by the duly elected officials representing the west side of Manhattan. With so many fundamental questions left unanswered, we maintain it is premature to hold the design competition and believe the Port Authority should terminate the current competition and start a new process that examines a full range of options and elicits greater input from local stakeholders.”
Johnson, in a separate written statement, said, “There’s no question that the Port Authority needs a better bus terminal, but this process cannot start from the top and trickle down to the community. My colleagues in government and I are ready to work with the Port Authority, but we need to do it the right way. It’s time to make this a public process.”
