Starry night: The Friends of Hudson River Park Gala was the place to be last Thursday night, as the stars came out to Chelsea Piers for the annual benefit for the 4-mile-long West Side waterfront park. The evening’s honorees were Assemblymember Richard Gottfried, who co-wrote the park’s founding legislation in 1998 with former state Senator Franz Leichter; actor Matthew Broderick; and Friends board member Paula Madoff (no relation, we’re told.) Harry Connick Jr. was the evening’s suave emcee, and CeeLo Green performed. The event raised $3.1 million — surpassing the $2.6 million last year’s gala pulled in — for the park, which doesn’t reliably get government funding. The final one-quarter of the park still needs to be built. We couldn’t get into the actual event, so found ourselves hanging out with a swarm of paparazzi as they photographed the
VIP’s as they posed on the “green carpet” (get it, green, for a park), on their way in. They were even going crazy when Mike Novogratz, president of the Friends, posed. Yes, he is a billionaire, but the million-dollar shot was Sarah Jessica Parker. The photogs went wild when Parker and hubby Broderick pulled up in one of the Hudson River Park Trust’s golf carts. They surrounded the pair, and the waterfront lit up in a blaze of camera flashes. As the two posed for photos, they shouted out to Parker, “Stay with me!” “Work it! “Over here!” When 30 paparazzi are all shooting the same celebs, the competition is for the one photo where the stars are looking right at them, with the best expression. Hey, it’s a living! Also making the scene were
developer Ben Shaoul, who is also a Friends board member, and his wife, Megan. Although Shaoul is known locally for his East Village projects, he lives in the West Village. Broderick and Shaoul both told us they love the Hudson River Park and that their young kids love playing in it. “I think it’s great. It’s so important,” Broderick said of the park, as the paparazzi were satiating themselves with an orgy of S.J.P. shots nearby. “Now you can relax and ‘get out of the city.’ I live a few blocks from this park and I’m here all the
time.” The park is so key for the city, he said, because “There’s just more and more people and less and less space.” With the park, “There’s still a little space.” Madelyn Wils, the Trust’s president, said a study showed that while the percentage of young people under age 18 fell 8 percent for the city from 2000 to 2014, it’s been booming on the West Side, which she attributed to the park. This is backed up by a study by the Regional Plan Association, she noted. The study area covered the 4-mile stretch from Chambers St. to W. 59th St., extending four blocks inland from the park, and the percentage of
the youth population soared by 66 percent during the time span. She said the park is also responsible for $8 billion worth of construction – though most Villagers wouldn’t be too happy with that stat. We asked Wils if she thinks the lawsuit by Tom Fox and the City Club of New York against Barry Diller’s Pier55 project is still “ridiculous.” “Why would I think differently?” she said. Fox and Co., though, do hope the Court of Appeals does “think differently,” and that the court will agree to hear their appeal of the Appellate Division’s negative ruling on the suit.
