BY TOM FOX | I was saddened by Diana Taylor’s vituperative and fallacious attack (“Fox has his facts all wrong on Pier 57 project,” talking point, March 3). My Pier 57 op-ed (“Pier 57 project kept changing, without new bids,” talking point, Feb. 25) must have been right on the mark.
Questioning the Hudson River Park Trust regarding Pier 57 in no way enhances my reputation as a park advocate. That’s a result of 40 years working to create community gardens and parks, including the Hudson River Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn/Queens Greenway and a host of “park” projects that I’ve had the privilege to play a leadership role in. I would much prefer to cheer on the Trust’s current efforts, but unfortunately, they make that quite difficult.
I’ve been advocating for this park since first suggesting it in testimony to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding the environmental impact statement for Westway in 1985. I continued to advocate for the park, formally, until resigning from the board of Friends of Hudson River Park in 2011. My concern then was that, in restructuring Friends, Ms. Taylor would turn an effective watchdog into a lapdog — which is exactly what happened.
Apparently, the failure to include a marina in the Pier 57 project rendering presented by RXR at the Jan. 20 public meeting should not cause anyone to question whether a marina will be part of the project. Instead, citizens should read the details of a draft lease to find out if a marina would be added — somewhere in the Hudson River at some later date. The rendering, which didn’t include a marina for the first time in eight years, was just eyewash to garner public approval.
As far as understanding the difficulty of planning and implementing complicated projects, let’s compare our respective track records working on Manhattan’s West Side. Since Ms. Taylor joined the Trust’s board in 1999, the Trust has had two failed R.F.P.’s (requests for proposals from developers) for Pier 40, one failed R.F.P. for Pier 57, and just spent eight years trying to get their second one right for Pier 57 by changing developers, land uses and lease terms.
I led a successful multiyear effort to reach consensus on the concept and financial plan for the park (which still guides the Trust 20 years later) and secure the initial $200 million city and state commitment for the park’s planning and construction.
Working with the New York State Department of Transportation, we cleared tow pounds, bus garages and sanitation facilities from the dilapidated 1.2-million-square-foot Chelsea Piers, issued an R.F.P. and monitored the construction of this three-pier complex, which was completed in just three years.
Then there’s the eight years spent working with state D.O.T. on the design and construction of the West Side Highway.
Spurred on by Ms. Taylor’s pithy denunciation of both my expertise and intentions, I’m now sending a formal letter to state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to request a clarification of public procurement laws. The Trust says they can delay a project for eight years, change project developers, change allowable land uses, and increase a lease term by 50 years — all without releasing a new R.F.P. for the modified project. I disagree.
If the state comptroller says the Trust is right, I will apologize publically to Ms. Taylor. I’ve always been big enough to admit when I’m wrong, unlike many others I have dealt with in public life.
The tools that protect the public interest are the requirement for public participation, environmental review, public bidding and, as a last resort, the courts. Those tools were used to defeat Westway and create the Hudson River Park. For me, this is déjà vu all over again.
Fox was a citizen appointee to the West Side Task Force in 1986, and the West Side Waterfront Panel from 1988-’90; the first president of the Hudson River Park Conservancy (which completed the Hudson River Park’s concept and financial plan) from 1992-’95; a member of the Hudson River Park Alliance (which supported the Hudson River Park’s founding legislation) from 1996-’98; and a founding board member of Friends of Hudson River Park. He is also a plaintiff in a current lawsuit against the Pier 55 project.
