Too tall, too private
A week has passed since General Growth Properties publicized its plans for a 495-foot tower on Pier 17, and, as expected, UnderCover is hearing all sorts of complaints from the community.
One of the first to object was Peter Stanford, president emeritus of the National Maritime Historical Society in Peekskill and founder of the South Street Seaport Museum. The waterfront should be about “the tall wind-driven ships which built a city from the sea,” not skyscrapers, he said.
“When they sailed, they were the tallest the thing in town,” Stanford said of the ships. “Now we’re getting something that’ll make it look like toy ships.”
To help people remember the importance and beauty of the ships that visited South St., the National Maritime Historical Society recently published a booklet of John Stobart’s paintings of the ships.
Another group to protest General Growth’s plans, although more subtly, was New Amsterdam Market, which is hosting its third festival of sustainable, local food in the Seaport this Sunday afternoon. Robert LaValva, who runs the market, was hoping General Growth would turn the Tin Building and New Market building into a permanent market. Instead, General Growth plans to demolish the New Market building and move the Tin Building, then fill it with retail.
“These historic market halls should remain intact and in place and be rededicated as permanent public markets to support regional and sustainable food,” LaValva wrote in an e-mail. He encouraged people to turn out en masse in support of this Sunday’s market, to show General Growth that local food has a strong local fan base.
But UnderCover thinks General Growth has already gotten that message, since they agreed to put a 16-stall market of local food in the building that now houses the Bodies exhibit.
Stump warmup?
In a cross between a campaign speech and an acceptance speech Tuesday night, Julie Menin, chairperson of Community Board 1, listed her (and the board’s) accomplishments in her last three years at the helm. She spoke just before the board elected its officers, though she was running unopposed.
Menin’s list included the two new schools being built Downtown, the two new community centers (one done, one under construction) on the West Side and the potential General Growth center on the East Side, grants for playgrounds and ballfields and increased 9/11 health support for residents. Menin was very convincing, and it had the echoes of a City Council campaign stump speech.
In other election news, the only contested C.B. 1 election was for assistant secretary. Marc Ameruso, the incumbent, beat Chelsea-Lyn Rudder 26 to 16.
PAC someday
To the list of people who have not forgotten that a performing arts center was supposed to be a key piece of the World Trade Center site, add Linda Shelton, executive director of the Joyce Theater.
Of the four cultural groups once slated for space on the W.T.C. site, the Joyce is the only one left. The dance company hopes to eventually occupy a Frank Gehry-designed performing arts center along Vesey St., but the Port Authority has pushed the construction of the center so far into the future that many wonder if it will ever happen. While Shelton waits for the city to firm up plans for the site, or at least start formal fundraising, she has not lost hope that the PAC will get built.
“It’s a complicated site to be part of,” Shelton told UnderCover. “We still think dance and the performing arts center are one of the best things to bring people together on the site. We’re sticking with it…. We’re ready.”
Schumer caught
Skip Blumberg and some other Friends of City Hall Park were staking out the park two Saturdays ago, observing the behavior of cyclists, when along came a man who they recognized even with a helmet on: Sen. Chuck Schumer.
Blumberg hailed the senator (who was technically not supposed to be riding through the park, though most people do) and explained why the Friends were watching cyclists. Blumberg and a group of residents object to the city Department of Transportation’s plan to direct bike traffic through City Hall Park — that’s the same agency that used to be run by Schumer’s wife, Iris Weinshall. The D.O.T. wants to create a route connecting the Hudson River to the Brooklyn Bridge along a path that is safer than Chambers St.
While everyone is for cyclist safety, Blumberg wants to keep the recently opened north side of City Hall Park friendly to the pedestrians who use the benches and chess tables. Bikes, he and others say, would ruin the atmosphere and create an unsafe condition for children on the narrow path.
Community Board 1’s Seaport/Civic Center Committee approved the bike path with suggested changes, but Rick Landman of Friends distributed an alternative resolution at the full board meeting Tuesday night, which disapproves the path until changes are made. The board decided to dump the original resolution and endorse the Friends’ one.
And as for Schumer? Blumberg says they had a good conversation and Schumer pledged his support.
Josh Vlasto, Schumer’s spokesperson, later added: “Sen. Schumer supports whatever the community fashions when it comes to bike routes.”
