City politicians seem excited about their City of Yes’ potential to build more needed housing in the five boroughs. However, after attending several community meetings, it’s become clear that at the hyperlocal level, when it comes to big and bold new developments for my neighborhood, we are still a City of No.
I have called Chelsea my home for four years after moving from the West Village. A prominent feature of our neighborhood is the cavernous eyesore at the Western Rail Yards. Various plans to develop it over the years have been struck down due to differing interests, opposing forces, and exorbitant costs.
Now, a new proposal, Hudson Yards West, offers an opportunity to transform the underutilized space into something extraordinary for the community and all of New York. A resort and casino would anchor Hudson Yards West and would also deliver affordable housing, a huge public park, and thousands of full-time jobs.
I recently attended three community meetings to hear developer Related Companies’ plans. Like some of my neighbors, I was initially doubtful about a casino. However, I learned that the Wynn gaming facility would make up less than five percent of the site. More importantly, the resort would provide $2 billion in funds to build the necessary platform over the unsightly rail yard, on top of which would sit a massive public park, a public school, and more than a thousand units of housing, including affordable housing.
The second-order economic effects of this development would ripple across our local community. We cannot let this opportunity slip away as previously planned developments have.
In the 1990s and then again in the early 2000s, there were plans to build up the neighborhood with housing and amenities anchored by various athletic stadium proposals. Those fell by the wayside. While a stadium may not have been the most attractive idea at the time, I can’t help thinking about the neighborhood that would have risen around it, which would have made the area less susceptible to some of the crime and quality of life challenges we are all experiencing today. Not to mention the lost opportunities for more jobs, community spaces, and new affordable housing.
In 2009, Hudson Yards was finally approved. It was a two-phase plan to create a retail, office, and luxury housing mecca. Once the first phase was done, the pandemic hit, and the original plan for phase two over the Western Rail Yards became unviable as public demand for ultra-luxury condos vanished. The eyesore—a massive hole in the ground revealing lines of train tracks—has remained.
While it’s not a perfect plan, it deserves a fair hearing. However, it has not received that from some community members. The Friends of the High Line, for one, has been campaigning against the plan with frivolous concerns about views and shadows. They have disregarded those Chelsea residents who are open to the plan.
For progress to occur in our neighborhood, we must refocus on what is important to Chelsea’s residents, such as having community spaces and new jobs. That’s why dozens of West Siders showed up at the Manhattan Community Board 4 Meeting on Monday to express their full support of Hudson Yards West.
Despite supporters showing up in large numbers of community board meetings over the past few months to ask them to vote in favor, the board inexplicably wants to issue a blanket denial of the project. Fortunately, their vote isn’t binding, and there is another way forward – working together to make this project a reality.
Related has already updated their plans to reflect community feedback. Together, we can ask for additional changes that are realistic for the development and better for those of us who live nearby. If we can do that, in less than five years the community would have a brand-new park, keys to new apartments, thousands of new jobs, and dozens of new restaurants, coffee shops and stores in the surrounding area. It’s time for our elected officials to step up and move the plan ahead.
If not, we will just have a hole in the ground and some bragging rights that we blocked yet another development that wasn’t quite perfect.
Kevin Rutter is a civic-minded fintech entrepreneur from Chelsea.
