Volume 1, No. 35  March 5, 2014

IN THIS ISSUE

* NY Rising meetings set priorities for lower Manhattan's share of Sandy recovery funds
* CB1's Battery Park City Committee attempts to mend fences with the BPCA
* South Street Seaport Museum: Tour the Seaport's Old Hotel
* Bits & Bytes: 55 Wall St. eyed for development; South Ferry subway station repair schedule
* Letters to the editor: The composition of the Seaport Working Group; a reader from Queens
* Community Board 1 meetings: Week of March 3
* Calendar

Masthead photo: Comments at one of the New York Rising meetings on March 1.
(Photo: Terese Loeb Kreuzer)

 

Three meetings in lower Manhattan this past weekend were convened to establish priorities for the $25 million allocated by New York State to study how to prepare for future storms in the communities most affected by Sandy, Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. More than $500 million in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds from the federal government will be available to implement these plans. In addition, New York State will award at least $250 million of the State's FEMA-funded Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to New York Rising communities.

 

"There are more than 40 planning committees across the state," facilitator Cary Hirshstein told the people who turned out for the New York Rising meeting in the South Street Seaport, which was one of the communities most seriously afflicted.    

The New York City Region has 10 New York Rising Communities, distributed over four boroughs that sustained damage due to Superstorm Sandy. Five Communities are in Queens, three in Brooklyn, one in Manhattan and one in Staten Island.

 

The lower Manhattan district takes in the area below 14th Street from river to river. It covers Community Boards 1, 2 and 3 and neighborhoods that include the Financial District, South Street Seaport, Tribeca, Two Bridges, the Lower East Side, Alphabet City, Washington Square, Little Italy, Nolita, Chinatown, the East and West Villages, Greenwich Village, Soho, Hudson Square and the Meatpacking District.  

 

"People's priorities varied depending on where they live," said Catherine McVay Hughes, chair of Community Board 1 and co-chair of the New York Rising committee for lower Manhattan.  

 

Around 100 people attended the three planning sessions in lower Manhattan. They were asked to place red dots next to the items that they thought were most important. Emergency preparedness and small business resiliency topped the list, according to Hughes. Resident resiliency, storm water run-off improvement and flood mitgation/coastal protection were also deemed important.

 

The results of the planning sessions will be forwarded to the State next week.

 

- Terese Loeb Kreuzer 

 

  

Community Board 1's Battery Park City Committee used to have a good working relationship with the Battery Park City Authority, the New York State public benefit corporation that administers Battery Park City's 92 acres. That ended around three years ago, prompting the increasingly frustrated committee to prepare a white paper listing grievances for the board of directors and the senior managers of the BPCA to consider.   

 

At its March 4 meeting, the committee gave the paper to Robin Forst, the BPCA's newly appointed vice president of external relations, to deliver, asking for a response by May.   

 

The committee's statement said, "Our observation is that through its three recent troubled administrations, BPCA has exited the public arena and made decisions that could adversely affect the BPC community. At stake is the future of this vibrant community."   

 

The white paper noted that, "In 2010, the New York State Inspector General report outlined problems and abuses in the operation of the BPCA and since that time, there have been three BPCA CEOs. That turnover coupled with the completion of 25 years of development has left the BPCA ill prepared for its future role and mission."

 

Lacking information from the Authority, the committee said it "had no view of what projects the BPCA had funded and what impact its decisions will have on our lives."

 

Among other things, the committee asked for "an open process to redefine the mission of the BPCA with residents as key stakeholders" and an increase in the representation of Battery Park City residents on the BPCA's board of directors. At present only one member of the seven-person board actually lives in Battery Park City.  

 

The committee also asked for a review of the BPCA's new funding policy, which has cut off support from some local organizations that serve the community and have received funding in the past.

 

The question of affordable housing loomed large for the committee. Excess revenue from the Battery Park City Authority goes to fund affordable housing elsewhere in New York City. Within Battery Park City itself, the relatively few units of low- and middle-income housing will go to market rents within the next few years. "We need to preserve this local affordable housing by contributing our BPC funds to our own community," the committee said.  

 

Ironically, though the communication barriers erected by the Battery Park City Authority have been all but impenetrable in the last few years, Robin Forst's appointment already signals a change. In addition to being at last night's meeting, she has been accessible and responsive. She said she would attend future Community Board 1 Battery Park City Committee meetings whenever possible - a sign of a thaw - plus she has lived in Battery Park City for years.  

 

Moreover, Gwen Dawson, senior vice president of asset management for the Authority, was at last night's meeting to give a rundown on construction projects that she supervised in 2013 and the major projects on the agenda for 2014.

 

Though there were still many unanswered questions, this was a good beginning. "We are encouraged of late," said the committee in its white paper, "but much work must be done."

 

- Terese Loeb Kreuzer  

  

Starting more than 200 years ago, the brick buildings on Schermerhorn Row in the South Street Seaport served the people of the "Street of Ships" - the tradesmen, the coffee and tea importers, the accountants, the ship owners, the seamen and salesmen looking for a cheap night's berth. They left their

Machinery for sorting coffee beans.

mark.

For decades, visitors to the South Street Seaport Museum's galleries at 12 Fulton St. were able to see the 19th-century graffiti on the walls, some of the old equipment for processing coffee, and most remarkably, remnants of Sweets Hotel and the Fulton Ferry Hotel, memorialized by the great Joseph Mitchell in his book, "Up in the Old Hotel."

As much as anything on display, the museum's buildings themselves were haunting and unforgettable.

Because of Superstorm Sandy damage, the museum's galleries at 12 Fulton St. have been closed since April 7, 2013, but this Saturday, March 8, museum members will again have a chance to see the faded wallpaper that covered the cubicles where the guests slept, the exposed lathes, the rickety, wooden stairs with a hand that points downward and the inscription, "Exit in case of fire." The laundry room is there and an old-fashioned mangle washing machine. A sign for the Fulton Ferry Hotel touts "bar & billiard & rooms."

The members-only guided tour will be led by Maria O'Malley, manager of the museum's collections. The meeting place will be provided with reservation confirmations. (The tour entails climbing stairs, with no elevator access.) To reserve, call (212) 748-8766 or email membership@seany.org.

"Developer wants to bring modernity to Broad Street tower," New York Post, 3/3/14: "Developer Bill Rudin is plotting the redevelopment of 55 Broad St. into a new, modern mixed-use tower," according to the New York Post. "Prompted by the diversification of downtown and a residential population beginning to pay top dollar for apartments, sources say the third-generation developer has already hired FXFOWLE to research the feasibility of redeveloping the current 35-story, 402-feet-tall office structure into a 53-story, 742 feet-tall mixed-use building. Such a building could include retail, technology-focused office space and ritzy apartments in an energy-efficient tower designed for the prominent site on the northeast corner of Broad and Beaver streets." For the complete article, click here.

Rebuilding the South Ferry subway station: The South Ferry subway station was totaled by Superstorm Sandy on Oct. 29, 2012. In April, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will issue a request for bids, with an award anticipated in July.  The MTA believes that the work will take two years and that the station can be reopened in the fall of 2016.

"The budget won't be finalized until the contract is actually awarded," said Kevin Ortiz, a spokesperson for the MTA. He said the money will come from federal Sandy Recovery funds.  

"The design is complete," he said.  "Contract documents are being readied for procurement."

Seaport Series: Repairing the Rift, a walking tour in the South Street Seaport organized by Open House New York (OHNY) won't take place until Saturday, March 15, but reservations will be taken starting this Friday, March 7 at 10 a.m. When the FDR elevated highway cut through the South Street Seaport in 1954, it had a profound impact on the feel and flow of the area. The tour will be led by WXY Architecture + Urban Design's Adam Lubinsky and artist and designer Yeju Choi. It will explore the proposed site of the Brooklyn Bridge Beach, part of the East River Blueway Plan, and the pop-up participatory installation Catch - & - Release, part of the Design/Relief initiative by AIGA New York, to understand how social and infrastructural strategies for addressing the void created by the FDR can work hand-in-hand to reconnect the neighborhood with its waterfront. Tickets,  $25; $15 OHNY (members). For more information and reservations, click here.

'Rilking' with Ariana Reines: Poets House at 10 River Terrace in Battery Park City is offering a special 10-week poetry-writing course with poet, playwright and translator Ariana Reines based on readings from poet Rainer Maria Rilke's extensive correspondence and works that will inspire the writing. The class is open to all levels. No application is needed, but registration is required; call (212) 431-7920 x12832 or email classes@poetshouse.org. Register early - first come, first served. When: 10 Thursdays, March 13 to May 15, 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Fee: $495. For more information about Poets House, click here.

"RFP for Operator of Battery Park's SeaGlass Carousel," Amusing the Zillion, 5/5/14. According to a blog called "Amusing the Zillion," the Battery Conservancy has issued an RFP (Request for Proposals) "for the operation and maintenance of the SeaGlass Carousel along with food and merchandise carts in Manhattan's Battery Park. There will be a recommended proposer meeting on March 11, with a due date for proposals on April 14." To download the RFP,  go to http://www.thebattery.org. For the rest of the article, click here.

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Editor: Terese Loeb Kreuzer

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