Empire Station Complex opponents plan
boosted activism after Cuomo quits
BY MARK HALLUM
The Empire Station Coalition, a group
of 12 advocacy organizations fi ghting
outgoing Governor Andrew
Cuomo’s plan to revamp the Penn district,
brainstormed on Aug. 12 about how best
to expand their activism now that the governor
is leaving offi ce this month.
Despite promises from Empire State Development
offi cials attempting to sweeten the
deal in July with improved pedestrian space
in exchange for funding the estimated $306
billion Penn Station rebuild through ten possible
new towers in the surrounding blocks.
Human Scale NYC founder Lynn
Ellsworth said during the virtual town
hall that now is their opportunity to turn
up the volume on their opposition to the
project with a transition of power taking
place in Albany. Some ways she sees this
happening by rallying more people to their
cause and elevating their demonstrations
going forward.
“One of the problems that we’ve been
talking about for a very long time is that
the real estate industrial complex of our
city has pretty much taken it over. Through
campaign fi nance contributions to our
politicians, to ownership, or the regulatory
agencies getting their appointees on
Commuters walking through the Long Island Rail Road concourse of Penn
Station as it undergoes construction.
board, to organizing the legal or legislative
systems so that the governor, mayor have
all the power,” Ellsworth said. “I mean it’s
really hard to make headway in that sort of
framework that we’re up against.”
Ellsworth advocated for federal review of
the plan for its wider regional implications.
“At this point I feel like it needs a federal
intervention, of our federal elected
offi cials, U.S. Transportation Secretary
Pete Buttigieg, they need to come in and
sort this out,” Ellsworth added. “It’s both
a managerial problem, it’s a problem of
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
vision and it’s a problem of doing a new
economic benefi ts study to the region that
is beyond benefi t for just the city or the
state. It’s three states, why not look at that
thoroughly for once.”
On the homefront, legislation at the state
that would change how the ESD operates
in this, specifi cally subjecting its projects
to the planning laws at the city, such as
the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure
(ULURP).
So far, opposition to the Empire Station
Complex have been slow to mobilize, with
some politicians like state Senator Brad
Hoylman being consistently among turnout
as activists call for the savior of the Hotel
Pennsylvania, one of the last remaining
facets of the original Penn Station complex.
At this point, the historic hotel has been
rejected by the Landmarks Preservation
Commission for protected status multiple
times over the last two decades. Vornado
Real Estate Trust is planning the McKim,
Mead and White building’s demolition in
exchange for offi ce space.
Simeon Bankoff of the Historic Districts
Council pointed out that no one seems to
know what will be coming the next weeks
and months as Cuomo exits the executive
chamber – a result of 11 women reporting
instances of sexual misconduct – and current
Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul
taking over.
Regardless of the outcome of the 2022
gubernatorial elections, which Hochul announced
today she would be a participant,
Bankoff believes it will behoove candidates
to get behind opposition to the Empire Station
Complex.
“This needs to be a major issue, if they
want to get votes from New York City,”
Bankoff said.
According to a spokesperson from Hochul’s
transition team, she will “share more
about her vision and plans for the Empire
Station Complex in the days and weeks
ahead as she currently works through the
transition process and offi cially becomes
Governor.”
De Blasio slams MTA’s ‘ridiculous’ congestion pricing review
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Can’t they make it go any faster?
That’s what Mayor Bill de Blasio
essential asked Aug. 17 in blastingthe
MTA’s 16-month timeline to do an
environmental review of the long-stalled
congestion pricing proposal to toll drivers
heading into downtown Manhattan.
“Do I buy that timeline? No. I’d like to
meet the person who thinks 16 months is
‘expedited’ — that’s ridiculous,” de Blasio
told reporters at his Aug. 17 press briefi ng.
“Everyone’s gotta go faster. I mean, this is
crazy.”
MTA offi cials must conduct a so-called
environmental assessment to suss out the
potential effects of charging drivers heading
into Manhattan below 61st Street, offi
cially known as Central Business District
Tolling.
The agency told The New York Times
that the review of the toll’s potential effects
on residents in New York, New Jersey, and
Connecticut would take about 16 months.
Lieutenant Governor/soon-to-be Governor
Kathy Hochul told the paper that,
while she supported congestion pricing in
At his Aug. 17 press briefing, Mayor Bill de Blasio was visibly skeptical of the
MTA’s 16-month timeline to review congestion pricing.
the past, she needed to “evaluate further
given the constantly changing impact of
COVID-19 on commuters.”
The Big Apple would be the fi rst city in
the nation to toll drivers coming into its
central business district, but other metropolitan
areas have already had similar
tolls for years, including London, Milan,
Stockholm, and Singapore.
Stateside, the proposal has proven to
SCREENSHOT
be a thorny issue, especially for suburban
residents and commuters from the two
neighboring states.
Hochul confi rmed she plans to run for
governor in 2022 after fi nishing the term of
scandal-ridden outgoing Governor Andrew
Cuomo this year. The 16-month timeframe
would keep the toll from being implemented
until after she faces voters, potentially, in
the November 2022 general election.
The fi rst-in-the-nation proposal was
approved by the state legislature way back
in 2019, with the aim of curbing congestion
and pollution, and creating billions of
dollars in funding for the city’s decaying
subway system.
Congestion pricing promises to bring in
$1 billion a year in new revenues and would
generate $15 billion in new debt fi nancing
the Authority can use to pay for its $51.5
billion 2020-2024 capital plan — almost
30% of the massive spending proposal.
MTA’s senior advisor on congestion pricing
Ken Lovett shot back in a statement
saying the review had to cover a large area
across the tri-state region.
“We’re mystifi ed by the Mayor’s statement.
The planned 16-month schedule was
the result of months and months of negotiations
between the USDOT and MTA, the
state Department of Transportation and
the Mayor’s own city DOT,” said Lovett.
“Furthermore, the 16-month timeframe for
such an expansive project that covers 28
counties and 22 million people is actually
shorter than for many projects with relatively
small geographic and environmental
footprints.”
4 August 19, 2021 Schneps Media