Public pans Penn plans
Hochul’s real estate deal draws heat at public hearing
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Governor Kathy Hochul’s
massive redevelopment
plan for the area around
Penn Station came under fi re
from residents and government
watchdogs at a lengthy virtual
public hearing on Dec. 8.
The Zoom feedback session
drew more than 200 speakers,
many of whom doubted the
state’s claims that the proposed
10-tower offi ce and apartment
development around the station
was needed to fi nance upgrades
to the beleaguered transit hub,
and accused offi cials of putting
the cart before the horse.
“The greatest cause of concern
is that the process is inverted
and that we started by looking
at how many development
rights could be sold to support
transit needs,” said Paul Devlin,
a co-chairperson of the land use
committee on local Manhattan
Community Board 4. “Instead,
the transit needs should be determined
fi rst, then fi gure out
how to move people through the
network and public space, then
determine funding sources.”
Former Governor Andrew
Cuomo fi rst proposed the
massive plan in January 2020,
LOCAL NEWS
A rendering of the proposed development around Penn Station.
then known as Empire Station
Complex. Hochul revived
Cuomo’s plan on Nov. 3 in
a slightly pared back form,
cutting about 1.4 million square
foot of space, or down 7% to
18.3 million square feet, which
newly includes up to 1,798
apartments — including 539
income-restricted units — on
four of the eight development
sites.
The state’s development arm
RENDERING COURTESY OF GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
Empire State Development
is leading the effort, which
promises to add 8 acres of
public space and proposes a
more pedestrian and bikefriendly
streetscape in the
area.
The building project will
also require almost two blocks
south of Penn Station to be
razed if state and transit
leaders choose to expand the
train station to accommodate
up to nine new tracks and fi ve
platforms underneath that part
of the development.
The potential bulldozing
has drawn the ire from residents
and local preservationists
who fear the destruction of
some older structures, such as
the 1870s St. John the Baptist
Church, the 1919 Hotel Pennsylvania,
and the Art Deco
Gimbel’s skybridge.
However, the Wednesday
public hearing was solely
about the development deal, as
the state has separated out the
transit upgrade into a different
project to be fl eshed out with
the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority.
One resident who lives on
the block of W. 30th Street
under threat of demolition accused
the state of not being
honest about its plans.
“If this plan were good,
I would bite the bullet and
step aside for the purpose of
allowing an improvement to
my neighborhood,” said T.
Lawrence Wheatman. “This
is not an improvement to the
neighborhood. This is a — I’m
sorry, I’m gonna say the word
— a blatant lie.”
Some speakers applauded
the state’s move, including one
Long Island Rail Road commuter
who said it was long
overdue that the commuter
hub get a facelift.
“Penn Station is an absolute
antiquated station that for
a long time has been talked
about being renovated and I
am in complete support of this
project,” said Matt Kamper. “I
use Penn Station all the time, it
is so congested, bottlenecked.
The time is now for Penn Station
to get its renovation.”
There will be another
public hearing sometime
next month, but the public
comment period is set to end
on Jan. 10, before the fi nal
plans come before the ESD
board in the spring.
Inside the East River Park war
BY DEAN MOSES
Residents on the East Side
are continuing their war
with the Department
of Design and Construction
(DDC) and the New York City
Parks Department over the
East Side Coastal Resiliency
Project (ESCR) amidst what
they claim to be illegal construction
following the issue of
a temporary restraining order.
In the last of the day’s dying
light on Dec. 10, they clung to
the chain link fence — fi ngertips
interlocked with the mesh
— and pleaded for the construction
to stop. Since the early
hours of Dec. 10, activists and
local residents had attempted to
halt the embattled fl ood protection
plan from resuming, leading
to two arrests that morning
of Harriet Hirshorn and Alice
O’Malley.
This fi ght continued the
following day on Dec. 11, with
one more arrest as workmen
took chainsaws to trees, sending
wood chips hurtling into the air
and park trees piling up.
The ESCR has been a stop
and start again plan that several
elected offi cials, the DDC, and
the NYC Parks Department
say will protect the area from
coastal fl ooding while also
improving the district with new
amenities.
Yet many of those who call
the Lower Manhattan district
home feel otherwise, believing
the work is destructive,
dangerous, and ultimately a
land grab.
“It feels violent, it feels
purposeful, it feels like an
attack on this neighborhood,
it feels like an attack on the
Brown and Black people of this
neighborhood,” activist Emily
Johnson told amNewYork
Metro.
Local resident Peter Shapiro
says he does not identify as a
member of either group, he
does, however, feel that the
ESCR is not the right plan for
the community.
“This is why we need a
resiliency plan that makes
sense. I was here during Sandy, I
volunteered through it. They’ve
changed what their plan is
over and over and over again.
Initially the community-based
plan was to just build a seawall,
the idea of actually fi xing the
park wasn’t even part of their
conversation,” Shapiro said.
“There was a much cheaper,
Emily Johnson asks NYPD offi cers to view the document.
much more sustainable plan.”
While those opposing the
construction feel that the
work is breaking the law, a
representative from DDC states
differently.
“The city has reviewed the
court’s written order and we
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
do not believe it prevents us
from continuing work on this
vital resiliency project. The
100,000 New Yorkers who
live in this project area can’t
wait any longer for storm
resiliency” a spokesperson told
amNewYork Metro.
Schneps Media December 16, 2021 3