City Council Vote

The City Council meeting is over.  Among some of the speakers were Empire State Building's Anthony Malkin, and Vornado's David Greenbaum.  The vote won't be posted until the council finishes it's deliberations.  As soon as we have more info we will post it.

We have learned the the Council will make its vote on Wednesday, August 25th, 2010.  

Public Meeting for Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchise

I contacted the Land Use Committee and inquired how you can go about speaking at this meeting.  Have your speech ready and sign in to speak when you show up, your name will be called and you will be allowed a finite amount of minutes to talk.  You may speak on behalf of those who cannot show up, but be sure to sign that person’s name when you register as well.  Remember this is the absolute last shot at saving the hotel.  If you want to be heard make sure you or someone representing you shows up on time, and in the right place.


The meeting will be held at:

250 Broadway - Hearing Room, 16th Fl.
New York, NY 10007
Monday August 23, 2010 @ 9:30AM

Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchise

The Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchise has posted the agenda for the meeting on August 23rd.  the link to it can be found at their website listed below:    Remember this may be our only chance to speak out against this.

http://legistar.council.nyc.gov

MBPO accepts donations from Vornado and other REIT's.

The NY Observer reported that Scott Stringer (currently Manhattan Borough President) in his bid for the Mayor’s office has amassed a sum of $655,163 in campaign contributions.  From that, $195,000 came from Vornado, and other Real Estate Companies Executives, their families, and related organizations.  As you know, Vornado currently has a ULURP application, on file with (now) the City Council.

"To name a few donors who maxed out: CB Richard Ellis top broker Steve Siegel; RFR Holdings' Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs; and Sherwood Equities' Jeff Katz." reports Elliot Brown of the NY Observer.


There is a law that dictates the campaign limits by which numerous developers that have projects on file with the city, cannot give more than the limited amount to candidates of $400.  Vornado's Steve Roth, who is in the process of a rezoning of the Hotel Penn, (who also received approval from the MBPO), gave $1,000 to Mr. Stringer on July 2 of this year.  Mr. Roth was able to do this due to a provision in the law that does not require subsidiary LLCs to list the owners of their parent companies.  Because the Hotel Penn is listed as "401 Hotel REIT, LLC", Mr. Roth was able to use this provision to his favor to "donate" more than the allowed amount by normal regulations.  A Vornado spokesman said the donation was a "mistake", and Mr. Stringer's campaign claimed the contribution had been "refunded".

It’s amazing how the politicians of NYC, can be bought so inexpensively.

http://www.observer.com/2010/real-estate/stringer-eye-2013-big-real-estate-money

City Council Meetings

We need to be careful in the next month.  With all of the City's rules and regulations that Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchise are going to pass on the meeting for the Hotel to the Land Use Committee.  The following are the meeting schedules for the Hotel.  As things change I will keep everyone posted.

8/24/2010 10:00 AM 250 Broadway - Hearing Room, 16th Fl.
8/23/2010 9:30  AM 250 Broadway - Hearing Room, 16th Fl.

City Council Public Meeting

The City council subcommittee on zoning and franchise will hold a meeting on (or about) Aug 23rd at 9:30am @ 250 Broadway 16th floor.  I will keep you up to date as the day grows closer.  Now that we know for sure what subcommittee will be reviewing it, we can keep an eye on their calendar.

DCP decisions.

The following are a list of the decisions handed down by the DCP for the various ULURP filed for 15 Penn Plaza.  A copy of each has been sent to MBPO and Christine Quinn.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/cpc/100237.pdf

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/cpc/100050.pdf

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/cpc/100048.pdf

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/cpc/100047.pdf

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/cpc/100049.pdf

CB5 admonishes MBPO and DCP

Sources tell us that CB5 is very unhappy with the decision handed down by the MBPO and DCP and told them so. CB5 states "No such letter was sent. At least not from Community Board Five."


However, CB5 made no secret to their unhappiness during the start of the public hearings of this ULURP project. with a nearly unanimous vote declining the project.

WPIX-TV

We sent a letter to WPIX-TV (Ch 11 in NY) to ask them to do a story on the preservation efforts. We hope to hear back from them soon. In the mean time if you are attending "the next hope" please ask to sign the petition to help us save the Hotel Pennsylvania!

Petition

If you are attending HOPE at the Hotel Penn this weekend, please be sure to sign the Petition to help save the Hotel from being demolished!

DCP votes "Yes" to demolition

The DCP has voted unanimously to approve the 15 Penn Plaza project. We will post more information when it becomes available.

DCP Public Hearing Closed!

Apparently the DCP pulled a fast one on us and already held the public hearing on the Hotel Penn back in May!

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/luproc/rs_dispo/2010-05-24rs.pdf
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/luproc/dispo/2010-05-26cal.pdf

A quote from Steve Roth

 Back in March Steve Roth gave speech at Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.  The Observer quoted the following:


Mr. Roth, who bought Alexander's in large part for its real estate holdings, offered his take on his reticence to build, and why he let the site sit empty for so long:
The New York newspapers, he complained, said "I couldn't make a decision; I didn't know what I wanted to do.
"Bullshit. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted the price to go up. A lot. And I was willing to wait because I had almost no basis in the land."
There was another plus to waiting, he noted, offering a refreshingly candid developer's take on one way to pursue government subsidies:
"My mother called me and said [of the site], 'It's dirty. There are bums sleeping in the sidewalks of this now closed, decrepit building. They're urinating in the corners. It's terrible. You have to fix it.'
"And what did I do? Nothing.
"Why did I do nothing? Because I was thinking in my own awkward way, that the more the building was a blight, the more the governments would want this to be redeveloped; the more help they would give us when the time came.
"And they did."


The city is obviously being played for a fool, and yet they still play into his hands.

Pennsylvania Station 100th Anniversary Lighting Facebook

Please join our Facebook group supporting the Empire State Building's potential lighting of Pennsylvania Station for it's 100th Anniversary.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Light-the-Empire-State-Building-for-NYCs-Penn-Stations-100th-Anniversary/121121067930931?ref=ts

L Magazine Article

In an article posted on L magazines website Henry Stewart quotes Colum McCann as saying "It was a city uninterested in history. Strange things occurred precisely because there was no necessary regard for the past. The city lived in a sort of everyday present. It had no need to believe in itself as London, or an Athens, or even a signifier of the New World, like a Sydney, or a Los Angeles. No, the city couldn't care less about where it stood. He had seen a T-shirt once that said: NEW YORK FUCKIN' CITY. As if it were the only place that ever existed and the only one that ever would.
New York kept going forward precisely because it didn't give a good goddamn about what it had left behind. It was like the city that Lot left, and it would dissolve if it ever began looking backward over its own shoulder...He had said to his wife many times that the past disappeared in the city. It was why there weren't many monuments around."

To Mr Stewart I say "Thank you!"  You have said what we have been trying to tell people for years! 

Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer Announces Conditional Approval For Proposed Redevelopment Of 15 Penn Plaza

The full approval document of President Stringers office can be found here:


http://archive.citylaw.org/bpm/2010/May/15pennFINALpdf.pdf

City Council Meeting Final

We had our meeting with the City Council Member Jessica Lapin's Chief of Staff, Jane Swanson.  The meeting was informative.  We learned that Ms Lapin, no longer with the subcommittee on landmark but is still on the Land use committee  They seemed surprisingly unaware of the current plight of the Hotel, (but we fixed that.) 

We didn't take away much from this except that the only public hearing there will be on this will be held by the subcommittee on land use and zoning.  After that no more public hearings will be held.

Special thanks to those of you that showed up to join us.

City Planning Commission Review

The City Planning Commission final review has been pushed to July 19th 2010.  Apparently the commissioner has recused the proposal.


http://bit.ly/aGYxu1

Jessica Lapin meeting update

Our meeting with Jessica Lapin's Chief of Staff Jane Swanson @ 1pm on Monday has been moved to 250 Broadway, 17th Floor.  If you plan on attending please be sure to bring valid photo ID.

NYC Council pt 2

We have a meeting with Jessica Lapin's chief of staff Jane Swanson @ 1pm on Monday @
330 E 63rd st.  Suite 1K