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

Meeting with NYC Council Pt 2

We successfully made contact with NYC Council member Lappin's office, we have a meeting set for Mid July.

Meeting with NYC Council

We have requested a meeting with NYC Council member Jessica Lappin.  She currently heads up the Landmark Committee as well as being a council member of Manhattan Borough.  

Protest!!

We are planning to protest the city council 6/30/2010 @ 1:30 PM in front of city hall!

We hope to get as much media as possible, spread the word.   Lets show the city council we mean business and refuse to let them tear down this Hotel!

CPC hearing on 15 Penn Plaza

The final review hearing on the 15 Penn Plaza Project is set for July 14th at 1PM.  See the link below for more information:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/env_review/15_penn/notice_completion_feis.pdf