Help Save Hudson Square
My family and I live on the lower west side of Manhattan, in a neighborhood developers coined "Hudson Square." I guess they thought it sounded better than "West Soho," "North Tribeca," or "Lower Greenwich Village." In any event, "Hudson Square" is what urban planners call a "transitional neighborhood." We moved here after the city rezoned the area -- which is the last official step in a transition; after that, developers build, residents move in and small businesses follow. In the last 40 years, New Yorkers have transformed the lower west side of Manhattan from an industrial wasteland into a diverse and livable community.
All that's coming to a disastrous halt, despite the contrary claims of Mayor Bloomberg's Green PR Machine. The mayor is pushing through a half billion dollar plan to build a two-block long, 138' high maintenance facility and parking garage for diesel fueled garbage trucks, with an 8,000 ton salt shed across the street, less than a block from a residential building. It will add almost 500 daily vehicle trips through the area, which is already under federal order to improve air quality. The building will be the tallest in the area and will span almost curb to curb. They've practically eliminated the sidewalks on the east side of the building, and the west side, which faces the Hudson River, will be brightly lit around the clock. Adding to this energy waste, 44% of the building will be for ramps, which, though empty most of the time -- will have to be lighted, heated and cooled 24/7.
Though the proposed salt shed site is within a Federal Flood Plain, the Mayor is moving ahead with the plan. In the event of the tidal surges that NASA scientists predict could be as high as three meters, floodwaters would surge into the permanently open salt shed and, when they recede, could carry 16 million pounds of road salt down Canal Street and into the Hudson River. Mr. Bloomberg is spending $100 million to build the potential for an environmental disaster from which the Hudson River might never recover.
The Mayor refuses any serious consideration of the community's alternative plan for the site. And there is a good alternative. Called Hudson Rise, the alternative plan would serve two districts rather than three- but that's still one district more than what is commonly understood to be a "fair share" under the New York City charter. The rooftop of Hudson Rise would be two acres of publicly accessible green space that would connect to Hudson River Park for safe access across the west side highway. Hudson Rise would improve the City.
As Jane Jacobs wrote in The Death and Life if Great American Cities in 1961, "There is a quality even meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this...is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist..."
Mr. Bloomberg presents himself as a guy who gets things done, but I guess democracy is a little too messy for him. He claims to be setting a "green agenda" for New York City. His "PlaNYC" touts multiple initiatives and even has its own logo. But what he says he's doing and how he spends taxpayers' money are two different things. In fact, the single largest city-funded capital project in the 10-year plan will worsen air quality, waste energy and bring to a halt 40 years of development that's been explicitly designed to enhance the city's riverfront communities.
To learn more, please visit: http://www.realizehudsonrise.com.
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A number of years ago I used to work on Stone Street once Brewers Street that has been fixed up for the public. What I recall, as I often had to then travel out of the city to work, was one day the FDR went under in a storm surge not 30 minutes after we had passed by the spot. It would be terrible to have this salt spill. I once studied the alternatives of the "West Side Highway" though that proposed for Buffalo, NY and also in a 100 year flood plain, that was superseded by the then new subway system there. Certainly getting this onto higher ground would make more sense.
Recognizing the need for a marine transfer facility on Manhattan’s west side as an essential element of the environmental justice objective of the Administration’s Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP). Friends of Hudson River Park commissioned a study in 2007 to provide a workable alternative to the City’s plan for a marine transfer station on both the Gansevoort Peninsula and Pier 99, and proposed instead a consolidated facility on Pier 76. It never got a fair evaluation. But if it were adopted, it not only prevents parkland alienation, and increases open space, it could also provide the solution to the Spring Street Garage dilemma by providing space for the third district garage. It could handle a greater volume of recyclables, reducing vehicle miles travelled and department overhead, improve air quality and reduce neighborhood congestion. Most significantly, the alternative facilities could be built sooner at a lower cost to New York City taxpayers.
It’s time for the Administration and the Council to rethink these decisions for a better New York, to come up with ways to make these ideas work instead of tearing them down, to focus on progress, not politics.
Fantastic post. Thank you sincerely.
And where is City Council Speaker Chris Quinn on this matter? Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver?
This area could quickly see as much revitalization -- and value creation -- as the Meatpacking District (love it or hate it).
Note further this area could already use more SCHOOLS. And Pier 40 is already a magnet for kids (as well as developers the community is trying to keep at bay).
P.S. Feel free to fire Bloomberg. And have "Don" clean up the mess.
Don't get me started on Christine Quinn. There was definitely some serious quid pro quo going on!
Hello Mr. Slattery. Have you considered asking Betsy Draper to entice Henry Francis, the New York Governor's special assistant, to exert some pressure on behalf of your cause?
While I appreciate your concerns for your neighborhood, things change. New York has undergone many changes over the decades and it will continue to change. I have no insight into this problem and of course we are only hearing your side of the argument. If things always stayed the same my family would still own all of whats now known as Bedford Stivecent, and it would still be farms.
I have lived in New York City for most of my life. I can tell you that this city has lost a lot of its flavor over the years. I was not a proponent of the Disneyification of Times Square either. Slattery is correct. You should see what is happening to the Lower West Side of the City. Terrible.
That's why I'm saying it sounds NIMBYish to me. Of course residents in an area, especially if they are newer residents who bought real estate at its boom, would rather have a park than a salt storage facility. But, the question remains, where is the better place in NYC for it?
Slattery's comments are not mere NIMBY-ism. There are alternatives.
Hi John, Love your work as an actor.
I am always in favor of things that are good for the environment, but it is unclear to me what the points of view are on this.
If you have to move, big deal.
Will the environment get better or worse from this?
i hope you will write more and give more links.
As a fellow NYer, I appreciate the interesting commentary, Mr. Slattery.
Sounds kind of NIMBYish to me. Where is the better place for this yard?
This sounds horrible! A real reason for Bloomberg not to be elected again - for the illegal third term!
I concur! I hope New Yorkers wake up already and vote Bloomberg out of office next month. He is corrupt and rolls over anyone and anything that gets in his way.
Here here!
John, I work in "Hudson Square". Thanks for depressing me! :-(
Yours may be the first public expression I've ever seen that perhaps the man who spent zillions of "his own money" to run for Mayor, and "only accepts one dollar a year in salary" may have a very good reason for that: being Mayor is a boon to, shall we say, certain developers. Not the ones in the organization you champion here, perhaps, but... CERTAIN developers.
One wonders how supposedly jaded New Yorkers could be so smitten by this Saint of Industry. Bloomberg disallowed AFTRA when he owned his local radio station. And in the #1 Union town in the country, you would think that little item might have made the New York Times. Or, at least, the political advertising of his opponents. Or, at least, advocacy advertising by New York City's Unions. Instead, all we ever knew about Bloomberg was what an incredibly competent businessman he is, and that in a solid Democratic town, you know, he's "not really" a Republican.
But as I've always said: if I had two billion dollars, I could convince the most hardened New Yorkers that I was Soupy Sales.
(p.s... LOVE "Mad Men", and your "sterling" portrayal of "Roger"! Hope to see you on Broadway, someday!)
Roger Sterling is my favorite MAD MEN character!
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