Join Commissioner Adrian Benepe at
THE GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY
For the New Swimming Pool at
Frederick Douglass Playground
has been postponed until March 2007
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Some Positive Construction: Frederick Douglass Houses Playground
Last Monday, a half-dozen neighbors met in a sunny apartment at Park West Village, a U-shaped complex of seven buildings in the upper West 90's. They were indulging in a neighborhood pastime: remembrance of stores past.
At the C-Town supermarket, "their meats were always fresh," said Lois Hoffmann, 72, who has close-cropped white hair and was wearing bright red lipstick.
Neighbors often met at the Central Park Cafe, formerly at 97th Street and Columbus Avenue. "My 96-year-old neighbor could walk to that corner, and that's as far as she could walk," said Paul Bunten, a thin, fast-talking man with swept-back gray hair. "That was her senior nutrition program."
Someone else mentioned the cafe's floor-to-ceiling windows. "To heck with that!" said Dean Heitner, a wiry man with a thick mustache. "I miss the Hungarian waitresses."
They won't be back; nor will two dozen other stores that ringed the complex. PWV Acquisitions, the company that owns Park West Village's rental apartments, began emptying the retail spaces last fall. This summer, two years of new construction and remodeling is scheduled to begin; PWV plans to add about 90,000 square feet of underground retail space and replace the old neighborhood stores with new chain stores.
What worries residents most is not the changing commercial landscape but a development known locally as the Spike. PWV plans a 29-story wafer of glass and steel at 808 Columbus Avenue, in the middle of Park West Village. The building, to be completed in 2008, will be 13 stories taller than its immediate neighbors and will cut off the bottom of Park West Village's "U," filling some open space and funneling residents bound for Columbus Avenue through two covered walkways.
"It's like the Berlin Wall," Mr. Bunten said.
But the hundreds of people who attended a rally June 1 opposing the tower seemed to be protesting a certain kind of gentrification as much as the loss of shortcuts or cherished sight lines.
"The sort of tenants attracted to luxury rental buildings are a transient population who have a fortress mentality," Mr. Bunten said. "They tend to consume the resources of the neighborhood, but they don't give back to the community. They come here for a couple of years out of college, and they get a high-paying job on Wall Street. Then they leave."
Martin McLaughlin, a spokesman for PWV, said the company would add green space to the complex by moving the current parking lots underground and putting grass on the reclaimed space. The new building will not block many views, he added, and he said the new stores would be better and more numerous than the old ones.
"Change is change," he said. Referring to the tenants of the complex, he added: "Obviously they don't think it's for the better. I think the retail is much better, and they may appreciate it at some point." ALEX MINDLIN
Friday, June 2, 2006
AM New York Article on June 1 Town Meeting
PWV Acquisition LLC intends to develop a strip of high-end retail stores on Columbus Avenue, in front of the three Park West Village buildings it owns. It also plans to build a 29-story tower with market-rate rentals at the same spot. The high rise would occupy space now set aside for trees, benches and parking.
"The people who moved to Park West Village came because it was an oasis of trees and open spaces," said Lois Hoffmann, president of the Park West Village Tenants Association, who was one of the organizers of a town hall meeting last night to discuss the development. She added that tenants have been left in the dark about the development plans.
In a statement, PWV Acquisition LLC said it is meeting with elected officials, tenants and the community about the development.
"We look forward to a continuing dialogue about this new, mixed-use development," the statement said. "We expect to bring much needed new retail to serve this community."
Kathleen Cudahy, a spokeswoman for the property owners, said the high rise would be centered in the middle of the block, to maximize the amount of sunlight the three buildings would receive. She also said the luxury tower and the nearest building would be 200 feet apart, allowing for open space.
Tenants said the future development has already wreaked havoc on the community. The site of the planned commercial space was formerly occupied by local merchants who were given notice to vacate last fall.
In early May, tenants protested the loss of neighborhood stores when the last of the shopowners, a C-Town grocery mart, shut down.
Thursday, June 1, 2006
Town Meeting, June 1
Preserve West Park North, a new coalition of neighborhood activists, organized the Speak Out after they spotted an ad in a real estate magazine two weeks ago. It was an artist’s rendering that showed part of their community, the stretch of Columbus Avenue between 97th to 100th Streets, barely recognizable, looking like a glitzy midtown street. In the drawing, three uninterrupted blocks with 235,000 square feet of upscale glass shops supported a centerpiece – a 29-story luxury residential tower jutting up from what is now an airy esplanade of 45-year-old shade trees.
Finally, the residents had a picture of what their landlord intended to do to their unique community of almost 5,000 people, whose original planners had carefully balanced the size and shape of buildings with open space and sky around them. These proposed glass buildings would stick out like a sore thumb amidst the subdued red brick 16-story architecturally uniform apartment houses that now sit placidly on landscaped lawns.
Residents dubbed the alien-looking tower “The Spike,” “El Pincho” in Spanish.
This mammoth structure being marketed by their landlord would cut off the three Park West Village rental buildings on Columbus Avenue from the four mixed condo and rent stabilized buildings on Central Park West, creating a barrier that would slice their original planned community in half. If the plan is realized, the superblock holding 784, 788 and 792 Columbus Avenue will be without direct access to Columbus Avenue and will no longer be physically unified with their sister buildings 372, 382, 392 and 400 Central Park West. Landscaped green spaces that were part of the village’s original late 1950s plan would be built on or paved over. Resident parking lots would disappear.
Already four blocks of local shops that served the community – including the diner, discount store, hardware store, bakery, restaurant, deli and supermarket – are boarded up, perhaps for years. And residents believe “The Spike” is only the beginning.
“There is more land here to be dug up. We just don’t know his strategy.” said Lois Hoffmann, president of the Park West Village Tenants Association. She added that the city may be formulating plans to build on open spaces in the Frederick Douglass complex, too.
For months landlord Laurence Gluck and his partner Joseph Chetrit had kept their plans under wraps. The first indication that development was afoot came last September, when 11 local shops and eateries that lined the village along Columbus and Amsterdam received notices to vacate. Community pressure
managed to keep them open for a few extra months. The C-Town supermarket – geared to serve a range of familes from condo owners to working and poor families – was the last to close on May 5. The community held a rally with 300 people pushing empty shopping carts to show their distress. But despite pleas from residents and elected officials, the landlord withheld his grand scheme from the people who would be most affected…until that illustration surfaced in the trade magazine.
“Fifty years ago, Robert Moses encouraged the city to acquire this land by eminent domain. It was sold to developers at bargain prices in order to create attractive, affordable housing for working and middle class families,” said Vivian Dee, president of Preserve West Park North. “The people built a unified neighborhood that has endured for years. Is it justified that someone should buy this property and make an enormous profit by dismantling what was created as a special planned community?”
“The original plans for Park West Village created the Central Park West and Columbus Avenue superblocks and developers were allowed to build seven large buildings of 300 and 400 apartments each in exchange for open spaces,” Hoffmann added. “At least 5,000 people call these 2,500 apartments home. If someone is going to affect our community by increasing the acceptable density of housing and by disregarding the needs of our longstanding community, we have to have a voice.”
The closing of the shopping strips was the catalyst for forming Preserve West Park North, a coalition of resident, community and religious groups between Central Park West and Amsterdam Avenue, from 86th to 106th Streets. It is a formalization of the close-knit relationship among activists who live in Park West Village; current and former Mitchell-Lamas such as Tower West, Central Park Gardens, Town House West and Westgate; and NYCHA-owned Frederick Douglass Houses. Their motto: “Nothing About Us Without Us.”
Residents have so far gathered almost 2,000 petition signatures to present to Mayor Bloomberg, Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. The petition asks them to save and preserve Park West Village and Frederick Douglass Houses and to assure that any future development meets the needs of the surrounding community. They have hired a lawyer.
At the Speak-Out, the group will survey the attendees to find out what they would like to see in the community, explained Sue Susman, president of Central Park Gardens and founder of the citywide Mitchell-Lama web site www.save-ml.org.
“We want a voice in what happens in our neighborhood, to protect our homes particularly in the longstanding community between 97th and 100th Streets between Central Park West and Amsterdam Avenue,” Susman said. “Among other things, we want to stay healthy with light and air and open space. We want affordable shopping and affordable housing. We want our community to stay intact.”
Hoffmann summed it up: “We had restaurants where neighbors would gather and places to shop and now you have to walk blocks and blocks just to get a newspaper or a cup of coffee. They’re chipping away our hometown feeling.”
# # #
6/1/06
(For more background on Preserve West Park North, you may refer to the web site www.preservewpn.org, where you will find the news release and clips from the May 6 Shopping Cart Rally.)
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Town Hall Meeting - June 1st
SPEAK OUT AGAINST "THE SPIKE" !
Join your neighbors in the Preserve West Park North Coalition on
- THURSDAY, JUNE 1, AT 7 P.M., AT PS 163 (West 97th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam).
DEMAND that the people who live here have a say in what is built here. “The Spike” is only the beginning. More buildings are being planned, filling every open space with luxury housing.
If you want affordable housing, affordable local stores, trees and a chance to see the sky once in a while, come to voice your needs and concerns.
_________________________________
Click here to see an artist's rendering from a real estate magazine where the landlord is already advertising three contiguous blocks of retail space (“over 235,000 Square Feet”) on Columbus from 97th to 100th Street, available for high-end commercial space. Note that only half of the height of the 29-story-plus residential luxury tower (“The Spike”) is shown and more are planned. This huge structure would cut off access to Columbus Avenue for 784, 788 and 792, and add a road somewhere, thus splitting the original village in two and dismantling the superblocks and our sense of community.
Click here for a copy of the flyer announcing the meeting -- in English and Spanish. You need Acrobat Reader to download this file. You can get Acrobat Reader for free.Crain's New York, May 17, 2006
Columbus Avenue retail project moves forward
by Elisabeth Butler
A plan to redevelop Columbus Avenue between 97th and 100th
streets is moving ahead.
The project, known as 808 Columbus Avenue, includes a 29-
story residential building and 220,000 square feet of
retail space.
PWV Acquisition, which bought the property in 2000, tapped
Winick Realty Group to manage the retail leasing. There
will be 60,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, as
well as a 80,000-square-foot basement and an 80,000-square-
foot second story, according to the realty company.
Winick executives declined to comment beyond a written
statement.
Business leaders in the neighborhood have speculated about
PWV’s plans for the site of the former Park West Village
since retail tenants were told last year that they would
have to move. The last remaining tenant, a C-Town grocery
store, closed last month. The redeveloped retail space is
expected to house a supermarket, fashion boutiques,
restaurants, national retailers and specialty shops.
“The businesses that were there were really serving the
community, and they are a loss,” says Peter Arndtsen,
district manager of the Columbus/Amsterdam Business
Improvement District. “But we don’t have many attractive
businesses to draw people in from outside the
neighborhood.”
808 Columbus Avenue is expected to open in 2008.
©2006 Crain Communications Inc.
Saturday, May 27, 2006
News Release - May 6 Shopping Cart Protest
“The landlord bought out and boarded up at least 11 one-story local businesses on Columbus and Amsterdam between West 97th to 100th Streets. We heard that demolition of the commercial strips will begin this month, but it remains a mystery what they plan to build in their place,” explained Vivian Dee, president of the newly-formed coalition “Preserve West Park North.”
“It boggles the mind,” said Lois Hoffman, president of the Park West Village Tenants Association. “Park West Village has seven buildings, 2,500 apartments and 5,000 residents in two superblocks that stretch from Central Park West to Amsterdam, 97th to 100th Streets. It has been an important and influential planned community for decades. How can the owner get away with keeping large-scale changes a secret from us?”
The closing of the businesses, and the fear that green and open spaces, playgrounds and parking lots will be eliminated, led the surrounding community to band together this spring to form “Preserve West Park North” (PWPN). Still growing, the PWPN coalition includes people from Park West Village rental and condo units, the Westgate and Central Park Gardens Mitchell-Lama complexes bordering Park West Village on the south, several other Mitchell-Lamas in the West Side Urban Renewal District along Columbus and Amsterdam, Frederick Douglass Houses (a NYCHA complex bordering Park West Village on the north), the Ryan Health Center, leaders in several churches and other groups.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell and City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito, who have been working with their constituents on this issue, also will speak at the rally.
“In the 1950s, Robert Moses took this land by eminent domain,” said Jean Dorsey, president of the Westgate apartments which are home to more than 400 families on West 96th and 97th Streets. “Moses dislocated an existing community, bulldozed its brownstones and, in order to achieve this, he persuaded the city and state to make a covenant that Park West Village would be built as a planned, affordable community. Working and middle-class families were attracted back to this area by airy apartments, landscaped outdoor spaces, a school, library, health center and more. Public money went to buy this
land, but now it seems that private money can take over without notice. We built this community from funky to fabulous and we are stakeholders in its future.”
Stores Deserted
The local lumber, discount and hardware stores are gone. The bustling Greek diner that served as a neighborhood hub is closed. Streets are dark and frightening at night for many seniors who have raised their families in the complex almost since its inception. Across West 100th Street, tenants in NYCHA’s sprawling Frederick Douglass Houses fear that their green, open spaces will be the next to be viewed as buildable sites and already feel the loss of C-Town’s reasonable prices.
On April 29, the C-Town supermarket was the last of the businesses to close. Others included Amster Furniture, Barcelona Bakery, West Side Tae Kwan Do, My Home, Broadway Carpet and AJO Lumber & Hardware, located on Amsterdam between 98th and 100th Streets; and Express Corner Deli, Covenant Discount (a traditional five-and-dime store), Tandoori restaurant, and Central Park Cafe located on Columbus between 97th and 100th Streets.
“It had taken quite awhile to get to the point where people actually came north of 96th Street to do their shopping, but these merchants finally succeeded in helping make our streets busy and welcoming,” president Dee said. “Now, what – if anything – affordable and useful will replace these businesses?”
The Coalition says that the original height and size of the seven Park West Village buildings were allowed to exceed standards of the day, because the original developer agreed to keep the two shopping strips to one story and to maintain open, landscaped areas. The group believes that such planned communities in the city should be preserved, either through landmarking or zoning. They want to play a decisive role in the developer’s plan before ground is broken for any new project. A partnership of Joseph Chetrit and Larry Gluck owns the land and has formulated the unknown proposed project.
Historic Church Threatened
The Rev. Heidi Neumark, pastor of Trinity Lutheran church on 100th Street near Amsterdam, has been told that demolition will begin next to her historic 1907 Gothic-style church. “They say that the vintage painted glass windows, known as a poor man’s stained glass and made by designer Henry Birkenstock of Mount Vernon, will have to be taken out and the lead soldering removed,” she said. “For an unknown period, we will have to worship in the dark and restoration costs will be prohibitive.”
Neumark, who said she was attracted to the church because of the diverse surrounding community, has seen a growing congregation, most recently Columbia students and Mexican immigrants and their children who are moving into the Manhattan Valley community north of 100th Street. The church, whose physical foundation is believed to be solid despite the ancient streams that run beneath it, offers worship and outreach programs in English and Spanish.
“Preserve West Park North came together to give voice to an affordable, livable community that is being threatened,” said Sue Susman, president of Central Park Gardens Tenants Association and founder of www.save-ml.org. “We insist that there be affordable housing in any new project in our community. Any construction or change to the grounds must be contextual and on a human scale. Those of us who made this community on the Upper West Side of Central Park have a right to be part of the decision-making process, as do other tenants throughout the city whose protections are eroding. Let our coalition serve as a role model. “
Susman summed it up: “Our slogan is ‘Nothing about us without us.’ Preserve our superblocks.”
“It boggles the mind,” said Lois Hoffman, president of the Park West Village Tenants Association. “Park West Village has seven buildings, 2,500 apartments and 5,000 residents in two superblocks that stretch from Central Park West to Amsterdam, 97th to 100th Streets. It has been an important and influential planned community for decades. How can the owner get away with keeping large-scale changes a secret from us?”
The closing of the businesses, and the fear that green and open spaces, playgrounds and parking lots will be eliminated, led the surrounding community to band together this spring to form “Preserve West Park North” (PWPN). Still growing, the PWPN coalition includes people from Park West Village rental and condo units, the Westgate and Central Park Gardens Mitchell-Lama complexes bordering Park West Village on the south, several other Mitchell-Lamas in the West Side Urban Renewal District along Columbus and Amsterdam, Frederick Douglass Houses (a NYCHA complex bordering Park West Village on the north), the Ryan Health Center, leaders in several churches and other groups.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell and City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito, who have been working with their constituents on this issue, also will speak at the rally.
“In the 1950s, Robert Moses took this land by eminent domain,” said Jean Dorsey, president of the Westgate apartments which are home to more than 400 families on West 96th and 97th Streets. “Moses dislocated an existing community, bulldozed its brownstones and, in order to achieve this, he persuaded the city and state to make a covenant that Park West Village would be built as a planned, affordable community. Working and middle-class families were attracted back to this area by airy apartments, landscaped outdoor spaces, a school, library, health center and more. Public money went to buy this
land, but now it seems that private money can take over without notice. We built this community from funky to fabulous and we are stakeholders in its future.”
Stores Deserted
The local lumber, discount and hardware stores are gone. The bustling Greek diner that served as a neighborhood hub is closed. Streets are dark and frightening at night for many seniors who have raised their families in the complex almost since its inception. Across West 100th Street, tenants in NYCHA’s sprawling Frederick Douglass Houses fear that their green, open spaces will be the next to be viewed as buildable sites and already feel the loss of C-Town’s reasonable prices.
On April 29, the C-Town supermarket was the last of the businesses to close. Others included Amster Furniture, Barcelona Bakery, West Side Tae Kwan Do, My Home, Broadway Carpet and AJO Lumber & Hardware, located on Amsterdam between 98th and 100th Streets; and Express Corner Deli, Covenant Discount (a traditional five-and-dime store), Tandoori restaurant, and Central Park Cafe located on Columbus between 97th and 100th Streets.
“It had taken quite awhile to get to the point where people actually came north of 96th Street to do their shopping, but these merchants finally succeeded in helping make our streets busy and welcoming,” president Dee said. “Now, what – if anything – affordable and useful will replace these businesses?”
The Coalition says that the original height and size of the seven Park West Village buildings were allowed to exceed standards of the day, because the original developer agreed to keep the two shopping strips to one story and to maintain open, landscaped areas. The group believes that such planned communities in the city should be preserved, either through landmarking or zoning. They want to play a decisive role in the developer’s plan before ground is broken for any new project. A partnership of Joseph Chetrit and Larry Gluck owns the land and has formulated the unknown proposed project.
Historic Church Threatened
The Rev. Heidi Neumark, pastor of Trinity Lutheran church on 100th Street near Amsterdam, has been told that demolition will begin next to her historic 1907 Gothic-style church. “They say that the vintage painted glass windows, known as a poor man’s stained glass and made by designer Henry Birkenstock of Mount Vernon, will have to be taken out and the lead soldering removed,” she said. “For an unknown period, we will have to worship in the dark and restoration costs will be prohibitive.”
Neumark, who said she was attracted to the church because of the diverse surrounding community, has seen a growing congregation, most recently Columbia students and Mexican immigrants and their children who are moving into the Manhattan Valley community north of 100th Street. The church, whose physical foundation is believed to be solid despite the ancient streams that run beneath it, offers worship and outreach programs in English and Spanish.
“Preserve West Park North came together to give voice to an affordable, livable community that is being threatened,” said Sue Susman, president of Central Park Gardens Tenants Association and founder of www.save-ml.org. “We insist that there be affordable housing in any new project in our community. Any construction or change to the grounds must be contextual and on a human scale. Those of us who made this community on the Upper West Side of Central Park have a right to be part of the decision-making process, as do other tenants throughout the city whose protections are eroding. Let our coalition serve as a role model. “
Susman summed it up: “Our slogan is ‘Nothing about us without us.’ Preserve our superblocks.”
# # #
Friday, May 26, 2006
Curbed Publication on ''The Spike''
This story is from a publication that obviously wants to "celebrate" these luxury invasions that will permanently change the middle- and working-class neighborhood that we built. Click on the underlined name of the article to see it on the actual website and to follow the blog. This article incorrectly states that the Extell company will be developing the area along Columbus Avenue between 97th and 100th Streets, and on Amsterdam Avenue between 99th and 100th Streets. But while Extell is developing Ariel East and Ariel West on Broadway, Gluck and Chetrit are the developers for Columbus and Amsterdam, destroying the "village" of Park West Village.
More UWS Upzoning: 808 Columbus Eyes 29 Stories
· Columbus Avenue retail project moves forward [Crain's]
· Where Supermarkets Fell, Ariel East and West Rise [Curbed]
Thursday, May 18, 2006, by Lockhart
With the upper Upper West Side already awaiting the completion of Extell's twin Ariel West and Ariel East developments on Broadway and 99th, folks over on Columbus Avenue have their own megaproject to celebrate. A Curbed correspondent reports:
Community Board 7 is up in arms over a proposal to develop a 29-story residential tower with commercial space fronting Columbus Ave. The site in question sits on the super-block between 97th and 100th St that used to be occupied by several commercial vendors, including a recently closed C-Town on the corner of 100th and Columbus. The site is being developed by the beloved Extell, and is being fought by all the usual suspects, including residents of Park West Village.No word yet on the Stop Extell blog, nor renderings of 808 Columbus, though Crain's has a few details about the commercial space. Anyone know more?Last night Community Board 7's 97th-110th St Task Force approved a draft resolution that would rezone Extell's proposed with a height-ceiling to prevent proliferation of 808 Columbus Aves - but since that site is being developed as is, there's nothing the Community Board of the City Planning Commission can do to stop 808.
· Columbus Avenue retail project moves forward [Crain's]
· Where Supermarkets Fell, Ariel East and West Rise [Curbed]
Thursday, May 25, 2006
West Side Spirit, May 25, 2006
West Side Spirit, May 25, 2006, p. 22
POLS, RESIDENTS GLIMPSE FUTURE
Park West Village project inspires fresh debate
By Charlotte Eichna
A picture of the future has surfaced at last.
And residents, for the most part, aren’t happy.
The image in question would be a rendering of what developers intend to build amidst a plot of land known as Park West Village, a planned middle class community on Columbus Avenue in the upper 90s that includes several apartment buildings, street-fronts and open space.
For months, neighbors speculated about what would appear in their backyards. A protest recently punctuated the closing of a C-Town supermarket, the last of the local merchants whose stores once populated the area. Developers said they intended to share their plans with the community, but nothing concrete had been made public.
Then a resident came across an advertisement for 808 Columbus Avenue in a real estate trade publication. There, laid out in color, was a rendering of the proposed building and commercial space.
“It’s totally out of place in the community. It’s a midtown [building]. The commercial stuff is like the Time Warner building – all glass,” said Vivian Dee, a Park West Village resident. “It’s alienating, it’s cold.”
She is particularly incensed that the residential tower would essentially block off half of Park West Village – the part that is mostly condominiums, between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West – from the other half of the community, which consists of rentals between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues.
“Columbus Avenue then becomes a barrier between the two parts of Park West Village,” she said.
Dee, who heads up the Preserve West Park North Coalition, the group that organized the protest in early May, said she is planning a June 1 town hall meeting to discuss the project.
Although the site’s owners and developers, the Chetrit Group and Stellar Management, haven’t finalized the design yet, they are currently planning a 29-story residential tower of market-rate rentals, according to a spokeswoman, Kathleen Cudahy, and new storefronts.
“There will be a lot of green space on top of the commercial space,” she said.
They also hope to turn the village’s parking lots into green space and move parking underground.
Developers ay the plans are as-of-right and don’t require community review and approval, an assertion that has been questioned by some.
Community meetings are still being planned, Cudahy said, so that residents can share their thoughts about what sort of businesses they’d like to see in the commercial space. “We know that they need a food store,” she said. “These are all things that we’d appreciate hearing from the community on.”
Whole Foods, she confirmed, had been discussed as a tenant, although there were concerns about it being too pricey.A representative from Whole Foods said the company did not talk about potential locations except during quarterly earnings calls.
Both Borough President Scott Stringer and Assembly Member Daniel O’Donnell have met with developers to review the architectural renderings.
“I told them I thought they had to go back to the drawing board and come up with more than one potential option for them to present to the community,” O’Donnell said explaining that because it was a very articulate and involved community, the developers would be doing themselves a favor by seeking local input.
While saying he understands that real estate is a business, O’Donnell indicated he’d be happier if the proposed residential tower were more in line with its 16-story Park West Village neighbors.
“The community exists in a wonderful, harmonious way and we should do everything we can to protect that harmony and not have Midtown-like skyscrapers in the middle of our blocks,” he said.
Anthony Borelli, Stringer’s director of land use, planning and development, said the plans would have a significant impact on the community and stressed the importance of involving residents.
“The developer also has a responsibility to look out for the quality of life of the folks he collects rents from,” Borelli said.
Cudahy, the developers’ spokesperson, said designers did take into consideration what views might be blocked by new construction. At one point, they had discussed building two towers on either end of the plot.
“If you do that, you block the views of the people who are closer to the new proposed building,” she said. “Distance between the proposed tower and the existing tower to the west is in excess of 200 feet. That’s wider than any avenue in the city, it’s quite a distance. So in order to preserve as many views as possible, we felt that the single tower is a better way to go.”
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
May 6 rally
We held a wonderful, spirited rally at 100th Street and Columbus Avenue on May 6, 2006. Over 300 people came! Click here for some snapshots of the rally by photographer Frank Leonardo.
And click here to see the English-Spanish flyer for the rally. You can scroll down the page to see some articles about it.
CBS Eyewitness News Report
May 6, 2006
Click here for a video clip of the CBS (Channel 2) news report on Preserve West Park North.
Click here for a video clip of the CBS (Channel 2) news report on Preserve West Park North.
West Side Spirit, May 11, 2006
From the West Side Express page, May 11, 2006
SHOPPING CART PROTEST -- Shopping carts in hand, West Side residents and elected officials convened May 6 for a rally to protest the closing of local neighborhood stores and to express their displeasure at being left out of the planning process for a yet-to-be unveiled development.
The stores, which populated a superblock hemmed by 97th Street, Columbus Avenue, 100th Street an Amsterdam Avenue, were all emptied by the landlord over the course of the last few months to make way for a commercial and residential development. The property's owners, Stellar Management and the Chetrit Group, have not yet made plans public.
"The places that made a community cohesive are gone," said Vivian Dee, president of the newly formed Preserve Park WEst North Coalition, which organized the rally. Dee added that close to 300 signatures were gathered at the event on a petition demanding that the community be involved in the site's plans.
Kathleen Cudady, a spokeswoman for the owners, said demolition should start "within the next few weeks."
"We are sharing the plans right now with elected officials," she said. "As soon as that's done, we want to have some sort of community forum."
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who spoke at the rally, said, "We want the community to have a seat at the table in planning its own future."
Assembly Member Daniel O'Donnell and Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito, among others, also spoke at the event.
Click here to see the accompanying photo.
SHOPPING CART PROTEST -- Shopping carts in hand, West Side residents and elected officials convened May 6 for a rally to protest the closing of local neighborhood stores and to express their displeasure at being left out of the planning process for a yet-to-be unveiled development.
The stores, which populated a superblock hemmed by 97th Street, Columbus Avenue, 100th Street an Amsterdam Avenue, were all emptied by the landlord over the course of the last few months to make way for a commercial and residential development. The property's owners, Stellar Management and the Chetrit Group, have not yet made plans public.
"The places that made a community cohesive are gone," said Vivian Dee, president of the newly formed Preserve Park WEst North Coalition, which organized the rally. Dee added that close to 300 signatures were gathered at the event on a petition demanding that the community be involved in the site's plans.
Kathleen Cudady, a spokeswoman for the owners, said demolition should start "within the next few weeks."
"We are sharing the plans right now with elected officials," she said. "As soon as that's done, we want to have some sort of community forum."
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who spoke at the rally, said, "We want the community to have a seat at the table in planning its own future."
Assembly Member Daniel O'Donnell and Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito, among others, also spoke at the event.
Click here to see the accompanying photo.
NY Daily News
May 7, 2006
People Power vs. Tower on W. Side
Pushing grocery carts, waving signs and chanting slogans, more than 100 Manhattan residents rallied yesterday to protest the gentrification of their neighborhood.
Residents expressed disgust that their local C-Town supermarket had been shuttered - claiming it was closed to make way for luxury apartment towers in the area bordered by Columbus and Amsterdam Aves. and 97th and 100th Sts. "This neighborhood was created to accommodate the diverse people who live here," said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
"They're taking everything from us," said Joan Sandler, who said she has lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years. "It's one of the last diverse communities left."
Jego R. Armstrong and Don Singleton
People Power vs. Tower on W. Side
Pushing grocery carts, waving signs and chanting slogans, more than 100 Manhattan residents rallied yesterday to protest the gentrification of their neighborhood.
Residents expressed disgust that their local C-Town supermarket had been shuttered - claiming it was closed to make way for luxury apartment towers in the area bordered by Columbus and Amsterdam Aves. and 97th and 100th Sts. "This neighborhood was created to accommodate the diverse people who live here," said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
"They're taking everything from us," said Joan Sandler, who said she has lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years. "It's one of the last diverse communities left."
Jego R. Armstrong and Don Singleton
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