Wednesday, April 26, 2006
CB6, spring, street fairs, East Side rezoning and the UN
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Spring has sprung, and the thoughts of forward-thinking civic activists have turned to street fairs. The main work load of Community Board 6, as early as February, was to review Street Activity Permit requests, starting with the Gustavo’s Adolphus Lutheran Church, for the use of 3rd Ave (23-34 Streets) on April 30, which was approved, as were the events of the Turtle Bay Association, on May 7 (2nd Avenue, 42-55 Streets), Gramercy Visiting Neighbors on May 13 (3rd, 14-23 Streets – all dates are Saturdays except as noted), 17th Pct Community Council (Lex, 42-57 Streets), Bellevue South Community Association on June 4 (2nd, 23-34 Streets), Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association for June 10 (2nd, 14-23 Streets) Tilden Midtown Democratic Club on Sunday June 11 (3rd, 23-34 Streets), Friends of the 13th Precinct for June 17 (2nd, 23-34 Streets), Kidney and urology Foundation for June 18 (Lex, 34-42 Streets), Seafarers and international House for June 25 (3rd, 14-23 Streets), Meretz/Israeli Civil Rights Education Fund for Sunday, July 8 (Lex, 34-42 Streets), East Side Rezoning Alliance on Sunday, July 23 (Lex, 42-57 Streets), Vanderbilt YMCA for July 29 (2nd, 42-57 Streets), East 55th Street Conservative Synagogue for Sunday, August 30 (Lex, 42-57 Streets), Albano Republican Club for August 26 (3rd, 14-23 Streets), Church of the Good Shepherd for August 27 (3rd, 23-34 Streets), Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza for September 2 (2nd, 45-57 Streets), Manhattan East Community Association for Monday, September 4 (Lex, 43-42 Streets), Tudor City Association for Sunday, September 17 (2nd, 43-57 Streets), Cathedral High School for Sunday, October 1, (Lex, 42-57 Streets), Soldiers, Sailors, Marines & Airmen’s Club for Sunday, October 8 (Lex, 34-42 Streets), Our Lady of the Scapular and St. Stephan for Sunday, October 22 (3rd, 23-42 Streets).
Somewhat lost but not forgotten in the massive minutes of the CB6 were the actions regarding the 197-a and 197-c Plans, the zoning proposals for the renewal of the Eastern section of the district, to be addressed here on another occasion, and the Con Ed Waterside properties (three sites on 1st Avenue, 35-42 Streets), which include re-powering the 14th Street station and disposing of the Waterside land for development. CB6 wants a full Environmental Impact analysis that takes into account also the redesign of the FDR Drive and of the new building of the United Nations.
Note that our CB6 is in essence a ruling body carrying powers that affect governance of the world, if you please, with staggering implications. As of the moment, the plan is to move 10 of the 38 floors of the crumbling Secretariat into a midtown Manhattan office building and to construct a temporary Conference Hall in the North (Sculpture) area of the UN space, 46 Street and 1st Avenue. US Ambassador John R. Bolton is blocking the $100M allocation, offering $23.5M and claiming that no justification exists for the entire sum and that the offered amount “should carry us a fair distance until the General Assembly decides on some other critical questions, such as what the strategy should be.” He adds that he does not want to appear to be slowing the process down. Shucks, who would ever suggest that?
Note that the entire reconstruction estimate is $1.6B, over five years, to be paid by the 191 UN member nations, with the US carrying a 22% share. The above project replaces the original UN plan, to build a $330M 35-story building on the adjoining Robert Moses Park, an asphalt playground south of the property hardly worthy of being the memorial of the great builder (ok, also destroyer of 22 neighborhoods), which the UN offered to mitigate by opening a waterfront access esplanade to New Yorkers. This ran into a barrage of objections from UN opponents, both right-wing anti- world government and left-wing anti-enemies of Israel types. In New York, Assemblyman Dove Hikind (D-Brooklyn) saw it as a way to sticking it to Kofi Annan and his bribe-taking son, while Majority Leader. Joe Bruno fussed over parking tickets.
Even the liberal then assemblyman Steve Sanders voiced some voter- oriented concerns about “overbuilding of the East side.” Of course, on the national level all types of nationalists and nativists advocated getting rid of the enemy, reminding us that Germany, with a lot of empty buildings in Bonn, stood ready to receive the UN headquarters with open arms. The ailing ex-Senator Roy Goodman, chair of the UN Development Corporation, whose $161K salary riled some opponents, could not provide a successful counter-offensives. Fortunately, both Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki have maintained their support, mindful of the fact that New York’s stature as the capital of the world rests as much on its financial might as on the presence of the UN. Further, the risk of a really major terrorist attack on the US through New York City is lessened by the presence of foreign embassies, whose loss would bolster the case for worldwide condemnation and strengthen the case for a US response of unprecedented severity. That is a horror scenario, but we are living in a world of unprecedented risks. Although the anti-UN forces and their nudges on the national government have somewhat subsided, look out.
Spring has sprung, and the thoughts of forward-thinking civic activists have turned to street fairs. The main work load of Community Board 6, as early as February, was to review Street Activity Permit requests, starting with the Gustavo’s Adolphus Lutheran Church, for the use of 3rd Ave (23-34 Streets) on April 30, which was approved, as were the events of the Turtle Bay Association, on May 7 (2nd Avenue, 42-55 Streets), Gramercy Visiting Neighbors on May 13 (3rd, 14-23 Streets – all dates are Saturdays except as noted), 17th Pct Community Council (Lex, 42-57 Streets), Bellevue South Community Association on June 4 (2nd, 23-34 Streets), Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association for June 10 (2nd, 14-23 Streets) Tilden Midtown Democratic Club on Sunday June 11 (3rd, 23-34 Streets), Friends of the 13th Precinct for June 17 (2nd, 23-34 Streets), Kidney and urology Foundation for June 18 (Lex, 34-42 Streets), Seafarers and international House for June 25 (3rd, 14-23 Streets), Meretz/Israeli Civil Rights Education Fund for Sunday, July 8 (Lex, 34-42 Streets), East Side Rezoning Alliance on Sunday, July 23 (Lex, 42-57 Streets), Vanderbilt YMCA for July 29 (2nd, 42-57 Streets), East 55th Street Conservative Synagogue for Sunday, August 30 (Lex, 42-57 Streets), Albano Republican Club for August 26 (3rd, 14-23 Streets), Church of the Good Shepherd for August 27 (3rd, 23-34 Streets), Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza for September 2 (2nd, 45-57 Streets), Manhattan East Community Association for Monday, September 4 (Lex, 43-42 Streets), Tudor City Association for Sunday, September 17 (2nd, 43-57 Streets), Cathedral High School for Sunday, October 1, (Lex, 42-57 Streets), Soldiers, Sailors, Marines & Airmen’s Club for Sunday, October 8 (Lex, 34-42 Streets), Our Lady of the Scapular and St. Stephan for Sunday, October 22 (3rd, 23-42 Streets).
Somewhat lost but not forgotten in the massive minutes of the CB6 were the actions regarding the 197-a and 197-c Plans, the zoning proposals for the renewal of the Eastern section of the district, to be addressed here on another occasion, and the Con Ed Waterside properties (three sites on 1st Avenue, 35-42 Streets), which include re-powering the 14th Street station and disposing of the Waterside land for development. CB6 wants a full Environmental Impact analysis that takes into account also the redesign of the FDR Drive and of the new building of the United Nations.
Note that our CB6 is in essence a ruling body carrying powers that affect governance of the world, if you please, with staggering implications. As of the moment, the plan is to move 10 of the 38 floors of the crumbling Secretariat into a midtown Manhattan office building and to construct a temporary Conference Hall in the North (Sculpture) area of the UN space, 46 Street and 1st Avenue. US Ambassador John R. Bolton is blocking the $100M allocation, offering $23.5M and claiming that no justification exists for the entire sum and that the offered amount “should carry us a fair distance until the General Assembly decides on some other critical questions, such as what the strategy should be.” He adds that he does not want to appear to be slowing the process down. Shucks, who would ever suggest that?
Note that the entire reconstruction estimate is $1.6B, over five years, to be paid by the 191 UN member nations, with the US carrying a 22% share. The above project replaces the original UN plan, to build a $330M 35-story building on the adjoining Robert Moses Park, an asphalt playground south of the property hardly worthy of being the memorial of the great builder (ok, also destroyer of 22 neighborhoods), which the UN offered to mitigate by opening a waterfront access esplanade to New Yorkers. This ran into a barrage of objections from UN opponents, both right-wing anti- world government and left-wing anti-enemies of Israel types. In New York, Assemblyman Dove Hikind (D-Brooklyn) saw it as a way to sticking it to Kofi Annan and his bribe-taking son, while Majority Leader. Joe Bruno fussed over parking tickets.
Even the liberal then assemblyman Steve Sanders voiced some voter- oriented concerns about “overbuilding of the East side.” Of course, on the national level all types of nationalists and nativists advocated getting rid of the enemy, reminding us that Germany, with a lot of empty buildings in Bonn, stood ready to receive the UN headquarters with open arms. The ailing ex-Senator Roy Goodman, chair of the UN Development Corporation, whose $161K salary riled some opponents, could not provide a successful counter-offensives. Fortunately, both Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki have maintained their support, mindful of the fact that New York’s stature as the capital of the world rests as much on its financial might as on the presence of the UN. Further, the risk of a really major terrorist attack on the US through New York City is lessened by the presence of foreign embassies, whose loss would bolster the case for worldwide condemnation and strengthen the case for a US response of unprecedented severity. That is a horror scenario, but we are living in a world of unprecedented risks. Although the anti-UN forces and their nudges on the national government have somewhat subsided, look out.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 7:38 PM 
