Community Board 1
More renderings take us inside SHoP's Pier 17 plan
On Friday, we told you about new plans for Pier 17 at South Street Seaport presented by the downtown architecture firm SHoP. It was remarkable in part because of the almost unanimous praise the community board, usually stingy with compliments to architects, gave the renderings presented by firm partner Gregg Pasquarelli. We've got a few more renderings to show you. More
(1)Rare applause for architects in Lower Manhattan as upstart firm SHoP presents new plans for Pier 17
"Clearly, the work is terrific," said Roger Byrom, chairman of the community board's Landmarks Committee, at the meeting.
"We applaud this, and we don't applaud a lot of things," said another.
It's true. Plans to revamp the area between the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Battery have attracted famous architects before, and they haven't always fared so well. More than a decade ago, a plan to locate a downtown branch of the Guggenheim Museum in the neighborhood, with a design by Frank Gehry, was memorably likened to a cherry bomb exploding in a Diet Coke can by a community board member. More
Publicly adept CB1 Chairwoman Julie Menin prepares to run for something in 2013
It's the official start to the long-speculated entrance into politics for the unpaid chairman of Manhattan's Community Board 1. Menin has kept a high profile in that position, railingagainst trying terrorists in federal court, supporting the Islamic center near Ground Zero and acted as one of the brokers dealing with Occupy Wall Street protesters.
She routinely interacts with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose districts overlaps largely with CB1, and with Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, whose sought to reform the community boards in Manhattan. Menin though has largely shied away from speaking publicly about her political ambitious, but that's now over.
For protesters at Zuccotti Park, keeping the neighbors from screaming (for now) is a talisman against shutdown
At points during the two-hour meeting, things got heated. Multiple reports had it that the relationship was reaching the boil based on the things that were said last night.
But that obfuscates the fact that meetings like this are leading toward a ratified agreement between protesters and the community board, setting rules for the encampment.
If that goal is reached the protests are likely, if only for the time being, to be inoculated from claims coming from the city or from Brookfield that the protest must shut down to mollify residents of lower Manhattan.
With this meeting Occupy Wall Street got a step closer to that agreement. More
The end-game at Zuccotti Park? According to the NYPD, the landlord has to 'push the political button'
In public statements, the park's owners have gently suggested to the city that it is past time to restore the space to its normal use, and has posted signs in the park objecting to the sleeping bags, tarps, and use of benches as beds throughout the space by Occupy Wall Street protesters.
But they've stopped there, according to a representative of the New York Police Department who attended a community board meeting last night. He said that Brookfield Properties would have to formally declare the protesters trespassers. It's something the real-estate company hasn't yet done, but when and if it does, it is likely to result in the clearing of the park by police. More
(3)Williamsburg community board braves mockery over unenforceable moratorium on new bars
Nearly two hours into Tuesday’s Community Board 1 meeting in Williamsburg, board chair Chris Olechowski addressed the issue of the night, which was also the reason the Swinging Sixties Senior Center was packed with people who don’t usually attend these types of meetings: the board’s proposed moratorium on approving new liquor licenses, which some board members hope would help address the area’s proliferation of bars. More
