Amanda the People’s Burden
Chair,
The worst City Planner in the History of NYC Gov.
responsible for the largest mass displacement of New Yorkers
and a Tsunami of Community Crushing Development
on old NY’s infrastructure way too rapid and reckless
to be in the best interest of the People of this
Great City -- this was about GREED and STUPIDITY!
(Greed and stupidity lead to the implosion of Wall St as well)
Dear Amanda the People’s Burden:
I strongly urge you to vote ‘NO’ on NYU’s massive proposed expansion plan. This plan takes the wrong approach for the Village, for New York City, and even for NYU.
You aided and abetted an illegal air sale by the USPS to NYU at 120 East 12th Street over St. Ann’s Church from 1847.
The State of NY was never notified as legally required. You have done great harm repeatedly over and over ruling in favor of your greedy pals like John Sexton of NYU who continues to put our communities in harms way further displacing long term community members and destroying the essence of everything that makes NYC a dynamic City -- your goal a soulless shopping mall, mirrored sky piercing condos, hotels, dorms etc that reflect a history destroyed and communities no longer welcome.
I was asked to write you so I am but we know you are about dirty dealings -- the fix is in -- you always rule in favor of greed jeopardizing The People of this Great City which is why we call you Amanda the People’s Burden!
Shame on you. You remain a socialite city planner and my comfort is there is a higher authority -- higher and greater than your rich billionaire pals who connected with John Sexton and NYU and ditto for all the corrupt, foolish real estate deals you pushed through.
The plan would turn a residential area into a 20-year construction zone. It would continue to tip the balance of neighborhood character in the Village strongly in the direction of domination by a single institution. It would eliminate much-needed open space in one of the most open-space starved communities in New York, and would consign the remaining open space to permanent encasement in shadows by large-scale new construction. It would abrogate the terms under which NYU was given this formerly public land in the first place, which prohibited this kind of development, and would hand more precious public land over to NYU.
The damage would be even greater than this, however. NYU’s plan is only supposed to satisfy the university’s growth needs for 19 years, until 2031. What will happen after that? By encouraging the university to continue its expansion in the Village rather than pursuing viable alternatives, NYU will inevitably come back in 19 years and ask for more public land, or more zoning protections to be overturned, or a way to shoehorn more new facilities into places they were never intended, to accommodate their continuing growth. The university will continue to swallow up and dominate more and more of this vital historic, low-rise neighborhood.
This is an awful fate you would be approving for the Village. But it’s also a lost opportunity not only for New York City, but for NYU. Other locations, easily connected by mass transit to NYU’s facilities could accommodate not only the next 19 years of NYU’s growth, but the next several decades. The city has identified areas such as the Financial District, Downtown Brooklyn, Long Island City, and Hudson Yards as places where long-term, large scale growth is not only desirable but necessary. Community leaders in many of these areas have said that they would welcome NYU. NYU development in these areas would have greater economic benefits and fewer negative impacts, and by not forcing the university to build deep underground and between existing buildings, could be much greener as well.
The City Planning Commission is supposed to plan for New York City’s future. This is not a plan that is good for anyone’s future. Say no to this plan, send it back to the drawing board, and work with NYU to find a plan that is sustainable, sensitive, and right for the future of New York City.
With disgust,
Suzannah B. Troy
