Port Authority officials have developed a simplified plan for the transit hub at Ground Zero, allowing the 9/11 Memorial to be complete in time for the tenth anniversary of the attacks, says the  New York Times; the plan must still be approved by the Authority commissioners.  The proposed alterations to the transit hub are underneath the memorial and would retain architect Santiago Calatrava’s bird-like design for the street level building.  MAS is still searching for funding to continue the “Tribute in Light” memorial to the 9/11 attacks as well as a permanent location for the installation.

Meanwhile, the New York Sun reports that the Port Authority may miss a deadline to hand over Tower 2 of the World Trade Center to the developer Silverstein Properties, incurring even more penalties.

In other news, Nicolai Ouroussoff, architecture critic for the New York Times, considers the redesign of 2 Columbus Circle, which opens this weekend. Continue Reading>>

The proposed Willets Point rezoning was approved yesterday by the City Planning Commission.  The New York Sun and the New York Daily News report that the City Council opposition is demanding primarily that the use of eminent domain be removed from the plan and that the percentage of affordable housing on the site be raised to fifty from twenty percent.

Gotham Gazette reports that modifications made to the plan by the Commission incorporated green building and sustainable design standards. Currently, the plan calls for the construction of a mixed use neighborhood with 5,000 residential units, destination retail, and a small convention center. Given multiple factors that could make Willets Point inhospitable to residents, MAS testified before the Planning Commission suggesting that the City consider the potential of fostering new, green industrial and manufacturing job growth in the area.

In other news, construction at McCarren Pool has started. Continue Reading>>

The New York Daily News reports that a lawyer for Thor Equities – the primary landowner of Coney Island’s amusement district – admonished the president of the Coney Island Development Corporation  for inaccurately characterizing and discrediting the developer’s plans for the area. At an MAS panel discussion on Coney island last week, the CIDC warned that Thor’s track record thus far in Coney Island is punctuated with half-baked attempts at providing summer amusements and the preservation of vacant lots until the City’s proposed rezoning is approved.

The New York Observer reports that the proposed rezoning of Willets Point passed almost unanimously at the City Planning Commission this morning, only the Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum voted against.  The rezoning must now be addressed within two months by the City Council, the majority of which has already publicly rejected the application as it now stands.  MAS testified before the Planning Commission on Willets Point and will continue to monitor it during the public hearings of the City Council.

In other news, employees in Willets Point are uncomfortable with the City’s job-training program, which is geared toward hotel and service industries. Continue Reading>>

MAS will host “Coney Island at the Crossroads” tonight, a panel discussion featuring MAS president Kent Barwick, the NYC Department of City Planning, the Coney Island Development Corporation; Carol Hill Albert,  owner of Astroland; Dick Zigun, director of Coney Island USA, and Sheryl Robertson, director of South Brooklyn Youth Consortium.  Jonathan Bowles, director of the Center for an Urban Future will moderate. Check out details of the program on Gownus Lounge.  Read more about MAS’ Coney Island Advocacy here

The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated five new landmarks yesterday, says the New York Times; MAS testified before the Commission in support of the proposed Alice and Agate Courts Historic District in Bedford-Stuyvesant

In other news, Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn is bringing their last appeal to stop the Atlantic Yards project Continue Reading>>

As part of its ongoing advocacy on Coney Island, MAS is holding two public programs in September which focus on the past and future of “America’s Playground”. Titled, respectively, Coney Island: A Ride Though History and Coney Island at the Crossroads, the programs will first set the scene with a vivid history of the area featuring Charles Denson, author of Coney Island: Lost and Found, and then representatives of the Dept. of City Planning and Coney Island Development Corporation will present the city’s plan, and a panel comprising sympathetic and critical voices will discuss its merits. For more information and reservation details for these programs, visit www.mas.org/programs.

What’s more, today’s Brooklyn Paper covers upcoming programs and tours focused on Coney Island also in September. Continue Reading>>

Yesterday, MAS testified at the City Planning Commission hearing regarding the Willets Point rezoning plan. First and foremost, MAS stressed that the plan, which includes an urban renewal action that will allow for the use of eminent domain, must reflect the results of an inclusive planning and monitoring process. In regards to the rezoning – from manufacturing into a mixed-used residential and commercial district – MAS suggested the City conduct a thorough examination of the plan’s implication for long-term, industrial and manufacturing job growth, including a justified strategy deployment of public resources tied to agreed upon community benefits. Finally, MAS raised concerns over the purported high standards of sustainable neighborhood planning Willets Point aims to achieve. The full testimony is after the jump. Continue Reading>>

The buildings in Harlem are brick and stone, And the streets are long and wide, But Harlem’s much more than these alone, Harlem is what’s inside.
– from The Heart of Harlem, By Langston Hughes

On April 1st 2008, the Municipal Art Society testified at the Land-use and Franchise subcommittee hearing regarding the 125th Street rezoning plan. City Planning has been working for Continue Reading>>