The New York Observer interviewed Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert Lieber this week on the future of major development projects occupying the Bloomberg administration during its last year – notably Moynihan Station, Willets Point, and Coney Island.  Lieber suggested that while the City is trying to acquire more land at Coney Island, the major landowner Thor Equities is still vacillating on selling – in which case the City would proceed with rezoning. MAS testified that the City’s revised plan – which already reduced the size of the open-air amusement park to accommodate Thor – is too small for the needs of New Yorkers and would deprive Coney of living up to its potential at New York’s premier waterfront amusement and entertainment area.

In other news, Harlem State Senator Bill Perkins convened a hearing yesterday on reforming eminent domain laws Willets Point, the Columbia University expansion, and Atlantic Yards featured in the discussions (Atlantic Yards Report; Community Based Planning).  New York Daily News columnist Errol Louis, in support of eminent domain, argues that in an age where private financing is hard to find, the state government needs as much flexibility as possible to acquire underutilized land and execute large-scale development projects.

Rafael Viñoly’s Brooklyn Children’s Museum in Crown Heights has opened; the addition is seeking to become the first LEED certified museum in New York (New York Times)

The City is trying to garner state and federal funds to renovate the New York State Pavilion from the 1964 World’s Fair by placing it on the National Register of Historic Places (New York Daily News)

New York City’s next visible public art installation will be treehouses in Madison Square Park (Curbed)