Democracy for Battery Park City (D4BPC), the grassroots organization that has collected more than 2,500 petition signatures and has lobbied for years to have neighborhood residents appointed to the board of the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) board, will hold a rally tomorrow (Thursday, July 6) to build public support for a new law — recently passed by the State legislature and now awaiting Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signature — that will require such representation.
State Senator Daniel Squadron (who sponsored the bill in the Senate) and Assembly member Deborah Glick (who sponsored it in the Assembly) are planning to attend the rally.
This measure follows ten years of resolutions by Community Board 1 (CB1) and multiple years of legislative efforts by elected officials representing Lower Manhattan. But, as Ninfa Segarra, chair of CB1’s Battery Park City Committee points out, “the bill is still not enacted. It must be signed by the Governor. And due to the confirmation of three nominees before the bill moved, even if the bill is signed by the Governor, it may be years before a resident will sit on the board.” (This is a reference to a series of sudden appointments to the BPCA board made by Governor Cuomo at the end of June, shortly before the bill was ratified by the New York State Senate). “In the meantime,” Ms. Segarra continues, “major projects that may substantially change the character of our community, like the Wagner Park redesign, are being considered by BPCA.”
Democracy for Battery Park City co-founder Crystal Hall gathers signatures last winter for a petition demanding seats on the Battery Park City Authority board for residents.
Crystal Hall, one of the founders of D4BPC, says, “Our financial lives, our quality of life, and our homes are all in jeopardy. As a resident of Battery Park City, whether you rent or own, you pay more to live here — either directly, for condo owners, in the form of higher maintenance fees, or indirectly, for tenants, in the form of higher per-square-foot rents.”
“On one hand, this makes sense,” Ms. Hall continues. “Battery Park City is one of the most beautiful communities anywhere in New York, with an unmatched quality of life. But on the other, there is a serious injustice at work here: The agency that collects this money, the BPCA, and acts as the government of Battery Park City, is not elected, ignores the wishes of the community, and makes decisions about all of our lives without consulting us.”
Sarah Cassell, another co-founder of Democracy for Battery Park City, explains to neighborhood residents the concerns that the group has over Authority policies.
Sarah Cassell, another D4BPC founder, adds, “this situation is going to get worse in the very near future. Planned increases in ground lease payments, for condo owners, and expiring affordability protections, for renters, will soon make Battery Park City unaffordable for the middle-class residents who built this community and are the reason for its success. But there is something we can do about this: urge the Governor to sign this bill, which will begin to transform the BPCA from an unelected, unaccountable closed-door clique into a body that represents the people it governs.”
The D4BPC rally is scheduled for 6:00 pm tomorrow (Thursday, July 6) on the Esplanade Plaza, near the volleyball court, alongside North Cove Marina. All interested residents are welcome and encouraged to attend.