The Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) will host an “Open Community Meeting” tonight (Monday, July 24), from 6:00 to 8:00 pm, at Six River Terrace (opposite the Irish Hunger Memorial and next to Le Pain Quotidien restaurant). Residents are urged to attend, hear a presentation from Authority staff on their vision for the community, and seek answers to questions that are crucial to the futures of all who lives here, such as resiliency, affordability, and security.
The Broadsheet asked a cross-section of elected officials, community leaders, and residents to frame suggestions and pose questions for the Authority to answer at tonight’s meeting. Here are their responses:
City Council member Margaret Chin noted, “we all know that real estate prices and rents continue to rise, making Battery Park City one of the priciest ZIP codes — not just in New York City, but the entire country.” She asked, “what is the BPCA doing to make sure that Battery Park City stays affordable for the families who helped build the neighborhood?”
State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou added, “it is critical that the BPCA address concerns about community representation and neighborhood affordability. How can we keep Battery Park City affordable for the families living here, and how can we ensure their voices shape the future of the community? Battery Park City is a thriving community with excellent schools, cultural attractions and small businesses, and it is important that the families who shaped the neighborhood over the years can remain here.”
Ms. Niou added, “I have also been advocating with community members, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assembly member Deborah Glick, and colleagues for a BPCA board that reflects the community it represents. And it is important that BPCA work with us to bring more local voices to its decision-making process.” (This was a reference to a bill that recently passed both houses of the State legislature that would require the Governor — who controls the Authority, by appointing its seven-member board — to name at least two people who actually live in the community to serve on that panel. That bill is now awaiting the Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signature or veto.)
Tom Goodkind, a Battery Park City resident and member of Community Board 1 (CB1) who has long been an advocate for affordable housing, asked, “can the long-term Battery Park City residents at Gateway Plaza remained stabilized? How are negotiations going that would prevent Gateway residents from being forced from their homes in 2020? We need transparency on these negotiations if they are occurring at all.” (This was a reference to the fact that the limited form of rent stabilization currently in effect at Gateway Plaza is slated to end in less than three years, and no information has been made available to residents for several years about the status of negotiations, if any, to extend these protections.)
Maryann Braverman, a co-founder of 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 Authority’s board, said, “my first reaction relates to scheduling these meetings. I have repeatedly asked BPCA to present a schedule, such as the second Tuesday of every fourth month. The meetings really are not happening quarterly. Then, interested BPC residents could plan their schedules around the announced dates. I was quite annoyed to hear at CB1’s Battery Park City Committee meeting last Monday that this Open Community Meeting would be held exactly one week later. That is insufficient notice. And, adding insult to injury, the BPCA did not announce the meeting date via email to those of us who have signed up to receive exactly this sort of information. Where is the ‘open’ in this kind of meeting scheduling?”
Maria Smith, a longtime resident who was instrumental in forming coalitions of condominium buildings to renegotiate ground rent payments in the 1990s and 2000s, observed, “there is a declining quality of life in Battery Park City: more garbage, more dog feces, more cars running stop signs, no enforcement of idling tour buses, and no attention to detail from the board as to how we, the residents, live. Maybe it’s time for a rent strike. It’s been done before, most recently after September 11, 2001. Money seems to be the only language this board understands.”
John Dellaportas, the president of his condominium board on Rector Place, says, “the message I am hearing again and again from my building’s residents is, ‘where are the so-called Ambassadors? The BPCA promised us that the new, private security would have a greater presence than the Parks Enforcement Patrol officers they fired. That turned out to be inaccurate. Are there any plans to correct the situation or is the BPCA satisfied with the status quo?”
Pat Smith, who serves as the board president of another condominium on Rector Place, asks, “when will the BPCA begin working with CB1 and the City’s Department of Transportation [DOT] to implement the South End Avenue safety improvement plan that DOT and CB1 developed more than three years ago?” (This project was effectively vetoed by the BPCA, which formulated its own, alternative plan for South End Avenue, amid much criticism from the community. The BPCA’s plan has not been discussed in public for almost a year, which has led some observers to conclude that it has been shelved. But the traffic safety concerns that inspired both schemes remain unresolved.)
Kathy Gupta, a member of CB1’s Battery Park City Committee, says, “as another hurricane season approaches, what additional protections are in place now that weren’t here for Superstorm Sandy? Specifically, what plans does the Authority have in place to supplement the general New York City evacuation orders? I’m particularly concerned about our more vulnerable populations: seniors; the home-bound; families with very young children; and residents still struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder from September 11, who may not want to evacuate again. What can we do to assist those who may, by necessity, have to shelter-in-place? How can the BPCA help raise awareness of the evacuation plan for our neighborhood? How can the Authority communicate the dangers of staying in a high rise? Where is the city shelter for those with special needs, or people new to New York, who might have no place else to go?”
Dr. Mike Gordon, a public member of CB1, voices concerns about, “the hazard for pedestrians and cyclists who need to cross the bike path at various locations on West Street. Would the BPCA organize a task force of pertinent stakeholders to address the problem?” He also notes the model of successful collaboration between BPCA and community leaders that emerged from the recent Bicycle Working Group (which is formulating policy recommendations about bicycles on the Esplanade), and asks, “would the BPCA organize a task force to address the problem of extreme, early morning noise levels and pedestrian safety associated with the many week-end runs that start in or pass through our neighborhood?” (This was a reference to the local profusion of outdoor events, usually sponsored by non-profit organizations, which often require street closures and have inspired complaints from residents about disruption.)
Justine Cuccia, also a public member of CB1 and a co-founder of D4BPC, said, “last week, a resident was hit by a Parks vehicle driving on a sidewalk, and seriously injured. What steps can the BPCA take to make sure this never happens again? Can you forbid Parks personnel to drive on sidewalks? If this is not practical, can you create marked paths on sidewalks, to which they will be limited? Or can you install speed-limiters on these vehicles, so that they will never move faster than five miles per hour? While one accident does not make a trend, residents have been worried for years about these trucks on our sidewalks, and it was just luck that the victim in this case was not a small child, who might have been killed, instead of injured. This seems like a wakeup call to make some changes.”
Robin Forst, a public member of CB1 who is also a former vice president of the BPCA, notes that, “the BPCA recently issued a request for proposals for the resiliency project in Wagner Park. We had been told that the less-controversial parts of the resiliency plan, such as the ball fields in the north neighborhood, would be put out to bid first, and Wagner would come later. Why has the timeline changed? And why did this become known only when the chair of CB1’s Battery Park City noticed the change, and asked about it? Yet again, this raises important questions about transparency.”
(Editor’s Note: Ms. Cuccia is related to the reporter who wrote this story.)