D R A F T    F O R    D I S C U S S I O N
CIVIC ALLIANCE TO REBUILD DOWNTOWN NEW YORK
YEAR 2 WORK PLAN
9/18/02

OVERVIEW

The Civic Alliance was convened in October 2001 to provide a broad umbrella for civic-led planning and advocacy efforts to promote the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan and the New York Region in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. The Alliance is committed to creation of rebuilding plans that will transform Lower Manhattan as the world';s first great 21st century city, encompassing the best practices in sustainable development, urban design, transportation and green buildings and systems. The Alliance was convened by Regional Plan Association in partnership with New York University, the New School University and Pratt Institute, and now has more than 80 members representing a cross-section of New York';s civic leadership.

Three aspects of the Alliance';s deserve special attention:
1.    It represents a collaboration of nearly all of the city';s major civic groups;
2.    The Alliance has developed a pro-active, collaborative relationship with the public agencies charged with developing and carrying out rebuilding plans; and
3.    Through the Listening to the City forums and other means, the Alliance has created what many observers have called a new kind of democracy, in which  concerned citizens, Downtown residents, families of victims and survivors and other stakeholders have been able to participate directly in the planning process.

YEAR ONE ACHIEVEMENTS

In its first year, the Alliance:

•    worked to establish broadly accepted principles to guide the rebuilding process;
•    prepared a transportation investment strategy that provided the basis for the recently approved and funded official transportation program for Downtown;
•    developed an emergency transportation strategy and worked with city and state officials to support its implementation;
•    provided a sounding board for communication among various groups and coalitions engaged in planning and advocacy for the district;
•    established a collaborative working relationship with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), Port Authority (PA) and City and State agencies; and
•    created the Listening to the City public participation process that has engaged thousands of the region';s citizens in shaping rebuilding plans and policies, culminating in the July 20-22 Javits Center forums that resulted in rejection of the LMDC/PA planning program for the World Trade Center site.

SECOND YEAR WORK PLAN

The Civic Alliance is now is embarking on a second year of planning, research, consensus building, public consultation and advocacy to further this process. A proposed work plan for these efforts is outlined below.

A FOUR TIERED STRATEGY

This work plan is being shaped both by the public planning process being undertaken by LMDC and the Port Authority and by our own sense of the steps required to create a successful master plan for a vital new Downtown with strengthened ties with the rest of the city and region. This work plan will include four major tasks:

1.  Establishing a Comprehensive Planning Strategy

The Civic Alliance believes that a comprehensive strategy for planning and rebuilding must be adopted by LMDC and the PA. This strategy must integrate all of the ongoing and needed special studies (including transportation, economic development, housing, public spaces and memorial, etc.) and the programming and master planning processes into an all-inclusive planning effort. The Alliance recently forwarded an outline for such a process to the agencies, and is working to help them develop a detailed, workable, and broadly supported planning strategy. This process will create a work plan and time line integrating all of the planning activities now underway, and other tasks needed to achieve our goal of successfully transforming downtown into a vital new 24-hour district.

2. Creating a Development Program

The next master planning phase must begin with broad public agreement on an appropriate development program for the WTC site and the rest of Downtown. This program must identify the mix and intensity of activities to be developed, as well as the streets, public spaces and transportation infrastructure that will define and organize the site. The program must also spell out the design requirements associated with the related public goals of promoting green buildings and systems, sustainable design and other concerns.

In the absence of such a program, the LMDC/PA development scenarios released in July were strongly rejected by the public at the July 20-22 Listening to the City events. All six scenarios were developed around the Port Authority';s development program, which included 11 million square feet of commercial space and 600,000 square feet each of retail and hotel space. This process underscored the critical importance of having a well-conceived and broadly supported development program as a pre-condition for creating a Downtown master plan.

The Civic Alliance has initiated a process to identify a range of acceptable development programs that should shape rebuilding plans for the World Trade Center site, in the context of a broader development strategy for all of Downtown. Planning workshops involving both stakeholders and outside experts will identify a range of program alternatives through an interactive process with Civic Alliance members, stakeholder groups and the public. Three-dimensional visualizations of each of the alternatives on this range will be created through a similar interactive process. Finally, these visualizations will be the focus of a series of public consultations, culminating in a third Listening to the City event early in 2003, with the goal of reaching broad consensus on the development program. This will provide the basis for subsequent master planning and design development phases.

3.  Focused Research

The Civic Alliance and its members have already conducted extensive research on urgent issues facing Lower Manhattan, including transportation, economic development, green buildings, civic amenities, environmental and economic justice, and other concerns. Additional work is needed to refine our understanding of these issues, and to address others. Key research tasks to be undertaken by the Alliance in Year 2 include:
•    A street management plan to rationalize access to and use of Downtown';s street system, building upon the recent study completed by R.Dot.
•    A detailed regional access plan, laying out the preferred alternatives for access to Lower Manhattan for suburban commuters from Long Island, New Jersey, Westchester and Connecticut.
•    A financing strategy for all of the transportation and other improvements requiring funds not available from the $21 billion federal financial package;
•    Plans for cultural activities in the district, possibly including proposals for a new New York City museum in Lower Manhattan, and other activities;
•    An affordable housing finance and development strategy for the district, including setting targets for new market and affordable housing development in Lower Manhattan and surrounding areas; and
•    Support for the memorialization process, through forums on memorial processes in other places;
•    A goods movement and waste management study that explores ways to minimize community and environmental impacts of the reconstruction process over the short term and long term.
•    A ";Lifecycle Performance Scorecard"; strategy to track  actual performance in attaining different rebuilding goals, i.e. green building design, improved transportation links, etc.


4. Continued public outreach and advocacy

The Civic Alliance will continue to engage the public in its deliberations and work with LMDC, the PA and others to invite the public into the on-going debate on Downtown redevelopment. As noted above, the Civic Alliance will continue to provide a sounding board for ideas and concepts emerging from its members. It will also continue the Listening to the City public participation process through a third forum to be held early in 2002 to debate the elements of the development program and visualizations of master plan alternatives emerging from the efforts of the Civic Alliance, LMDC and others.

The Alliance will also work to expand and regularize communications between its members and LMDC, the PA and other city, state and federal agencies. Finally, we will strengthen our already close working relationships with the media to ensure that the Alliance';s point of view is well understood by the public.