Meeting Minutes
September 18 , 2002

 
 
 

Wednesday, September 18, 2002 8:30 AM – 10:30 AM
Salmagundi Club
47 5th Avenue
New York City

Meeting Notes

Bob Yaro opened the meeting and welcomed everyone in attendance. He briefly gave an overview of the agenda, adding that it would be a very full meeting and that everyone should keep their presentations and comments brief.
Petra Todorovich announced that the Planning Framework to Rebuild Downtown New York has now been printed and is ready for distribution. Civic Alliance members were encouraged to pick up their copies at the meeting. The frameworks will be mailed out to all relevant public officials related to the rebuilding process. Additional copies will be available for order on the Civic Alliance website. The framework is also currently available by download off the civic alliance website. (www.civic-alliance.org.)

Next, Paul Epstein gave a PowerPoint presentation on his proposed "Lifecycle Performance Scorecard." A one-page summary of this concept that was passed out during the meeting is available as an addendum to these meeting notes, or online at:  
http://www.civic-alliance.org/survey/0918concepts.html

Paul's main points were as follows:

  • A Scorecard rating system should be developed to measure the progress of various elements of the rebuilding process. The categories could be defined along the Civic Alliance's main subject areas, such as: Transportation, Economic Development, Green Buildings, etc.
  • The scorecard would measure performance and time, along a planning and implementation timeline.
  • Data would be collected to determine scores. The system would need to be fully transparent in order to be accountable.
  • The scoring system could be used to bring attention to the progress of projects and hold public officials accountable to this progress,
Comments:
  • Paul Elston commented that he objected to using this measurement tool as a P.R. device.
  • Nancy Owens remarked that the measurement of sustainability should have a handicap. The definitions of how to rate these different projects will need to be based on many subtleties. Also, the accountability will need to be impeccable. It's important that people buy into our rating system. Flexibility and fluidity are also important to respond to the fluidity of the planning process.
  • Robert Pollard suggested that an online public participation process be incorporated into the rating system.
  • Sudhir Jain noted that in the "jobs" category, the quality of the jobs should be rated.
  • Eva Hanhardt asked, what are the data sources and how reliable are they?
  • Bob Yaro brought the conversation to a close and asked if there was consensus that the Civic Alliance should pursue this study. There was general agreement that this type of rating system should be undertaken, although close attention will need to be paid to the scoring systems and ways of making the scorecard accountable. Interested members were asked to email Paul Epstein (epstein@pipeline.com) or Petra Todorovich (Petra@rpa.org) if they're interested in joining a working group to develop the scorecard.
Moving onto the next item of the agenda, Bob Yaro presented the Year 2 Work Plan for the Civic Alliance, which was distributed at the meeting, and is available as an addendum to these meeting notes.
  • Bill Shore made the comment that policy issues in the region need to be dealt with as part of the Civic Alliance's approaching work plan. Decentralization issues are very important to the entire region. If important functions in our city escape to auto-dependant centers, we've lost a lot of our game. The Civic Alliance has strong assets in its Economic Development working group; let's find out how much proximity is important to the financial industry.
    We have accomplished a great deal in installing public participation into the rebuilding process. But if we do a Listening to the City 3, we need to rethink our goals and processes.
  • Bob Yaro: I take from this comment that there are currently advocacy goals we can pursue promoting the multi-centered city.
  • Barry Benepe asked, what is the role of New York City in the rebuilding process?
Sudhir Jain commented that at the most recent LMDC board meeting, McKinsey & Company gave a presentation on three economic development scenarios for all of Lower Manhattan. The presenter from McKinsey implied that LMDC would choose one of these scenarios and go ahead with plans based upon that.
  • These included:
    1.    BASELINE:  11 million sq ft office space; 5,000 new/converted residential units
    2.    RESIDENTIAL scenario:  5-6 million sq ft office space; 17,000 new/converted residential units
    3.    BUSINESS scenario: 17-18 million sq ft office space; 7,000 new/converted residential units
  • Beverly Willis asked if anyone could update her on the status of the "land swap" that was proposed between New York City and the Port Authority last month for the WTC Site and the Airports.
  • Bob Yaro replied that Tom Wright at RPA has had discussion with the McGreevey administration, who reported they are not yet willing to agree to the swap.
  • Paul Elston remarked that it would be helpful to have not just a one year work plan but a two year work plan for the Alliance so that organizations could "map out" their professional response to certain projects. He added that the Civic Amenities working group is planning on doing a visioning exercise with the Lower Manhattan local community and is asking LMDC to fund it. This should be added to the work plan.
  • Ron Shiffman opened his comment by thanking Bill Shore for raising the policy issues of decentralization, which are of serious concern. He then remarked that he is concerned about the collaborative relationship with LMDC. We need to make sure that we represent the civic community. Whether working with the Scorecard, or whatever we do, we need to set up our values and stick to them.
  • Robert Pollard made the comment that the Civic Alliance should undertake a GIS project of mapping all the transit stations in Lower Manhattan.
  • Ethel Sheffer made the comment that the Civic Alliance should think about the tension between its role as an insider and an outsider to the rebuilding process. We need to be self-aware as we develop our relationships with the various agencies. The administrative work of our research goals takes a lot of resources. Should we consider working as staff to some of the public agencies in certain cases? (Ethel remarked that she's not advocating this.) We have to be aware of the continuing tension of our relationships.
  • Nancy Owens replied that she doesn't think it should be either/or. Sometimes our membership and scope gets so broad that we are not even consulting the local community on issues. The local community, especially Community Board One, has been involved in these issues for so many years. For example, the problem with Park Row… We need to cooperate more with the local community downtown.
  • Maurice Paprin commented that he worries about the conclusions that are being put forth concretely by public officials in the decisions they make about use of funds allocated for the rebuilding. There is no accountability of the monies made available by the federal government. Unless we have perspective on our needs for 2003, there is no plan.

Next, Beverly Willis gave a presentation on R.Dot's managed streets plan. She acknowledged Roland Gephardt and Brett Oppenheimer's contributions in preparing this study. Beverly also noted that a lot of research went into the report, and its recommendations are conceptual, not concrete. R.Dot has already met with the Department of Transportation (DOT) and members of the Civic Alliance will be meeting again this afternoon with responsible city and state agencies to discuss the need for a managed street plan.  The R.Dot street management study can be viewed at R.Dot's website at: http://rebuilddowntownourtown.org/mapstreet.html

After the presentation civic alliance members had several comments:

  • Brett Oppenheimer added that to develop the street management plan, one must understand the broader regional transportation system.
  • Parking is a huge problem downtown, perhaps a larger problem than circulation.
  • Roland Gephardt made the comment that we must make downtown a more livable place, and look into different aspects that play into this. We want to give the city back to the people.
  • Bob Yaro noted that Lower Manhattan's "walkability" and historic street pattern could be considered a competitive advantage over midtown.
  • Nancy Owens stated that there is starting to be a groundswell among the local community downtown against the restoration of the street grid because local residents think this may bring more traffic to the neighborhood. We need to make it clear that when we are talking about bringing back the street grid, we can be talking about pedestrian-only streets on the World Trade Center site, for example.
  • Jeff Zupan mentioned that members of ESTA and the Civic Alliance would be meeting this afternoon with representatives of DOT, LMDC and public officials. R.Dot will be there.
  • Paul Elston commended R.Dot on the presentation. He added that we need to be looking at how to move goods and waste around downtown underground and by other methods.
  • Jim Davis noted that when some streets become pedestrian-only it makes it more difficult for disabled people to reach and locate their destinations. If we advocate pedestrian-only streets, there should be frequent drop off points for disabled people.
  • Bruce Rosen remarked that Skidmore Owings & Merrill recently gave a presentation to the City Planning Commission for pedestrian access to the proposed East River/ under-Brooklyn Bridge plan that dealt with bus access and pedestrian access. It was impressive and perhaps we should ask them to come and address the Civic Alliance.
  • Paul Elston motioned that the Civic Alliance should endorse the R.Dot street management study with the caveat that it needs to address Nancy Owen's concerns about the local community's hesitations regarding restoring the street grid.
  • Beverly Willis responded that since the plan is conceptual it does not make any definitive statements about the street grid, so the caveat is not necessary.
  • The Civic Alliance resolved to endorse the R.Dot street management study.

Next on the agenda, Michael Kuo, of Municipal Art Society and Imagine New York presented a document to the group that he had drafted in response to a number of coalitions' desire for a statement of common principles on the rebuilding process. Mike prefaced the document by noting that when LMDC presented its 6 site options in July, many people reacted to the fact that all the site options focused only on the WTC site. Since then members of five coalitions including Imagine New York, New York New Visions, Labor Community Activist Network, the Civic Alliance, and Rebuild Downtown Our Town asked to draft a document that would inspire a regional dialogue around the rebuilding process. The idea was that all the civic coalitions formed since last year around the rebuilding process would come together and endorse this document and make an announcement, producing a vision that the public could hold onto. This document would also be given to the designers that will be hired by LMDC for their design study that is kicking off in October.

Mike then passed around the two-page preface to the 18-page document.  A conversation about whether or not the Civic Alliance should sign onto the document then ensued.

  • Paul Elston opened up the discussion by saying that he was opposed to signing on. He felt the articulation of principles and values was an exercise that the Civic Alliance had been through already, that we had already achieved consensus on these issues through our broad coalition, and that signing on would be step backwards. He also worried that signing on the Civic Alliance as a coalition would diminish our impact if the coalition signed its name alongside single organizations.
  • Holly Leicht of MAS offered that New York New Visions had also been presented with the option of signing onto this document this morning and they had suggested signing onto the first two cover pages, and putting that atop a binder of all the reports that have been produced by the various coalitions.
  • A member made the comment that since the Civic Alliance is a broadly representative coalition, there is no need to sign onto another document alongside other organizations that may already be members of the Civic Alliance.
  • David Kallick remarked that it was important to remember that LCAN and other Coalitions have done important work that in some cases addresses points not made by the Civic Alliance, and that some of these coalitions represent constituencies that the Civic Alliance does not really represent adequately. There is no harm in recognizing that and the Civic Alliance should join with the other coalitions that each have a slightly different aim or niche.
  • Rivka Mazar noted that this document could be seen as stating values that shape the program that we need to develop for the WTC site and Lower Manhattan.
  • Several members voiced that they did not agree with signing onto the document.
  • Barry Benepe stated that he did not feel the two-page introduction that was just distributed in the meeting accurately represented the concerns of this organization, or was representative of the sort of values the Civic Alliance has put forth to date.
    Discussion continued with comments both for and against signing on to the document.
  • After continued discussion and overall disagreement as to whether the group should sign on, Bob Yaro noted that the Civic Alliance has always operated on a consensus basis. In this case, it did not seem that there was consensus in signing onto this document. He suggested that we wish the proponents of the document well, and move onto the next item in the agenda.
For the final item on the agenda, Bob Yaro introduced Diana Balmori, the co-chair of the Memorial Committee for the Civic Alliance to talk about the proposed memorials conversations series. Bob also pointed out that Marian Imperatore, who co-chairs the memorial committee with Diana was incorrectly listed in the newly-printed Civic Alliance Planning Framework. It should be noted that Marian is the co-chair the memorial committee for the Civic Alliance.
Diana descried the Memorial Conversations series, which is planned for October 27 – 28, 2002 in cooperation with New School University. The "Conversations" series will have several events, including a small dinner among key people involved with the creation of the memorial, family members, artists and historians. The conversations series will culminate in a public symposium consisting of a keynote speaker who will also moderate the event and 2-4 respondents who will participate in a panel discussion and an interactive dialogue with the invited audience.  The conversation will specifically address issues of the WTC center memorial rather than general concepts.
  • Before the close of the meeting, Jim Davis, representing Disabled in Action of Metropolitan New York expressed the concern that the Salmagundi club is not handicap accessible and asked that future Civic Alliance meetings be held in locations that are accessible to the handicapped.
  • The meeting drew to a close at approximately 11:00 am.

    Meeting Participants:

    Abby Suckle, Culture NOW
    Alison Drury
    Arthur Fried, Center for Excellence in NYC Governance
    Barry Benepe, Fine Arts Federation of New York
    Beverly Willis, R.Dot
    Bill Shore, NYU
    Bob Yaro, Regional Plan Association
    Bonnie Harken, American Planning Association
    Brent Oppenheimer, R.Dot
    Bruce Rosen, NYC Department of City Planning
    Chris Jones, Regional Plan Association
    Coco Gordon
    Colin Cathcart, Kiss and Cathcart Architects
    Colin Cheny, Earth Pledge
    David D. Kallick, Fiscal Policy Institute
    Diana Balmori, Van Alen Institute
    Ellie King, Women's City Club
    Ethel Sheffer, American Planning Association
    Eva DuBuisson
    Eva Hanhardt, Municipal Art Society
    Gaby Brainard
    Gail Karlsson, Community Board One
    George Penesis, al Art Society
    Ilene Skeen, Salmagundi Club
    Jan Nicholson, Regional Plan Association
    Jeff Zupan, Regional Plan Association
    Jeremy Reiss, Central Labor Council/Consortium for Workers Education
    Jeremy Soffin, Regional Plan Association
    Jim Morgan
    Jim Wright, Disabled in Action of Metropolitan New York
    Joan Byron, PICCED
    Karen Kahn, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
    Kate Brower, PCAC
    Laura Engler, Manhattan Borough President's Office
    Marnie McGregor        
    Maurice Paprin        
    Michael Kuo, Municipal Art Society
    Michelle Bicek, Environmental Defense
    Nancy Owens, Community Board One
    Paul Elston, New York League of Conservation Voters
    Paul Epstein, American Society of Public Administration
    Petra Todorovich, Regional Plan Association
    Raymond Knowles    
    Rivka Mazar, New York New Visions
    Robert Pollard
    Roland Gephardt, R.Dot
    Ron Shiffman, PICCED
    Ruth Acker, Women's City Club
    Sally Stamand        
    Sudhir Jain, WTC Residents Coaltion
    Sunita Subramanian, Lawyers Alliance for New York
    Tim Davis
    Tina Chiu, American Planning Association
    Tom Wright, Regional Plan Association
    Tova Wang, The Century Foundation
    Valerie Lucznikowska