Transportation
Minutes

 Monday, December 10, 2001, 8:30 AM

New School University

66 West 12th Street, New York

Orozco Room, 7th Floor

 

1.     Bob Yaro of RPA opened the meeting at 8:30 AM. He announced that a new structure for the Civic Alliance meetings had been proposed. For the next seven meetings a different working group will give a presentation on their respective subject. This gives new interim purpose to the working groups. The presentation will be used to hash out ideas and gather feedback before RPA’s Regional Assembly on April 26th. A tentative schedule for the next seven meetings of the Civic Alliance is as follows. Please note: the location of the meetings have not yet been confirmed.

 

Tentative Schedule:

Jan 14: Urban Design

Jan 28: Memorial

Feb 11: Green Building and Sustainable Systems

Feb 25: Social, Environmental, and Economic Justice

Mar 11: Regulatory

Mar 25: Economic Development

Apr 8: Civic Amenities

2.     Proposed Transportation Strategy Presentation:

Lee Sander of NYU outlined the objectives and activities of the Empire State Transportation Alliance (ESTA), a coalition of business, labor, environmental, and transportation groups that formed about three years ago, which is serving as the transportation group for the Civic Alliance.

Steve Weber, Senior Transportation Planner at RPA gave a PowerPoint presentation on proposed transportation improvements and recovery options for Lower Manhattan. The contents of his presentation are summarized in the December 5 document, “Transportation in Lower Manhattan: Beyond Restoration.”

Following Steve’s presentation, Stephan Van Dam presented a short film that captured some of the proposed transportation improvements using computer graphic imaging and animation techniques set to music. The production of this film was funded by the J.M. Kaplan fund and is intended to serve as a tool for capturing the imagination of policy makers around the potential of some of these transportation improvements. The short film—a work in progress—was well received. It was stressed that the film is simply a tool for communicating complicated transportation proposals to the layperson and that the transportation options presented represent current thinking that is likely to change.

3.     Open Discussion: After the two presentations, the floor was opened for discussion. Following is a general summary of comments:

  • There is a strong desire to see the restoration of Greenwich Street through the WTC site. Of immediate concern is the footprint of 7 World Trade Center, which occupies a demapped part of Greenwich Street. Greenwich Street is a very important pedestrian and commercial thoroughfare for TriBeCa and Lower Manhattan. Since the owner of 7 WTC is planning to rebuild, this is an issue that should be addressed quickly. (Note: Con Ed’s substation was located at ground level at 7 WTC. A discussion of reopening Greenwich Street might consider whether this would need to be located, and if so, where?)
  • The film and transportation presentation focused on “people moving.” What about goods moving? How will building materials be transported when the rebuilding starts?
  • Currently, the use of Pier 25 for debris removal is extremely disruptive to the residential population. This has destroyed their recreation area. However, the alternative of moving debris around on trucks over bridges and through tunnels is not an attractive option either. The transportation group needs to work with the local community board and explore some feasible alternatives for debris removal and future construction material transport into the area.
  • The total of the project cost is going to be in the tens of billions of dollars. We need to start prioritizing projects.
  • How can we integrate the multiple functions of the waterfront: recreation, transport, and goods/debris removal and arrival.
  • What about commuter rail to downtown?
  • RPA believes that many of the markets that commuter rail would serve would be well served by the Second Avenue Subway. Also remember that commuter rail is an extremely expensive project.
  • Several years ago, parts of the original street pattern of Lower Manhattan were landmarked as part of the Heritage Trails Project. We may consider recommending the restoration of the original street grid of Lower Manhattan. 
  • As we go forward, we need to figure out how we will react to plans on the table, and how to communicate this effectively to the public.
  • The question of FEMA funding: FEMA replaces in-kind. However, Ed Blakely’s (of New School University) experience in San Francisco was that after the earthquake of 1989, the City was able to convince FEMA that an urban boulevard could replace the elevated expressway that was destroyed by the earthquake. FEMA provided the funds for this project because 1) the plans were already in place, and 2) the urban boulevard was considered an adequate replacement for what had already been there, but more modernized and offering benefits to the community.
  • We must consider the residential population when considering rebuilding plans. The local community has received a small grant to build a temporary “recreation bubble” at Warren, Greenwich and Murray streets to replace the loss of recreation space in Hudson River Park. The community requests the Civic Alliance’s support of this project.
  • What is the status of Governors Island? Could this be used as a recreation area for Lower Manhattan?
  • Environmental Defense is writing a white paper on reducing emissions from the truck traffic and waste transport in Lower Manhattan.

 

4.  Transportation Motion

 

At 10:15 Bob Yaro asked that we reach an interim consensus on the transportation recommendations presented by Steve Weber and the three letters that had been proposed during the meeting. He asked if there were any major objections to the proposals outlined in the transportation presentation.

 

·         One person voiced concern that the idea of a “Fulton Central” ferry and subway terminal would be too expensive and should not be among the priorities in the Civic Alliance recommendations.

 

There were no other objections to the presentation.

 

Bob Yaro motioned that the Civic Alliance generally approve the transportation proposals, with the caveats that the Fulton Station needed more examination and cost-benefit analysis, and that an acceptable financing strategy needed to be developed.

 

The motion was approved.

 

5. Motion to approve three letters.

A motion was made that the Civic Alliance write letters to respective officials and policy makers on the following three issues. The letters would be distributed via email for approval and then sent out on behalf of the Civic Alliance.

·         The Civic Alliance urges the mayor to uphold the ban on Single Occupancy Vehicles (SOV) during morning rush hours across bridges and tunnels into Manhattan until it can be replaced by a more comprehensive congestion management system.

·         The Civic Alliance expresses its concern to the NY congressional members who recently voted against federal money to rebuild Lower Manhattan.

·         The Civic Alliance requests that Larry Silverstein incorporate a pedestrian right of way through the Greenwich Street corridor if and when WTC 7 is rebuilt.

 

The motion was approved.

6. The meeting adjourned at 10:30 AM.

Attendance

Emi Faloughi, NCYDCP/TD

Hillary Brown, New Civic Works

Ethel Sheffer, New School University

Rick Bell, AIA, New York Chapter

Bonnie Harken, APA New York Chapter

Ethel Sheffer, APA New York Chapter

Maurice Paprin, Business Labor Coalition

Susan Deutsch, Capital Initiative, Limited

Tova Wang, Century Foundation

Cynthia Searcy, Citizens Budget Commission

Kimberly Miller, Citizens Housing Planning Coalition

Gail Karlsson, Citizens Network for Sustainable Development

Jonathon Ball, Cleary Gottleib

Pete Marcuse, Columbia University

Jennifer Bryan, Columbia University, Center for Urban Research and Policy

Madelyn Wils, Community Board One

Nancy Owens, Community Board One

Laurence Frommer, CUNY Institute for Urban Systems

Bay Brown, Design Trust for Public Space

Both Cooper Laurence, Downtown Resident

Paul Epstein, Downtown Resident

Roland Gephardt, Downtown Resident

Jeff Jones, Environmental Advocates

Barry Benepe, Fine Arts Federation of New York

David D. Kallick, Fiscal Policy Institute

Mark Strauss, Fox & Fowle Architects

Rita Schwartz, General Contractors Association

Laurie Beckelman, Guggenheim Museum

Hugh Hardy, Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates

Joe Weisbord, Housing First

Jill Gross, Hunter College

Nate Gilbertson, Institute for Civil Infrastructure Systems

Jeremy Soffin, Jasculca Terman

Phil Rutherford, Landair Project

Rick Muller, Manhattan Borough President’s Office

Peggy Shiller, Milano Graduate School, New School

Ed Blakely, Milano Graduate School, New School University

Eva Handhardt, Municipal Art Society

Holly Leicht, Municipal Art Society

Marcia Bystryn, New York League of Conservation Voters

Bill Shore, New York University

Rae Zimmerman, New York University

Paul Elston, NY League of Conservation Voters

Sandy Hornick, NYC Department of City Planning

Josephine Schwartz, NYCHA

Steven Romalewski, NYPIRG

Geogre McAnanama, NYS AFL CIO

Arthur Fried, NYU Center for Excellence in New York City Government

Cindy Rubino, Pace University

Janette Sadik-Kahn, Parsons Brinckerhoff

Karen Kahn, Port Authority New York New Jersey

Lou Venech , Port Authority New York New Jersey

Joan Byron, Pratt Institute

Ron Shiffman, Pratt Institute

Steve Weber , Pratt Institute

Beverly Willis, R-DOT

Liz Abzug, R-DOT

Bob Yaro, Regional Plan Association

Chris Jones, Regional Plan Association

Erika Svendsen, Regional Plan Association

Jeff Zupan, Regional Plan Association

Marian Imperatore, Regional Plan Association

Petra Todorovich, Regional Plan Association

Richard Kaplan, Regional Plan Association

Rob Lane, Regional Plan Association

Tom Wright, Regional Plan Association

Mcihael Bradley, Riverside South Planning Corporation

Ben Rodriguez Cubenas, Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Elliot Sander, Rudin Center for Transportation and Management, NYU

Patricia Lancaster, The Lancaster Group

Roger J. Herz, Time/ 2 Improve Municipal Efficiency

Matt Arnn, USDA Forest Service

Stephan Van Dam, Van Dam

Peggy Shepard, West Harlem Environmental Action (WE Act)

Ellie King, Women’s City Club

Ruth Acker, Women’s City Club