Politicians call for N.Y.U. to come back to table N.Y.U. LAWSUIT, continued from p. 1
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January 30, 2014
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
ramifications for the city, and so he is withholding legal judgment until he hears more from his Law Department on this decision. But the mayor expressed support for the community. “I think a lot of the community concerns were valid, and we’re going to work with the community going forward,” he said. Jim Walden, who along with his partner Randy Mastro from Gibson Dunn, argued the winning case in court, was the emcee of the press conference at G.V.S.H.P. He called it “one of the most worthy land-use cases in quite a long time.” Dozens of community groups and residents joined the suit, along with members of a new ad hoc group, N.Y.U. Faculty Against the Sexton Plan. Many N.Y.U. faculty and their families reside on the superblocks. Not wanting to live in a 20-year construction zone, much less have four new buildings squeezed into the currently tranquil blocks, the faculty members were a driving force behind the lawsuit. On Jan. 7, State Supreme Court Justice Donna Mills ruled that three of four openspace strips along the two superblocks’ eastern and western edges, although currently under Department of Transportation jurisdiction, are de facto parks and thus cannot be used — such as for construction staging areas — for New York University’s ambitious 2031 expansion plan for the blocks. Mills ruled that the state Legislature would have to first “alienate” these strips — removing them as public parkland — before N.Y.U. could drive construction vehicles over them or otherwise negatively impact them. In bypassing this requirement, she said, the city had violated the “common law public trust doctrine” that safeguards public parkland. “Justice Donna Mills has spoken,” Walden declared. “There are three parks in the superblocks. It must remain open and accessible to the community. Period.” However, Mills ruled that one open-space strip, in front of Coles Gym on Mercer St. — which contains the Mercer-Houston Dog Run — is not parkland, mainly because it lacks official Parks Department signage and because N.Y.U. has maintained the dog run (though not other parts of the strip, which it has failed to keep up). Walden called on N.Y.U. now to come to the table, negotiate and bury the hatchet — because the plaintiffs aren’t done yet. “Absent a settlement of this litigation, we will continue to fight in the courts,” he warned. In other words, they will dispute parts of the decision they aren’t satisfied with, he assured. N.Y.U., however, says that Mills’s decision doesn’t stop them from starting on the Zipper Building, a 1-million-square-foot project that would replace Coles and sit on part of the open-space strip where the dog run is now. Walden and Mastro see it differently, and say the entire plan — which calls for a total of
nearly 2 million square feet of space — must now go back to square one and go through city ULURP (uniform land use review procedure) all over again. “This is a plan that is, from our perspective, legally dead,” Walden stated firmly. Celine Mizrahi, district director for Congressmember Jerrold Nadler, read a statement on his behalf. “I stand with the community and ask that, in light of this decision, N.Y.U. reconsider the whole plan,” Nadler said. Glick added that, from the very start, N.Y.U. had said every aspect of the plan was crucial, that all the plan’s parts were “interlocking elements.” Referring to the open-space strips, Glick said, “These key elements have been removed from the plan. It seems only logical that N.Y.U. should go back to square one.” New Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer said, “I am pleased that Judge Mills ruled in favor of protecting open space. Preserving open space has always been a priority of mine.” “Let’s be clear,” said state Senator Daniel Squadron, “the decision confirms that the process failed to include half of the open parkland available to the community. Now we need a reassessment of the plan that accounts for all the open space.” Now a state senator, Brad Hoylman was chairperson of Community Board 2 when the board voted an “absolute No” against the entire N.Y.U. plan. “All of us in this community were up against some very powerful forces,” he noted. “Public land is sacrosanct — we need to preserve it.
Actor John Leguizamo, center, urged N.Y.U. to end the “ice age” and thaw relations with the community by rethinking its N.Y.U. 2031 expansion plan. Corey Johnson, left, called N.Y.U.’s process “completely disrespectful” of the community. Attorney Jim Walden, right, declared N.Y.U.’s whole plan “legally dead.”
to push through the N.Y.U. plan in the City Council in July 2012. The Bloomberg administration was a strong supporter of the university’s superblocks scheme. Last Thursday, Johnson gave one of the most impassioned speeches against the development scheme. “We’ve seen too much over the past 12 years of needless overdevelopment,” he said. On the other hand, community consultation has been lacking. Referring to Mills’s decision, Johnson said, “I’m not an attorney, but I believe this does call into question the whole project. There was a final environmental impact statement — a key part of it was struck down [by Mills’s ruling]. …” Johnson praised the community’s activism in fighting the unwanted development project, and drew a comparison to another fierce struggle going on statewide to protect clean drinking water. “The only reason hydrofracking has not happened in New York State is because of activism,” he said. “I stand with community activism.” David Gruber, the current C.B. 2 chairperson, headed the task force on N.Y.U. that put together the board’s extensive resolution recommending denial of the required zoning changes for the project. “We worked really hard on this for years,” Gruber said. “We held some 25 public meetings — thousands of people showed up. N.Y.U. was completely tone deaf to us, they didn’t listen. One of the legs that support this table is off — N.Y.U. needs to sit down and re-engage with us.” Adding some Hollywood pizzazz to the press conference, actor Leguizamo said, “I’m here as a community member. All I want to
‘Somewhere, Jane Jacobs is looking down at us now and smiling.’ Brad Hoylman
“N.Y.U. is in crisis — there’s no question about it,” Hoylman declared. “As they say, ‘A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.’ Meet us at the table,” Hoylman urged the university. “Help us protect what is important about Greenwich Village — our historic buildings, our playgrounds and our open space. Placing the victory in the context of Village activist lore, he added, “And somewhere, Jane Jacobs is looking down at us now and smiling.” Corey Johnson succeeded former Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who did her best
say is, we want to work with N.Y.U. as a community — but, please, go back to the drawing board.” Andrew Berman, G.V.S.H.P. executive director, said, “We have no objection to N.Y.U. growing, but how does it impact the Village?” In short, the university should look to other neighborhoods and boroughs outside the Village to site its expansion projects, he stressed. “Justice Mills’s ruling is a wonderful opportunity for a do-over,” Berman said, “and to do it right — to really listen to the community. We invite N.Y.U. to work with us to move forward together.” Attorney Walden next introduced N.Y.U. media studies professor Mark Crispin Miller, praising him as “the sole of the plaintiffs group.” Miller noted that there were five faculty votes of no confidence against university President John Sexton over the development plan. “It is quite clear that it is not an academic plan, but a real estate deal,” Miller said of N.Y.U. 2031. “N.Y.U. now has an opportunity to mend fences, not only with the community, but with its own professorship.” During the Q&A, The Villager asked Walden about the position of City Councilmember Margaret Chin, whose statements on Mills’s ruling — while praising certain aspects of it — clearly seem to indicate she still supports the full N.Y.U. plan. Is Chin’s position — even though the superblocks are in her district — basically moot at this point in the face of such overwhelming political support for Mills’s decision, as witnessed by the many elected officials at the press conference? “The olive branch we extend also extends to Chin,” he said. “She was on the wrong side of this issue from the beginning. She has not N.Y.U. LAWSUIT, continued on p.14
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