Construction Wage Theft Charged 05
1991 W. Side Murder Reopened 10
Trump Jeered in NY Return 23
THE SHADOWS MEGATOWERS CAST ON A LIGHT-STARVED CITY BY SYDNEY PEREIRA As a marathon runner, Lisa Mercurio runs in Central Park as often as she can since she lives just a mile from the 840acre park. For her, Central Park is an escape from the city. Park-goers are surrounded by beauty, she said, and sometimes where you are in the city becomes unrecognizable. “I appreciate the fact that you can go into Central Park and have one of these open space experiences that it was intended for at the time of its creation,” Mercurio said. But that experience is changing as Manhattan’s skyline shapeshifts into something often unrecognizable, with megatowers reaching heights that historically were unfathomable. Mercurio, a board member of the East River 50s Alliance, and other community activists call megatower development the “creep” — the steady development of “supertalls,” especially in Midtown. New towers are considered supertalls when they exceed 984 feet (300 meters) in height. A particular hotspot for such development is just south of Central Park. “You see one crane right after another,” Mercurio said of her recent runs through Central Park. “It’s like a freefor-all in the spirit of real estate development.” In as-of-right zoning districts that sidestep any public review process whatsoever, Mercurio said, “that represents trouble for the people of New York.” The “siege” of out-of-context megatowers — as Mercurio describes the rush of development — has effects beyond changing the nature of the historic neighborhoods on the blocks they are built on. Advocates are concerned
Courtesy of the Municipal Art Society of New York
SHADOWS continued on p. 4
A rendering of a south view from Central Park of the shadows cast by currently proposed developments projected through 2025 (above) versus those cast as of 2014.
May 31 – June 13, 2018 | Vol. 04 No. 11
MANHATTANEXPRESSNEWS.NYC