NY State Court of Appeals Agrees to Hear Case Against NYU Park Alienation Expansion Plan

The state’s highest court,  the Court of Appeals, has agreed to hear arguments regarding NYU's Greenwich Village massive expansion plan.  Plaintiffs are seeking to protect four park parcels that NYU is planning to build on as part of its  $6 billion, 20-year plan.

Last January Manhattan Supreme Justice Donna Mills ruled that the City, "alienated public parkland without approval by the New York State legislature in violation of the Public Trust Doctrine.” The decision would have spared three of the four parks plaintiffs are seeking to protect —Mercer Playground, LaGuardia Park and LaGuardia Corner Gardens—from destruction under NYU’s current expansion plan.  Under that ruling construction could not have begun until the Legislature authorized the removal of the park space.  In January NYU said they were going to appeal. 

On October 14th, the Appellate Division’s First Department overturned the lower court’s decision, ruling in NYU's favor. 

Plaintiffs are hoping to get a better outcome than last years disastrous Court of Appeals Union Square Park ruling. 

"Park advocacy" group New Yorkers For Parks supported the city and developer in both alienation cases. 

- Geoffrey Croft


Manhattan/Albany

NY State Court of Appeals Agrees to Hear Case Against NYU Expansion Plan;

Could Save Village Parks From Destruction, Affect Countless Parks and Open Spaces in the City and State; Actor and Activist Ruffalo Lauds Court’s Acceptance of Case, Warns Earlier Decision Must Be Overturned or Have Disastrous Implications for Public Commons

In the latest installment of the ongoing struggle against NYU’s huge expansion plan, the State's highest court, the New York State Court of Appeals, has agreed to hear a case that was filed by petitioners in mid-November regarding public parkland, according to a press release put out by plaintiffs.

The lawsuit has passed through two lower courts, with differing results. Those following the dispute, especially park advocates, are awaiting a verdict that could have massive ramifications on the way that the City and the State deal with public parks in the future.

On October 14^th, the Appellate Division’s First Department overturned a lower court’s decision that would have spared three parks—Mercer Playground, LaGuardia Park and LaGuardia Corner Gardens—from destruction under NYU’s current expansion plan. According to the lower court’s ruling, all three strips are public parks, and therefore entitled to protection, since the public has been using them as parks for many years, making them “implied” parkland, with the City funding, labeling and maintaining them as parks.

NYU and the City counter-argued that those parks aren't really parks, since they were never "mapped" as parks (a bureaucratic technicality), and are nominally overseen by the City's Department of Transportation. The First Department’s decision would allow NYU to raze those treasured parks to make way for its vast expansion plan, and set a precedent that could potentially threaten countless public parks throughout the City and the State.

Petitioners, NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Historic Districts Council,Washington Square Village Tenants’ Association, East Village Community Coalition, Friends of Petrosino Square, LaGuardia Corner Gardens, Inc., Lower Manhattan Neighbors’ Organization, SoHo Alliance, Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, NoHo Neighborhood Association, Assembly Member Deborah Glick and 10 other individuals, are represented on a pro bono basis by the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, with Randy Mastro as lead attorney. 

Their motion papers make clear that “the First Department’s decision disregarded well-established common law principles for determining when municipal land has been impliedly dedicated for parks usage.  In recognition of the unique value that public parks hold for children, families, and communities, the Public Trust Doctrine accords parkland special protection.”

“We’re glad that the Court of Appeals agrees that this case is important. These parks have been a vital part of the Greenwich Village community’s daily life for decades. Not only do we want to save these parks from NYU’s reckless, unnecessary expansion, but we want to do the same for the parks that will be threatened elsewhere if the lower court’s decision stands,” said Andrew Ross, Urbanist and Director of American Studies Program at NYU.

The petitioners are asking the Court of Appeals to consider two issues: that the First Department’s decision actually conflicts with prior appellate court decisions, and prior decisions by the Court of Appeals itself, about this kind of “implied” parkland, and that the First Department’s decision, if left intact, will have the effect of abolishing implied dedication—a consequence with widespread negative effects, not just in New York City, but throughout the State.

Parks and open spaces are protected by the Public Trust Doctrine, which maintains that the government holds the titles to certain waters and lands in trust for the people. In New York State, if an entity wishes to develop or remove a parcel of parkland from public ownership and use, it must follow a legal process called “alienation,” which, among other conditions, requires approval from the state Legislature. This was not done in the case of the Village parks that NYU wants to destroy for its ill-advised expansion plan. The First Department’s decision flies in the face of this doctrine and of its own decisions, and would imperil all kinds of public and green spaces throughout the state; it would leave ordinary New Yorkers with no protection against the removal and abuse of open spaces and parks for development.

“We understand that the battle is not yet over, but we appreciate that the Court of Appeals grasps the gravity of the situation. If these parks can be handed off to NYU in spite of the Public Trust Doctrine, it sets a terrible precedent, and the outcome for similar cases is bleak,” continued Ross.

Professor Mark Crispin Miller, President of NYUFASP, said, “Green spaces like these parks play an imperative role in keeping New York livable. We hope that the Court of Appeals overturns the First Department’s decision before it can do irreparable harm to the Public Trust Doctrine. Without the legal protection that provides, we could lose countless other City and State parks to greedy speculators like NYU.”

“These public parks have been a vital part of the Village for decades, and they have benefitted the public in numerous ways. Without the Court of Appeals’ intervention, not only will they be given to a private corporation for its own financial gain, but such a thing could become a common and unremarkable occurrence throughout New York,” said actor and environmental activist Mark Ruffalo.

Read More:

Court of Appeals to Hear Case Against NYU Expansion

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Court agrees to hear opponents of NYU expansion

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NYU Expansion Foes Take Fight To Top NY Court
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THE LATEST ON NYU’S EXPANSION PLAN WILL ALSO DICTATE FUTURE PUBLIC PARKS POLICY   
NYULocal - February 24, 2015 

Judge Strikes Down NYU Plan Over Illegal Taking Of Park Land - 2nd Ruling Against Bloomberg in Weeks

“NYU’s massive expansion project now cannot go forward, absent State Legislative approval, and that is never going to happen. End of story. “This is a huge victory for the Greenwich Village community, preserving this historic neighborhood and protecting its cherished, precious parkland.”  -   Attorney Randy Mastro 


NYU 2031 Massive Two Million Square Foot $ 6 Billion Expansion Project.  The plaintiff's lawsuit contends that the Bloomberg administration gave NYU rights over public parkland, in violation of state law, which requires, under the Public Trust Doctrine, that parkland cannot be given away without the approval of the State Legislature. The judge agreed.

Manhattan Supreme Justice Donna Mills ruled that the City, "alienated public parkland without approval by the New York State legislature in violation of the Public Trust Doctrine.”  Construction on the $6 billion, 20-year plan can not begin until the Legislature authorizes removal of the park space.

The City Council rubber stamped the project in July 2012.  In September 2012,  eleven groups filed suit against City for illegally approving NYU Sexton expansion plan for Greenwich Village.

The City and NYU had attempted to argue that because the four parks in question were never officially, "mapped" they were not legal parkland and as a result they do not require State Alienation approval.  

Former NYC Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro argued that the parkland had been used for decades and the absence of official mapping does not afford the parks any less legal rights for protection under state law. 

This is the second time in two weeks a judge has ruled that the Bloomberg administration broke the law by illegally alienating parkland.  On December 20th a Brooklyn judge ruled that the Parks Department and NYS DEC by issuing a permit allowed 20 acres in Spring Creek Park near Jamaica Bay to be used by the Department of Sanitation for a solid waste facility.

- Geoffrey Croft 

Manhattan

A Manhattan judge all but halted New York University’s controversial expansion plan Tuesday, ruling that the city broke the law by giving away public parkland without state approval, accordong to the New York Post.

The case, brought by Greenwich Village activists in 2012 drew support from local celebrities including Matthew Broderick, Susan Sarandon and Padma Lakshmi.

“NYU’s massive expansion project now cannot go forward, absent State Legislative approval, and that is never going to happen. End of story,” crowed the neighborhood advocates’ attorney, Randy Mastro.

“This is a huge victory for the Greenwich Village community, preserving this historic neighborhood and protecting its cherished, precious parkland.”

Manhattan Supreme Justice Donna Mills said construction on the $6 billion, 20-year plan that alters the green space cannot begin until Albany lawmakers OK the removal of the park space.

About 20 Greenwich Village residents including NYU faculty sued the city and the university in September 2012 to stop the plan, claiming that the university did not obtain required approvals for the construction on two “superblocks” between W. 3rd, Houston and Mercer streets and LaGuardia Place.

Mercer Playground, one of two playgrounds NYU had hoped to tear down and replace with skyscrapers in its $ 6 billion dollar expansion plan  The plan also included removing a community garden (photo below) and a dog run. (Photo:  Terri Cude) 

Residents like Matthew Broderick, who lives on Charles Street with his “Sex & the City” actress wife Sarah Jessica Parker and their kids said the plan will change the character of the Village.

“I’m very interested in this whole change that’s potentially going to happen to the Village,” Broderick told The Post outside court last February.

“I grew up on Washington Square. NYU has just taken more and more of what I think of as a unique and important part of the Village where a huge amount of creativity has come from,” Broderick said.

Sarandon donated two hours of free ping pong at her club SPiN to raise legal funds for the case.

The LaGuardia Corner Garden has been at it's current location at the corner of Bleecker Street and LaGuardia Place since 1981. Neighbors of LaGuardia Place Park paid for landscaping and raised funds for a new toddler park themselves. Under NYU's plan, residents would have also lost the Mercer-Houston Dog Run. (Photo: Elisabeth Robert/The Villager)

The City Council greenlighted the project in the summer of 2012.

But Justice Mills ruled in a 78-page decision that the city “alienated public parkland without approval by the New York State legislature in violation of the Public Trust Doctrine.”

City lawyer Chris Reo said, “We just received and are reviewing the decision.”

A spokesman for NYU downplayed the loss, saying that the ruling still allows the university to move forward on an initial project — building a new academic space on a site that currently houses athletic facilities.

“Once we have a chance to thoroughly review the decision with our planning team and determine the precise impact of the ruling on our ability to implement other elements of the plan, we will work with the City, as lead respondent, to determine our next legal steps,” said spokesman John Beckman.

Sticker distributed by Andrew Berman, Executive Director of Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation at the court hearings. 

Read More:

Judge says NYC broke the law in NYU expansion plan

New York Post - January 7, 2014 - By Julia Marsh  

NYU/City In Court Over Attempted Illegal Parkland Swipe

A Walk In The Park -  February 26, 2013 - By Geoffrey Croft

NYU, City, State Sued Over NYU's Massive 2031 Expansion Plan  

A Walk In The Park -  September 26, 2012  

NYU's Mega-Expansion Plan Presses Forward With Park/Open Space Destruction

A Walk In The Park - January 28, 2012 

NYU Expansion Plan Presses Forward With Park Destruction

A Walk In The Park - September 17, 2011 

Residents Fight NYU Over Parkland Destruction

A Walk In The Park -  November 1, 2010 

NYU Expansion Plans Include Destruction of Beloved Parks

A Walk In The Park - May 18, 2010

NYU/City In Court Over Attempted Illegal Parkland Swipe

Judge Grants Expedited Discovery Against NYU and City In Attempted Park Land Grab Case


NYU 2031 Massive Two Million Square Foot $ 6 Billion Expansion Project.  The plaintiff's lawsuit contends that the Bloomberg administration gave NYU rights over public parkland, in violation of state law, which requires, under the Public Trust Doctrine, that parkland cannot be given away without the approval of the State Legislature.

Manhattan

By Geoffrey Croft

A Manhattan State Supreme Court judge this afternoon granted an expedited discovery motion request in favor of plaintiffs suing NYU and City in an attempted park land grab case which has erupted in the West Village.

At issue is whether or not NYU can proceed in building its massive two million square foot expansion project without first getting State Alienation approval to remove 4 parks - some of which have been used for more than three decades - in order to build its enormous NYU 2031 project.   

The suit contends that the Bloomberg administration gave NYU rights over public parkland, in violation of state law, which requires, under the Public Trust Doctrine, that parkland cannot be given away without the approval of the State Legislature.

The City and NYU are attempting to argue that because the four parks in question were never officially, "mapped" they are in fact not legal parkland and as a result they do not require State Alienation approval.

Former NYC Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro presented the plaintiff's argument before the Honorable Donna Mills at 111 centre street this afternoon. 

Mr. Mastro argued that the parkland had been used for decades and the absence of official mapping does not afford the parks any less legal rights for protection under state law. 

"You can't take that precious parkland away without prior State approval under state law,"  he said.

He said they needed this discovery based on "misrepresentations by the City and NYU."

More than a 100 people attended today's hearing - many of which wore stickers distributed by Andrew Berman, Executive Director of Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

The City, represented by Christopher Reo stated that because the four parks were never de-mapped from the Department of Transportation they were not parks in the legal sense no matter how long they have been used as parkland.

This is position that is not consistent with other park and open space policies stated by the Bloomberg administration.   

In September lawyers filed suit in Manhattan State Supreme Court on behalf of 11 Greenwich Village groups trying to stop NYU's city-approved expansion.     

On Friday plaintiffs filed a blistering affidavit from former NYC Parks Commissioner Henry Stern which called out NYU's and the Bloomberg Administration's contention that four parcels of parkland are not actually City parks.  

The four parks involved with the proposed NYU expansion-Mercer Playground, LaGuardia Park, LaGuardia Corner Gardens,  and Mercer-Houston Dog Run range from 13 to more than 32 years of continuous public use.

Assemblymember Deborah Glick also wrote an affidavit supporting the contention that the City’s approval of the NYU expansion plan amounted to an illegal giveaway of public parkland and that any move to turn City parkland over to a private entity, like NYU, must have the approval of the State legislature under the Public Trust Doctrine.


Actor Matthew Broderick speaks with reporters after the hearing.

Actor Matthew Broderick was among more than 100 people who attended today's hearing many of which wore stickers saying, PLEASE SAVE OUR PARKS. 

"This issue is personal. I live in the village, I use the parks," Broderick, a life-long Greenwich Village resident said after the hearing. 

"It's not just my children.  I grew up on Washington Square and NYU is taking up more and more."

Matthew Broderick testified at the NYU expansion hearings at City Hall on June 29, 2012.  

"Parks they make the city livable, It's hard enough. There's only one Greenwich Village, its great if any parkland is preserved."

Broderick was accompanied by fellow Village native and parent Kenneth Lonergan, a noted playwright and screenwriter, and New York University alumni.

"The university doesn't own Greenwich Village, and the part they do own they're destroying. And it's not for the students, it's for money," Lonergan said.  

Both Broderick and Lonergan noted the dearth of available parkland in the community. 

The case contests the City Planning Commission's and the City Council's decision to approve a massive building plan by NYU, which would radically impact the area-  turning the heart of Greenwich Village into a jam-packed construction site for over 20 years, The plan would also permanently destroy two of the four parks. 

Various groups, including NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan (NYUFASP), the Historic Districts Council, and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, filed suit because the approved construction plan, among many other illegalities, gave NYU rights over public parkland.

At the end of the hour hearing Alan Levine argued strenuously on behalf of NYU to no avail.

Judge Mills signed an order show cause granting the plaintiffs permission to argue for discovery before the April 29th hearing.

“We are deeply gratified by the judge’s ruling today," said Andrew Berman Executive Director Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

"It’s only one small step, but an important one towards ensuring that New Yorker’s parks, light and air, and control over the fate of their communities are preserved, and not simply sold off to the highest or most politically well-connected bidder.”   

Besides Mr. Mastro plaintiffs are also represented by Jim Walden, both partners of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Read More:

Actor Matthew Broderick joins Greenwich Village neighbors

in protesting New York University expansion plans

New York Daily News - February 26, 2013 - By Barbara Ross 

NYU gotta be kidding! Matthew Broderick rips $6B expansion

New York Post -  By Julia March February 27, 2013

Professors And Villagers Take NYU To Court, Matthew Broderick Shows Up To Watch

NYU Local - By Zoë Schlanger  February 26, 2013 

Matthew Broderick Joins NYU Expansion Opponents in Court

DNAinfo - February 26, 2013 - By Andrea Swalec

NYU's Mega-Expansion Plan Presses Forward With Park/Open Space Destruction

N.Y.U. is asking the city to lift development and open-space restrictions on its two superblocks south of Washington Square so that it can add 2.5 million square feet of space, with 1.5 million of that aboveground and 1 million underground.

The proposed expansion would have a number of negative impacts to area parks and open spaces.

"Villagers should feel absolutely no reticence in asserting their opposition to New York University’s monstrous, grandiose 2031 plan," writes former City Council Member Carol Greitzer in a very informative historical piece published in this week's Villager about NYU and the former Board of Estimate's past transgressions involving the original Washington Square Southeast Title I project.

Manhattan

In what opponents blasted as an “orchestrated” show of support for N.Y.U.’s 2031 large-scale development plan, union construction workers — along with university deans and even the women’s basketball team coach — testified on behalf of the ambitious development scheme at Community Board 2’s packed full board meeting last Thursday night, according to the Villager.

And, in a first, a lone local resident spoke in favor of the plan. But the crowd mockingly accused him of being paid off.

Meanwhile, local residents among the 300-person audience at P.S. 41 repeatedly told N.Y.U. and the construction workers to “Build it Downtown!” — meaning the university should develop its new space nearby in the Financial District where Community Board 1 has an open invitation for N.Y.U. to come grow.

Several N.Y.U. faculty members also spoke against the plan, saying it would disrupt both their classrooms and their families’ lives.

Brad Hoylman, C.B. 2 chairperson, said 1,000 people had turned out at the board’s previous five hearings on the N.Y.U. “Core Proposal” this month. He noted the board had “avoided a melee” after the first of these hearings, when the auditorium at the A.I.A. Center proved to be too small for the overcapacity crowd, and the meeting had to be quickly moved to Our Lady of Pompei Church’s basement.

Hoylman said, at this point, the board will send a formal letter to N.Y.U. regarding the plan, asking the university to respond to it in writing. Following that, there will be a second round of meetings on the 2031 plan by the C.B. 2 committees during February.

Then, on Mon., Feb. 20, the board’s N.Y.U. Working Group, co-chaired by David Gruber and Terri Cude, will take all the resolutions from the various committees and use them to draft a comprehensive “omnibus resolution” on the N.Y.U. plan.

On Thurs., Feb. 23, the full community board will vote on this resolution — which is sure to be a lengthy one — which will then be sent to the City Planning Commission as the board’s advisory recommendations as part of the ULURP (uniform land-use review procedure) for the proposed plan. It’s the same procedure that C.B. 2 followed in its ULURP review of Rudin Management’s residential redevelopment scheme for the former St. Vincent’s Hospital site — which was approved on Monday by the Planning Commission.

The board didn’t pass any resolutions on the N.Y.U. plan at last Thursday night’s meeting, since it’s only midway through its 60-day ULURP review for the university’s application.

N.Y.U. is asking the city to lift development and open-space restrictions on its two superblocks south of Washington Square so that it can add 2.5 million square feet of space, with 1.5 million of that aboveground and 1 million underground.

In total, four new buildings would be added on the superblocks, located between Houston and W. Third Sts., including a new dorm, a replacement gym and an N.Y.U hotel on the southern block, plus two academic “Boomerang Buildings” in the Washington Square Village courtyard on the northern block.

In addition, N.Y.U. will provide space for the city’s School Construction Authority to build a new public school at the southeast corner of Bleecker St. and LaGuardia Place. Initially, N.Y.U. had thought it would be constructing the “core and shell” for this public school, but now is only providing the land for free. In an e-mail, Alicia Hurley, the university’s vice president for government affairs and community engagement, explained that, at first, the university thought it might be putting the school in the planned, mixed-use “Zipper Building,” to be developed on the Coles Gym site on Mercer St., or possibly one of the new “Boomerang Buildings” in Washington Square Village, in either of which case it would have built the public school’s basic structure. But the situation changed, Hurley said, after N.Y.U. scrapped plans for adding a fourth slender tower (not well suited for a public school) within the landmarked Silver Towers complex and decided instead to build on the adjacent Morton Williams supermarket site, which is better configured for a public school; the revised proposal now calls for an S.C.A.-built public school in this planned building’s base, topped by an N.Y.U. dorm.

One of the building trades officials at last Thursday’s full board hearing noted that N.Y.U. is an “economic driver” for the city, generating $2.5 billion for the economy and providing 25,000 jobs. The 2031 plan, he added, would provide 2,400 construction jobs over the next 20 years. Hard hats in the audience, who were all wearing orange T-shirts, cheered and held up “Build It!” and “Build Now!” signs.

However, Steve Ashkinazy, a C.B. 2 member, said if N.Y.U. instead built in the Financial District it would still mean the same number of new construction jobs — only not in the Village. Local residents in the audience cheered their approval.

Dennis Lee, of Local 79 of the masons and carpenters union, said New York needs the educational power of N.Y.U. to keep pace with global competition.

“I think our thoughts really do have to go back to our kids,” said Lee, a hulking figure who looked like he could play for the football Giants. “This is a worldwide economy, and we’re getting left behind.”

Jennifer Falk, executive director of the Union Square Partnership business improvement district, similarly said that the area’s large institutions, N.Y.U., The New School and Beth Israel Hospital, “are all major economic drivers. The economic impact that N.Y.U. has had… . They shop in our shops, they use our services. I strongly urge everyone in the room to work to make this plan happen for the benefit of the entire city of New York.”

As she spoke, an opponent called out, “Downtown!” and someone else chided her, “Shame on you!”

Scott Dwyer, the lone Village resident — not counting N.Y.U.-affiliated employees — to testify in favor of the scheme, said, “The current superblocks are monolithic failures, and the city and N.Y.U. are to blame.” He said the superblocks’ main feature is “private, walled-off gardens.”

“How much did they pay you?” audience members called out derisively. No residents had spoken in favor of the plan at C.B. 2’s five previous N.Y.U. meetings in January.

Mary Brabeck, dean of N.Y.U.’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, said the new construction would allow Steinhardt to centralize its faculty, now scattered over four different spaces, in one location.

Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean of N.Y.U.’s Tisch School of the Arts, said, “Greenwich Village is one of the world’s great artistic centers. For the past 50 years, the Tisch School has been a part of that.” She added that there would be a new performing arts center at Houston and Mercer Sts.

“That’s the hotel!” one anti called out incredulously. Indeed, N.Y.U. has not mentioned an arts center being part of the planned “Zipper Building” up to this point.

Calling the 2031 plan “elegant,” Janice Quinn, the N.Y.U. women’s basketball team coach, stated, “I say this as a neighbor, and not as an employee… . I think it’s time for us [N.Y.U.] to improve.”

Also testifying in support of N.Y.U. were representatives of social-service organizations, including the Bowery Residents’ Committee and University Settlement House.

“N.Y.U. has been a really excellent partner in helping those in need,” said the University Settlement representative. She said the Lower East Side settlement house supports N.Y.U.’s “ability to grow and remain a resource.”

The pro-N.Y.U. speakers were weighted toward the first half of the meeting. Hoylman said one person had signed them all up — which is allowable. About midway through the meeting, some N.Y.U. officials, including Hurley and Senior Vice President Lynne Brown, and the construction workers left. The plan’s opponents angrily said they felt “disrespected” by the N.Y.U. officials for not staying to hear all the criticisms of the plan. However, John Beckman, the university’s spokesperson, did stay for most of the full 2½ hours of public testimony. He later noted that Hurley had already attended five meetings on N.Y.U. that month — plus, no resolution on N.Y.U. was being voted on that night.

Former Councilmember Carol Greitzer recalled how 50 years ago the community had fought N.Y.U.’s effort to obtain the two superblocks, which were part of a federal Title I urban renewal area. The original developer wanted to get out of the deal, and so the property should have gone to a bidding process — but the city wanted the university to get the blocks, Greitzer said. To appease the community, the university agreed to give one of the new Silver Towers — 504 LaGuardia Place — as a residential building for Villagers. In addition, the university promised to create an N.Y.U.-run, experimental public school on the present Coles Gym site, yet this was never built, Greitzer said.

“This is infill infamy, and we can’t let this happen again!” Greitzer declared as the crowd cheered.

Beth Gottlieb, president of the Mercer-Houston Dog Run, said, “The buildings and scale of this project do not belong in the Village. We do not want to be homogenized, overbuilt or Gap-ified.” Warning politicians who will vote on the plan as part of ULURP, Gottlieb said, “To Councilmember Chin, Borough President Stringer and all our elected officials who say you represent us — do it! If not, you’ll hear from us on Election Day.”

Matt Viggiano, Councilmember Chin’s land-use planning director, said he knows people are eager to know Chin’s position on N.Y.U. 2031. The superblocks are in her district, and her stance presumably would have a major influence on the Council’s vote on the ULURP.

“It’s a little early for us,” he said of Chin revealing her full position on the project. “Over the next few months, the councilmember will continue to meet with residents and the community board. We have serious concerns about the size and impact of the 2031 plan.”

Nina Hernandez, an N.Y.U. alumna who lives on Mercer St. across from the “Zipper Building” site, said, “I know we need the jobs. But we need our community, we need our light, we need our air. I don’t want to live in a canyon.”

Mary Johnson, a former C.B. 2 member who lives east of Washington Square Park, said recent N.Y.U. projects, like its co-generation plan upgrade, turned the neighborhood into a nonstop construction zone.

“N.Y.U. has been renovating buildings, putting things on top of roofs, digging holes, connecting the co-gen to every area — it ain’t fun,” she said. “Eighteen to 19 years of that would be hell.”

Also, she said, the residents of the so-called “loft blocks” east of the park don’t want N.Y.U.’s proposed rezoning to add commercial uses in this area.

“We have plenty of shops on Eighth St. and Broadway,” she said.

Fearing the construction’s fallout and its impact on air quality, Laurence Maslon, a professor at the Tisch School, said, “What happens in my classroom when I have to take my 6-year-old to the doctor because he has a lung infection? Faculty housing is a covenant between a university and its faculty,” said Maslon, who lives on the superblocks. He said if a project of this magnitude were proposed at a small liberal-arts college like Wesleyan or Oberlin, the faculty would revolt.

Gary Anderson, a Steinhardt professor, referred to Villagers’ past battles to beat back the neighborhood-destroying plans of Robert Moses.

“They know they’re on the wrong side of history,” he said of N.Y.U.

Read More:

N.Y.U. calls out the troops in support of its mega-plan

The Villager - January 26, 2012 - By Lincoln Anderson

N.Y.U. promised an elementary school — back in 1960

The Villager - January 26, 2012 - By Carol Greitzer

NYU Expansion Plan Presses Forward With Park Destruction

A Walk In The Park - September 17, 2011

NYU Expansion Plan Presses Forward With Park Destruction

Terri Cude - Co-Chair of the Community Action Alliance on NYU (CAAN2031) - photographed last year in a strip of parkland along LaGuardia Place that New York University had wanted to buy and level part of it to make way for offices. This strip would be mapped as parkland. (For years the school has attempted to block its transfer to mapped parkland.) This strip is one of two areas where NYU has proposed to build underneath whereby depriving public access to the park space for years. Under NYU's current proposal, the existing parks would be destroyed and used as staging areas for construction. Mature trees would be removed and the new space would allow for the planting of only shallow-rooting trees and plants critics assert. The plan would allow NYU access to dig through any replacement parks that are eventually built. (Photo: Richard Perry/The New York Times)

NYU is still seeking to acquire two of the strips from the City - including a dog run in front of NYU's Coles gymnasium and one above their co-gen facility on Mercer Street. According to Ms. Cude they have been silent about three other strips - the E/W strips on Bleecker and West 3rd, and the LaGuardia Corner Garden/Time Landscape strip on LaGuardia between Houston and Bleecker Streets, leaving the garden/landscape strip without Parks protection. Critics wonder whether NYU has future plans to use that land.

The community is fighting to preserve seven DOT park areas in total.

"The seven strips of land on the superblocks of Greenwich Village are mapped to the Department of Transportation, a lush green legacy of the Village’s successful battle against Robert Moses’ attempt to create a Downtown Expressway and widen our streets to be on-ramps for his planned road going through the Washington Square Park arch," according to CAAN's website.

"These lands are mostly now community amenities – the peaceful oasis of a beautiful Community Garden, a unique Playground for children past the toddler stage, a verdant Village Green, a Dog Run and more."

Village resident Terri Cude has been fighting to preserve the open spaces for years.

"Transfer of the seven city-owned parkland strips to the NYC Department of Parks and

Recreation has long been desired by the community and was called for by the area's elected officials, Community Board and the Community Action Alliance on NYU 2031 (CAAN 2031),"Ms. Cude said in a statement. "NYU has chosen to support the transfer of two, and can be expected to block the community's efforts to remap the other five to Parks as they have done for decades.

"The Greenwich Village community may eventually get some semblance of parks back on the two open spaces that will be mapped to Parks, with some new trees that will take decades to reach the majesty – and air-cleaning properties – of what was lovingly planted by Villagers so many years ago," Ms. Cude continued. "But we certainly won’t get that before years of that land being construction sites instead, with at least a generation deprived of their use. And NYU would have the right to take off anything on the surface of those new parks at any time as needed and dig through them to their underground sites, making them unavailable to our community yet again.

So one park lost forever, two lost for the foreseeable future, and four whose future is uncertain. NYU should not be permitted to pull off this strip scam!

NYU has already taken over and overbuilt much of our Village, changing its character forever. The Greenwich Village community has 0.4 acres of parkland per 1,000 people, while the benchmark for an area well-served by parkland is 2.5 acres per 1,000 people, so our parks are especially precious.

NYU plans to build an 800,000 square foot building with 200,000 square feet underground on one of the open space strips plus the land behind it. That will house a 1,000+-bed dorm, a hotel, a gym, a supermarket, faculty housing, academic space and retail. They also intend to build below two other open space strips, which doesn't sound so bad until you realize that building under means completely destroying the parkland on it, ripping out all the mature trees that clean our air and the play space that keeps our children healthy. That land will be under construction for years as four stories are built below, and then will continue to be part of a construction site for many more years as it is used for construction equipment parking and access to the land immediately adjacent - which is currently also green open space soon to be lost forever.

This will forever alter the nature and character of Greenwich Village."

Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, said in a statement that the revisions to NYU's plans are insignificant, according to DNAinfo.

"The changes NYU has made are literally, as well as figuratively, nothing more than tinkering with the edges. Shifting one building fifteen feet to the west does not solve the much bigger problems of this plan," Berman said.

NYU's tweaked changes will be reflected in the school's application to the Department of City Planning as part of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) which is expected to begin in the next two months according to reports. - Geoffrey Croft

Manhattan

On Thursday NYU released the latest design for its 20-year expansion. Critics are not happy.

New York University, trying to placate critics of it plans to build more dormitories and offices in Greenwich Village, announced on Thursday that it would not seek to purchase two park-like strips of land bordering two giant housing complexes, according to the New York Times.

Instead, the school said it would move to have those areas permanently set aside as parkland. But some opponents of the building plan said they were not swayed by the decision.

The university intends to build four new buildings within Washington Square Village and Silver Towers — modernist housing complexes that rise imposingly north of Houston Street. And about a year ago N.Y.U. revealed that it would seek to buy from the city four oblong strips of park — some with benches, shade trees and narrow gardens and one that includes a dog run and playground. But many Greenwich Village neighbors protested and staged a rally last December urging that the strips be permanently made parkland.

On Thursday, N.Y.U. said that with two of the strips it would do what the neighbors demanded — ask the city to have them permanently considered parkland. (It plans to go ahead with the acquisition of the other two strips of land.)

In order to pursue its building plans without two of the tracts the university said it would move the footprint of one proposed 14-story tower on Mercer Street 15 feet. It also said it would find other locations for a playground and a dog run within the housing complexes.

“In addition to addressing the university’s long-range needs for academic space, our plan also enhances the local area through the addition of new public open space that will be programmed to serve a variety of constituencies,” Lynne Brown, a senior vice president, said in a statement. An N.Y.U. press release added that the new plans “reflect significant refinements that have been made after an intensive dialogue with area stakeholders.”

But Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, said the university’s offer to make the two of the strips of land permanent parks was partly nullified by its request for easements to burrow in the land. N.Y.U. wants to create underground rooms for purposes like music and theater practice and film screening, a process that would remove the land from communal use for perhaps years at a time, a fact that was acknowledged by Alicia D. Hurley, vice president for government affairs.

Mr. Berman said about the announcement, “They’re not giving us anything we don’t already have, and these easements’ would allow them to dig through the park and put construction equipment in the park.”

Terri Cude, a co-chairwoman of the preservationist Community Action Alliance on N.Y.U., said the easements would allow the university to uproot old trees that provide shade and beauty in the park and that would at best take decades to restore. Taking away a playground while construction proceeds, she said, “would mean a whole generation of kids will never be able to use the playground.”

The N.Y.U. press release quoted Holly Leicht, executive director of New Yorkers for Parks, as praising the university for being responsive to the group’s concerns and for mapping the two properties as parkland. In an interview, she indicated that closing the parks to construct underground rooms was not a major concern.

“The reality is that if you’re constructing buildings of that scale so close to public spaces you would not have been able to keep a playground open during construction anyway,” she said.

Read More:

N.Y.U. Relents a Bit on Acquiring Parkland Near Planned Housing

New York Times - City Room - September 15, 2011 By Joseph Berger

NYU Revises Expansion Plan to Create Park Space

DNAinfo - September 16, 2011 - By Andrea Swale

NYU slightly dials back its Village expansion

Revised plan seeks to overcome neighborhood opposition by reducing the amount of land the school will build on and guaranteeing two plots will remain parkland.

Crain's new York business - September 15, 2011 - By Amanda Fung

NYU 2031 Plan Update - September 2011

Save Mercer Playground.org

Residents Fight NYU Over Parkland Destruction

A Walk In The Park - November 1, 2010

NYU Expansion Plans Include Destruction of Beloved Parks

A Walk In The Park - May 18, 2010