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Update: June 17, 2011
The Winter Garden marble stairs are reportedly getting a pardon and will now be saved from demolition. Per our interview in March with grass roots leader Justine Cuccia, Brookfield Properties had wanted to demolish the awe-inspiring stairs in order to make room for what many called a “strip mall” that would connect to the new West Street tunnel and the 9/11 Memorial. The BPCA, which actually owns the property, had the final say on the matter, and seems to be backing the local BPC residents who strongly oppose the demolition.
Brookfield was basing the justification for the demolition all on a mystery “engineering report” that allegedly concluded the new pedestrian traffic from the tunnel would be so great as to create a “safety hazard”. Battery Park.TV openly challenged the validity of this report and requested that it be made public. The report was commissioned by Brookfield, and the unknown “engineering firm” was paid by Brookfield, creating a conflict of interest in the outcome.
Community Board 1 Chair Julie Menin confirmed that stairs seem to have been pulled from the jaws of death. She wrote to us, “Yes the stairs are saved. Saving the Winter Garden staircase was tremendously important to the community both from a symbolic and functional standpoint. I am pleased that Brookfield responded to our advocacy on this and preserved the stairs.”
We are awaiting statements from the BPCA. The BPCA has been hostile to BatteryPark.TV and is now refusing to reply to any of our questions.
March 19, 2011
Justine Cuccia, Roberta Kahan, and Marilyn Masaryk have launched a grass roots effort to save the marble stairs inside the Winter Garden of the WFC. To join the petition, email
| savethestairs@gmail.com |
For more information, visit the Facebook page here.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4I0FD8jtU0
Please note that the Facebook group is called:
“Save the Winter Garden Staircase”.
Sad. I doubt that green marble stairs can be saved, despite all efforts.