The CB1 makes a grab for BPCA treasure chest to fund Pier 40

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April 10, 2013– The Tribeca Cb1 passed the follow general resolution in support of the Hudson River Park. There s no mention of an NID Tax or call for Albany to allow for bonds to be issued. (In the comments section, an astute reader spotted that CB1 seems to be making a play for the Battery Park City Authority treasure chest by seeking “public funds” and defining the territory of the HRP as including Battery Park)

RE: Amendment of the Hudson River Park Act; Creating Sustainable Future Parks and Fields in Hudson River Park

WHEREAS:   Hudson River Park (the “Park”), created by the Hudson River Park Act of 1998 (the “Act”), is five miles of parkland running up the Hudson River waterfront from the Battery to 59^th Street; it is used and enjoyed by over 17 million visitors per year; and

WHEREAS:   The Park is administered by the Hudson River Park Trust (the “Trust”); and

WHEREAS:   The Park’s Tribeca section extends 1.5 miles from Canal Street to Chambers Street providing ten acres of open space and seven acres of recreational amenities; and

WHEREAS:   The Park includes a pedestrian and bicycle strip between the Battery Park City Authority and Route 9A from Chambers to Battery Place; and

WHEREAS:   The Tribeca section of the Park includes, or will upon completion include, many vital and unique amenities enhancing the physical health and quality of life for virtually all residents, including, among others, the following amenities:

A “Center Upland” area of lawns, gardens, ornamental plantings, bike paths, promenades, and passive use space running as far north as Laight Street;

The largest dog run anywhere within the full length of the Park;

A heavily used recreational complex on Pier 25 including a sports area used by many “drop-in” users as well as Downtown Little League, Downtown Soccer League, and the Downtown Football Giants under permit, as well as a playground, a skate park, as well as a miniature golf course, a trio of volleyball courts, and a popular snack bar run as a concession by Manhattan Youth;

A planned esturium on Pier 26 with adjacent landscaped seating area, as well as a boathouse/restaurant complex with occupancy planned for 2013-2014; and

WHEREAS:   Completed areas of the Tribeca section of the Park have won multiple awards for innovative and sustainable design, including an inaugural award from the National Parks Service’s “Designing the Parks Awards” for Site Design by Mathews Nielsen and honors from the American Society of Landscape Architects; and

WHEREAS:   Beyond the boundaries of Community Board One, downtown residents utilize the bike and jogging path, the tennis courts, the promenade and lawns, the waterfront views of the whole of the Park by the thousands every day; and

WHEREAS:   The interdependency of neighborhood and open space is particularly clear in the case of the sports fields at Pier 40 in the Park, which are utilized by all the major school and youth groups of Board One and neighboring Community Boards, as well as adults on a programmed and free-use basis; and

WHEREAS:   More parkland is desperately needed to serve a growing downtown population – “breaking even” (i.e., merely maintaining existing square footage of active recreation space) is, in effect, falling behind this trend of growing use and need; and

WHEREAS:   The Act imposed strict limits on revenue-generating activities within the boundaries of the Park, designating certain zones (Pier 40 being one) as “park commercial” areas where certain commercial activities are permitted, with revenues flowing to the Trust to help the defray the cost – approximately $20 million per year and growing – of maintaining this immense expanse of open space; and

WHEREAS:   In recent years, it has become clear that the fiscal needs of the Park have outstripped the revenue potential of the footprint of the Park, a shortfall that will sharply accelerate in coming years; and

WHEREAS:   The fiscal shortfall will in time endanger even fundamental access to the most heavily used sections and amenities within the Park upon which downtowners depend; and

WHEREAS:   Contributing to the fiscal troubles of the Park has been extensive storm damage inflicted on this exposed waterfront zone in the course of Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012 for which the Trust has yet to receive support or reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”), now

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT: We cannot lose this precious Park, or risk a loss of access to any part of it; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:  We call on the Trust to work toward the creation of a plan, mutually agreed upon by park users, residents and other impacted constituencies, to fully renovate Pier 40 and ensure its long-term survival; all economically viable options except housing and hotels should be considered; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:  The field space at Pier 40 should be substantially expanded to reflect the needs of the burgeoning populations of families with children on Manhattan’s Lower West Side and especially in Board One, with the new fields installed on the roofs of buildings only to the extent it is not practical to include them on the level of the rest of the Park; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:  We call on all elected officials in Lower Manhattan to redouble past, commendable efforts to secure public funds to augment other fundraising efforts already underway; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT:  FEMA should without delay remit monies due and owing to the Trust for damage sustained during Hurricanes Irene and Sandy.