Extell's Barnett Swats Off Concerns about Riverside Center Mega-Development

Extell is required to hold a series of "hearings" as part of the ULURP approval process for its Riverside Center Mega-Development. What has emerged clearly from the first two of these events is that the community has many concerns, and Extell treats the concerns like an elephant treats flies: it simply ignores most of them, and swats away the most persistent of them as it lumbers ahead with its plans that break legally-binding deals with the community and violate city planning standards.

This massive development, just blocks from Lincoln Center and the homes of many celebrities, is proceeding without any attention from major media outlets or from concerned local celebrities who often speak out on more abstract issues much farther from their homes.

During the first hearing, on June 3, attendees could once again view the models of the proposed development towering over the surrounding area and permanently killing the chances for sorely needed local parks and schools.

That's the Hudson River (IRT) Powerhouse in the foreground. Here you see some of the people lined up to ask questions and make comments at the first meeting:
The presenters included local parents concerned about schools, local residents concerned about violations of city planning policies, and others.

At the second hearing, on June 15, Gary Barnett made his typical presentation. As usual, he emphasized the massive "concessions" he has already made to community concerns. For example, he talked in detail about the building heights that have been reduced, while completely ignoring the fact that the heights of other buildings in the proposed mega-development have been substantially increased.

Meanwhile, you can see how:

Mr. Barnett paid close attention to Mel Wymore (the chair of Community Board 7), who made an eloquent presentation of the community's concerns:

I guess that's what "hearing" means to a rich, powerful organization like Extell: they speak and we do the listening. As you can see from their hard-nosed attitude towards safety issues for residents and children (providing traffic signals and speed bumps for their development), this is standard practice for Extell and their financial partners, the Carlyle Group. Why do city officials and our representatives allow this to go on?

Comments

[p]

Your wish for celebrities to involve themselves is understandable, but that, if it were to happen, is the province of Westpride, one of the members of the Riverside South Planning Corporation, which did organize celebrities against Trump City. After supporting the Riverside South compromise, Westpride's name in the community and among celebrities is mud. Thus there is a contradiction between your believing in RSPC's plan for the Extell site and a strategy that depends on celebrities.

[David B. Black]

The Restrictive Declaration, settling the dispute over the Riverside South development and Trump, was indeed considered to be a massive give-away by activists at the time. RSPC was created at that time to assure that the developer at least kept to the not-very-limiting "limits" that were set by the Declaration. That's what makes it particularly galling that Extell simply blew off RSPC (its "probation officer") and declared that it will build EVEN MORE than the prior agreement called for. The court has declared (see earlier post) that RSPC's role in the process had a 10 year life and has expired, but the role itself was affirmed and remains unfilled. Kwartler, Whitaker and others have produced perfectly reasonable proposals for real parks which would, like RSPC's, be better than Extell's current demands.

[p]

The role of enforcing the restrictive declaration falls to the City departments of Buildings and of City Planning. RSPC was enforcing its separate agreement with Trump, now ended, concerning building design, etc. Had that agreement continued, RSPC would have played a role in designing Riverside Center. That possibility is gone, and appealing to celebrities won't bring it back.