http://you-are.us/2005/11/17/what-is-to-become-of-lower-manhattan/ we are you Thu, 09 Sep 2010 13:47:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 http://you-are.us/2005/11/17/what-is-to-become-of-lower-manhattan/comment-page-1/#comment-21 michael Mon, 21 Nov 2005 19:12:27 +0000 http://you-are.us/2005/11/17/what-is-to-become-of-lower-manhattan/#comment-21 The lingering, the expense, the pretense of public involvement--yes, there <em>is </em>a comparison between Block 37 in Chicago and the WTC site in NYC. Much has been written about how, since the demise of the likes of <a href="http://robert-moses.biography.ms/" rel="nofollow">Robert Moses</a>, urban planning is a mess of public and private interests where, because of series of compromises and ad hoc agreements (some barely legal, if legal at all), projects are realized that hardly suit <em>anyone's </em>purpose. With no master plan and no urban vision, many current urban projects become a hodge podge of interests in which there is ample room for graft yet little chance that anyone beyond the contracted firms will be pleased with the end result. No one wants a second Robert Moses in NYC (or Chicago) and few would want to scrap the scrappy community boards who sometimes kill or mutate decent projects with their tenacious NIMBY attitude. But Block 37 and the WTC site are examples of how urban planning today often does not work. The lingering, the expense, the pretense of public involvement–yes, there is a comparison between Block 37 in Chicago and the WTC site in NYC. Much has been written about how, since the demise of the likes of Robert Moses, urban planning is a mess of public and private interests where, because of series of compromises and ad hoc agreements (some barely legal, if legal at all), projects are realized that hardly suit anyone’s purpose. With no master plan and no urban vision, many current urban projects become a hodge podge of interests in which there is ample room for graft yet little chance that anyone beyond the contracted firms will be pleased with the end result. No one wants a second Robert Moses in NYC (or Chicago) and few would want to scrap the scrappy community boards who sometimes kill or mutate decent projects with their tenacious NIMBY attitude. But Block 37 and the WTC site are examples of how urban planning today often does not work.

]]> http://you-are.us/2005/11/17/what-is-to-become-of-lower-manhattan/comment-page-1/#comment-20 Gotham Gazette - The Wonkster » Blog Archive » Rebuilding, 50 Months Later Sat, 19 Nov 2005 16:43:53 +0000 http://you-are.us/2005/11/17/what-is-to-become-of-lower-manhattan/#comment-20 [...] Michael of the blog you-are.us predicts that the “urban planning fightâ€? over how much of the rebuilt lower Manhattan will be commercial rather residential will be the biggest issue in Bloomberg’s second term. He also points out that the appointment to the LMDC board of Doctoroff, who headed the efforts to bring the Olympics to NYC, “forms an interesting bridge between the mayor’s botched and ill-advised plans for the West Side stadium and his new vision [for] the World Trade Center site and the whole lower Manhattan neighborhood.â€? [...] [...] Michael of the blog you-are.us predicts that the “urban planning fightâ€? over how much of the rebuilt lower Manhattan will be commercial rather residential will be the biggest issue in Bloomberg’s second term. He also points out that the appointment to the LMDC board of Doctoroff, who headed the efforts to bring the Olympics to NYC, “forms an interesting bridge between the mayor’s botched and ill-advised plans for the West Side stadium and his new vision [for] the World Trade Center site and the whole lower Manhattan neighborhood.â€? [...]

]]> http://you-are.us/2005/11/17/what-is-to-become-of-lower-manhattan/comment-page-1/#comment-19 mm Sat, 19 Nov 2005 15:17:12 +0000 http://you-are.us/2005/11/17/what-is-to-become-of-lower-manhattan/#comment-19 That whole situation reminds me of a larger version of the debate over <a href="http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/146.html>Block 37</a> in Chicago's Loop. "The city sold Mills the block, which sits between the Daley Center and Marshall Field's, for $12.3 million two years after acquiring it from another developer for $32.5 million. The city also has committed $42.4 million in public subsidies from the land's future tax revenues," says the "Chicago Sun-Times.":http://www.suntimes.com/output/business/cst-fin-block16.html So after decades of debate, the city's willingness to take a "$20 million":http://www.chicagoist.com/archives/2004/10/13/city_sells_block_37_loses_20_million.php financial hit resulted in a plan for Block 37 that, to some people's surprise/chagrin, does NOT include a casino (so far). Groundbreaking happened just this week for a development including a new building for CBS and a CTA station. I'm still not sure why we need another connection for "non-express" service to the airports. I thought Chicago's public transportation system had the "non-express" market cornered. And while the new ice skating rink a few blocks away in "Millennium Park":http://www.millenniumpark.org is swank, I'll still miss watching the Skate on State crowd that filled Block 37 during the winter and the "Gallery 37":http://www.gallery37.org/ kids who made art there during the summer. That whole situation reminds me of a larger version of the debate over Chicago Sun-Times. So after decades of debate, the city’s willingness to take a $20 million financial hit resulted in a plan for Block 37 that, to some people’s surprise/chagrin, does NOT include a casino (so far). Groundbreaking happened just this week for a development including a new building for CBS and a CTA station. I’m still not sure why we need another connection for “non-express” service to the airports. I thought Chicago’s public transportation system had the “non-express” market cornered. And while the new ice skating rink a few blocks away in Millennium Park is swank, I’ll still miss watching the Skate on State crowd that filled Block 37 during the winter and the Gallery 37 kids who made art there during the summer.

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