The fact that these morons aren't arguing for more affordable housing (the standard, and somewhat understandable argument against anything in the city), and are instead arguing for more of the luxury housing tells you everything you need to know about this particular community board, as well as the High Line activists that support it.
https://w42st.com/post/community-boa...to-commercial/
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Manhattan Community Board 4’s (MCB4) Clinton Hell’s Kitchen Land Use Committee voted unanimously to reject zoning changes that would allow for a largely commercial development — including a proposed resort and casino — on Manhattan’s West Side, telling the developer the neighborhood’s priority is creating more housing.
.....The air was tense inside a standing-room only Hartley House on Thursday evening for the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) meeting for Hudson Yard’s Western Railyards development. ULURP is a public review process in New York City that governs how applications for zoning changes and other land use actions are handled.
Supporters of Related’s new plan — including labor union members and tenants of its own buildings — sat shoulder-to-shoulder with community leaders from Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea along with advocates for The High Line, who opposed the plan. Half the room would break into applause as a representative from either side spoke. The only point they could agree on was the coldness of the room, which unfortunately had a broken heater.
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MCB4 has expressed skepticism at Related’s plan since the spring, and the developer’s glossy rendering of a casino. Friends of the High Line executive director Alan van Capelle headed a campaign in opposition over the summer, stating it would obstruct iconic views of the skyline. At Thursday’s meeting he hand-delivered thousands of petition signatures from local residents and visitors to the High Line against Related’s proposal.
“Unfortunately, Related Companies have made a terrible misjudgment,” he said. “They have mistaken our community’s passion for inclusiveness and understanding, and seem determined to steamroll through a plan that ignores our voices, our values and our needs.” In the 15 years since it opened, van Capelle said the park had “not opposed a single building developed along the side of the High Line”
“We are strongly in favor of development on the Western Rail Yards,” he emphasized.
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Naya Cameron, a 16-year-old resident of Chelsea’s Fulton Houses, agreed with van Capelle. “A casino will be built regardless somewhere in New York City and that will create casino jobs wherever it is,” she said. “Why don’t we make sure that this development meets community needs [like] having a beautiful park and more residential housing?”
Veronica Thaxton, a resident of a Related-owned building in Hudson Yards since 2014, had a different opinion. “I believe that this plan is not only ambitious, but essential,” she said. “Based on my own research, I see this proposal delivering significant benefits, boosting New York City’s economic development, creating thousands of jobs.”
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Related CEO Jeff Blau defended his company’s proposal at the meeting. “The 2009 plan will not get built. The economics of that plan do not support development,” he said, adding that it “included 5,700 luxury for-sale $10 million-plus apartments.”
Speaking about the company’s history of building Hudson Yards, he remarked, “we built the city that we should all be very proud of. … We have created the best, safest, nicest community in New York City that I and many, many people are very proud of.” If Related completes its plan it would also contribute $2.7 billion to the MTA, which owns the land it wants to build on, Blau said.
“This is an opportunity to make a big change for New York City, a lifetime change. I’m asking you, let’s not make this Amazon Two,” he implored the committee members, referring to Amazon’s never-built second headquarters in Long Island City.
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“We need to be asking what is the current need, now and in the future, for not only our neighborhood but the city,” MCB4 member Delores Rubin said. “And I think everyone that is here on either side — they all think it’s housing. And if that is a point of agreement, that is a starting point to think of the opportunity.”
“Let’s come up with some strategies,” said committee co-chair Paul Devlin. “We can work towards a solution of financing if we put our heads together.”
“Given that the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity just went through [City Council] the demand for housing is there politically,” Devlin said. “Let’s tap into the current political will to promote housing, to get housing on this parcel.”
Restuccia contended there might be creative ways to finance the platform through state or federal funding instead of relying on the hope of a casino license to move the development of the rail yards forward.
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NEW YORK is Back!
“Office buildings are our factories – whether for tech, creative or traditional industries we must continue to grow our modern factories to create new jobs,” said United States Senator Chuck Schumer.
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