Feed

It Takes a Village

By Matt Chaban 7/17/12 1:02pm

It Takes a Village

wpid-2012-07-17-11.54.07.jpg

Purple People Eaten: NYU Reduces Greenwich Village Campus 20 Percent

Update (1:46):The zoning subcommittee passed the modified proposal unanimously, while the full land-use committee supported it by a vote of 19-1, with Councilman Charles Barron the lone no-vote.

The land-use committee meeting is still going on, with a vote due at some point this afternoon, but NYU has just revealed their deal with the City Council and local rep Margaret Chin to reduce the size of its expanded campus on the two superblocks south of Washington Square park. The project will be downsized 20 percent overall, with a 26 percent reduction in above ground space. Read More

By Matt Chaban 7/17/12 9:00am

It Takes a Village

A towering challenge. (Docomomo)

Too Little in the Middle: NYU Faculty Propose Last Minute Alternative to Greenwich Village Expansion

Later today, within the next hour or two, the City Council’s zoning subcommittee is expected to unveil a compromise that it has reached with New York University on its ambitious and controversial plan to build 2.2 million square feet of facilities on two blocks the school owns south of Washington Square Park. Whatever form that takes, be it shorter buildings, fewer buildings, maybe even though almost certainly not no buildings, it will be the final deal for NYU’s 2031 expansion plan.

The faculty of NYU know this full well, and a good many of them dread it. Already 36 departments or divisions at the university have come out against the plan, and even as they realized there was little likelihood of stopping the project in the short-term, a faculty coalition came up with its own plan anyway, releasing it on the same day as the university collects its prize.

“No one knows NYU’s space needs better than we do,” said Mark Crispin Miller, a media and culture professor who is one of the leading faculty opponents of the expansion plan. Read More

By Jess Schiewe 7/02/12 12:57pm

It Takes a Village

The council members had a laundry list of concerns about the NYU 2031 Expansion plan. (Jess Schiewe)

Public Hearing On NYU’s Expansion Draws Large Crowd With Familiar Complaints

The City Council’s public hearing on New York University’s Village expansion plan drew a crowd on Friday that was notable for both its size and its star power— Matthew Broderick offered testimony on the neighborhood’s quickly eroding quirkiness—and its eagerness to communicate its distaste for the controversial project.

In fact, the City Hall hearing filled up so fast that eager attendees had to line up outside the door, waiting until someone left the room before they were allowed to enter. The Observer watched as one sign-bearing group debated queuing up in the punishing heat before deciding against it. Read More

By Matt Chaban 6/07/12 11:13am

It Takes a Village

The zoning-busting Zipper Building. (NYU Local)

Scott Stringer Says City Planning Backpedaled, and Other NYU Rezoning Reactions

The reactions have been rolling in to the City Planning Commission’s near-unanimous approval of NYU’s Greenwich Village expansion plan from yesterday. Activists oppose it, business groups support it and politicians are mixed on the issue. The most striking statement comes from Borough President Scott Stringer, who is glad to see further modifications to the plan but also expresses exasperation at the fact that some of his negotiations with the NYU have been walked back. Read More

By Matt Chaban 6/06/12 11:37am

It Takes a Village

Those towers? Not quite so big. (NYU)

NY-Phew: City Planning Commission Approves NYU’s Village Expansion With Some Changes

Now the NYU plan is perfect, at least in the eyes of planning potentate Amanda Burden and the rest of the rest of the City Planning Commission. About an hour ago, the commission conditionally  and near unanimously approved NYU’s contentious expansion plans for its two superblocks just south of Washington Square Park.

The commission is requiring the university to modify its 2 million square foot expansion in a number of meaningful ways, though the outlines of the new mini campus remain largely intact. There was one dissenting vote for the modified plan, from Commissioner Michelle de La Uz, who is the appointee of Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. Read More

By Matt Chaban 5/31/12 7:45pm

It Takes a Village

Fine by us? (Grimshaw/NYU)

Amanda Burden: NYU Expansion Strikes the Perfect Balance [Updated]

At the Pier 15 party last night, after discussing the beauty of the pier itself, as well as SHoP’s work further up the East River Esplanade, particularly the new Pier 35, which Amanda Burden described as “fantastic,” the City Planning Commission chair shared her thoughts, however brief, about  NYU’s upcoming expansion. The commission will be voting on the plan come Wednesday.

“It’s perfectly balanced between the needs of the community and the needs of the university,” she said. Read More

By Stephen Duffy 4/30/12 4:53pm

It Takes a Village

Paradise? (Steven Duffy)

In the Shadow of Four Towers: A Day at the Parks NYU Wants to Bury

The arguments for NYU’s, creatively named, “2031” expansion have been predictable in their rhetoric: You shouldn’t—and, frankly, can’t—stand in the way of change. The majority of press in the city has adopted this stance and backed the new proposals. Now Manhattan borough president, Scott Stringer, has given his approval, albeit with stipulations that reduce the build by some 20 percent.

Those who disagree with the 1.9 million square foot expansion have been cast as one-dimensional curmudgeons who are stuck in the past. “Change never comes easy to New York” read a Times op-ed. Really? In more polemic media, the anti-expansion crowd have even been accused of wanting to “steal” one of NYU’s buildings.

“I think they pretty much get what they want, I feel like they are a little principality,” Diane Peterson said of the university, sitting on a stone slab in La Guardia community gardens, the southern block of the two “Super Blocks” that most of the 2031 plan is based upon.

Ms. Peterson has maintained her plot, where she grows tomatoes and roses amongst other shrubs, for more than three decades. Although NYU does not own the land that La Guardia Gardens is situated on—it belongs to the Department of Transportation—if the planned expansion does go ahead the garden will be embedded in the midst of a construction site for some 20 years. Read More

By Matt Chaban 4/20/12 12:34pm

It Takes a Village

The more things change... (Bowery Boys)

NYU’s F-Minus: Many Faculty Do Not Like University’s Village Expansion Plans

Opinions have been mixed on NYU’s plans to expand its campus in Greenwich Village. Construction unions and some local businesses like it because it means more work and more customers. Neighbors and some local businesses do not like it because it means more crowds and shadows and a loss of that Bohemian character. The mayor likes it, Scott Stringer likes the compromise he came up with, NYU antagonist Andrew Berman likes none of it.

What may (or may not, depending on one’s level of cynicism) surprise is that a good many NYU faculty do not like the expansion plan, either. According to a survey conducted by the NYU Faculty Senators Council (PDF), a representative body for professors and instructors, nearly two-thirds of faculty oppose the plan, compared to one-quarter that supports it. A full 40 percent percent of the faculty surveyed said they strongly oppose the plan. Read More

By Michael Ewing 4/17/12 10:34am

It Takes a Village

Is that someone wearing a purple shirt in the window? (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

Cooper Union Junior Pranks Gothamist With News of School’s Sale to NYU—Which Is Actually Pretty Believable

Buzz on the street about New York University’s latest purchase turns out to be false!

If big purple already didn’t own most of Manhattan, it wasn’t much a shock to have learned from Gothamist that the school/corporation bought Cooper Union yesterday morning. A press release from a @cooper.edu rolled int Gothamist’s inbox and Read More

By Matt Chaban 4/12/12 10:00am

It Takes a Village

The dean of NYU.

Cutting Scott Stringer: Critics Claim Borough President’s NYU Compromise Falls Short, Some Prepare Legal Action

Facing pressure from all sides, Borough President Scott Stringer managed to extract a number of concessions from NYU over its planned expansion in Greenwich Village. However many opponents of the plan, including community groups and local politicians, feel the borough president did not go far, and they had harsh words for the borough president as a result.

“Although I am appreciative of the efforts of Borough President Stringer to negotiate with NYU, the end result is minimal change and do little to negate the devastating impact the NYU 2031 Plan will have on the surrounding community,” Assemblywoman Deborah Glick said in an acerbic statement. “There are no real concessions in this agreement.” She added that NYU’s plan “continues to be a travesty” and suggested that any concessions were factored into the plan from the start “to give the appearance that they are responding to community outrage.” Read More