It looks like the battle over three new large-scale towers on the waterfront in the Two Bridges area is escalating.
We just received a press advisory from the office of City Council member Margaret Chin announcing a rally in the neighborhood tomorrow morning. The headline reads, “Council member Chin and Manhattan Borough President Brewer to announce next chapter in fight against Two Bridges mega-towers.” According to the advisory, the city administration will be urged, “to reject all three applications and commit to a transparent and thorough public review.”
The projects include a 79-story tower at 247 Cherry St. from JDS Development Group; 62 ad 69 story towers from L+M Development Partners and the CIM Group at 260 South St.; and a 62-story building by the Starrett Group at 259 Clinton St. They’re currently undergoing a joint environmental review. Here’s more from the press advisory:
Tomorrow at 10 a.m., Council Member Margaret S. Chin and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer will join tenant leaders and community advocates to publicly pressure the City Planning Commission to deny the applications in Two Bridges when they vote later this year. The announcement will be made at 80 Rutgers Slip, a senior building upon which one of the proposed towers would build, forcing an unknown numbers of seniors to relocate. Elected officials will reaffirm their position that these towers are not a done deal and call for a thorough and transparent public review of the proposed projects.
Others joining the press event include tenant leaders from Two Bridges Tower and Lands End I, as well as representatives from GOLES and CAAAV, the Lower East Side/Chinatown tenant advocacy groups.
This past spring, a new group called Lower East Side Organizing Neighbors (LESON) announced plans to sue the city over the projects. When they speak tomorrow, we’ll see whether the Council member and Borough President are also anticipating legal action.
Last summer, the Department of City Planning rejected Council member Chin’s request for a ULURP in the Two Bridges area, a full land use review that would have given the Council a formal role in deciding whether the projects move forward. The agency said proposed changes in the Two Bridges Large Scale Residential Plan amounted to a “minor modification” as opposed to a “major modification” of the plan, meaning a ULURP was not required.
UPDATE 7:40 a.m. Council member Chin faces several challengers in a Democratic Primary Election this coming fall. The Two Bridges development controversy is sure to be a big topic of conversation during the campaign. Here’s part of a statement we received from one of the challengers. Christopher Marte, last night:
Margaret Chin’s attempt to take a stand against the waterfront developments is too little, too late. When the community organized against the developers at the EIS meetings, our Councilperson creeped out the back door. After the third such protest, the EIS meetings were re-organized in a way that intentionally deprived the full community of being able to actually meet. Instead of weeknights, they were moved to Saturday mornings. Instead of being hosted in an open hall, they were divided up into subsections by rooms.These meetings were a sham, just as today’s rally is. Our Councilmember knew when the protective zoning was expiring, and she did not renew it. Our Councilmember knew about the Chinatown Working Group plan, which would have prevented these towers, and she did not implement it. Our Councilmember knew that these luxury towers would displace seniors and cause second-hand displacement for countless residents, and she let the developers have their way.
What to make of Marte’s accusations? We’ll have more about that in our story following today’s really.
