CITYLAND FEBRUARY 15, 2007 center for new york city law VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1 Highlights CITY COUNCIL City and Suburban Homes . .1 Queens plan sparks debate . .3 CITY PLANNING COMMISSSION West 60th plan approved . .4 BOARD OF STANDARDS & APPEALS Mod design justifies variance . .5 Yeshiva can’t cater . .6 E. 63rd office closed . .7 Park slope permit problem . .8 Superior Ink – Take II . .9 LANDMARKS Lord Foster tower denied . .9 BSA approved a variance for this modern condo to be built on Greenwich Avenue. Story page 5. Harlem ballroom debated . .10 Illustration: Eric Schuldenfrei, courtesy of Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects. God’s BK home designated . .11 De-landmarked SI Hall . .12 CITY COUNCIL 16-year delay, Landmarks voted in DEPARTMENT OF BUILDINGS November 2006 to reestablish all 15 buildings as an individual land- Self-certification rules . .12 Designation mark. 3 CityLand 169 (Dec. 2006). ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORP. Lenox Hill, Manhattan When the designation came up for confirmation – this time to the Atlantic Basin RFP . .13 Council reverses 16-year-old IDA’s February calendar . .13 Bd. of Estimate vote City Council – Council Member Jes- sica Lappin, Chair of the Subcom- PORT AUTHORITY Council re-designated buildings mittee on Landmarks & Public Sit- TWA terminal restoration . .13 despite owner’s offer to tenants. On ing, voiced support even before the February 1, 2007, the City Council public had a chance to speak, com- COURT DECISIONS voted unanimously to overturn one menting that it presented a rare Council overturned . .14 of the final actions of the Board of opportunity to “right a wrong creat- Sir Evan’s loses party wall . .14 Estimate. In 1990, Landmarks des- ed by government.” She added that Cemusa remains standing . .15 ignated the entire 15-building com- its significance rested in the fact Cemetery bridge easement . .15 plex called the First Avenue Estate that it was “a full-lot tenement.” CITYLAND PROFILES that occupies the block bounded by After residents and preserva- East 64th and East 65th Streets and tionists added their support, owner Lord Norman Foster . .16 York and First Avenues. At its final Stahl York Avenue Company’s attor- CHARTS meeting, the Board of Estimate ney, Paul Selver, testified in opposi- carved out two buildings from the tion. Selver’s main challenge to the DCP Pipeline . .4-5 designation to allow the owners to designation came from the land- BSA Pipeline . .6 redevelop the site. marks law, which requires that a ULURP Pipeine . .7 Landmarks Actions . .8 The new development never building be “special” to substantiate Landmarks Pipeline . .9 materialized, and residents and designation. Selver argued that the Citylaw.org New Decisions . .17-9 preservationists pushed the City to First Avenue Estate failed to meet re-designate the buildings. After a this standard (cont’d on page 3) February 15, 2007 Volume 4 CITYLAND 1 COMMENTARY Robert Moses’ answer to his critics With the opening of the museum shows and a new book on Robert Moses, I retrieved from my files Moses’ own response to Robert Caro’s 1974 biography The Power Broker. Not long after Caro’s book had appeared I read that Moses distributed a 23-page response. I wrote him and asked for a copy. A few days later the Xeroxed state- ment arrived without a note or comment. Over the years I have shown the statement to many people, most of whom had not known that Moses had responded to Caro. The statement is a great read. Moses’ power was at least partially due to his wonderfully rich verbiage and over-the-top imagery with which he defended his projects and attacked his opponents. Here are three examples from Robert Moses’ response: “The stink bombs of some lady critics don’t suffocate us. Several of these charmers said there was not one note of beauty and no vestige of good taste or culture at both World’s Fairs at Flushing Meadow and that both were offensive and a total loss. The huge task of reclaiming this fetid meadow blocked by the biggest ash dump in municipal history, so well described in ‘The Great Gatsby,’ and widening a foul, tortuous, muddy brook into huge, beautiful lakes, all this was ignored by these ladies. I allude to those to whom I refer. Wild horses would not drag from me the names of these representatives of the not always fair sex.” Another: “In appraising the qualifications of a writer to become an authority on public works there is really no substitute for successful experience and results visible to the naked eye. A foundation fellowship is no credential. It may only represent a poor investment and the familiar triumph of hope over experience.” And another: “The author’s thesis is that I was once a pilgrim who made progress, fell among charlatans, lost his inspiration and never reached the Celestial City. This is a sad summary to which most observers on reflection are not likely to subscribe. I prefer to believe that some of us may still be in demand when politicos of greater refinement and more sweetness and light have been found wanting.” If you would like a copy of Moses’ full statement, drop me a note. I’ll send you a copy. Ross Sandler CITYLAND Ross Sandler Wessel Graphics Caitlin Hannon Executive Editor and Director, Design Director Subscription Coordinator The Center expresses appreciation to the individu- Center for New York City Law Kevin Schultz ’05 Alexandra Gellman ’07 als and foundations supporting the Center and its Melanie Cash ’02 Morgan Kunz ’06 Michael Auerbach ’08 work: The Steven and Sheila Aresty Foundation, Associate Director Fellows in New York City Law Caitlin J. Walsh ’08 Managing Editor Scott Johnson ’09 The Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, The Horace Jesse Denno Emilia Keric ’09 W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Murray Goodgold Molly Brennan Staff Writer Daniel Solomon ’09 Editor, CityLand Publication Prod. Assistant Research Assistants Foundation, Jerry Gottesman, The Marc Haas CITYLAND ADVISORY BOARD Foundations, The Prospect Hill Foundation, and The Revson Foundation. Kent Barwick Howard Goldman Carol E. Rosenthal CITYLAN D Andrew Berman David Karnovsky Michael T. Sillerman (ISSN 1551-711X) is published 11 times Albert K. Butzel Ross Moskowitz ’84 Paul D. Selver a year by the Center for New York City Law at New Frank Munger York Law School, 57 Worth St., New York City, New York 10013, tel. (212) 431-2115, fax (212) 941-4735, CENTER FOR NEW YORK CITY LAW ADVISORY COUNCIL e-mail: [email protected], website: www.city- law.org © Center for New York City Law, 2006. All Stanley S. Shuman, Eric Hatzimemos ’92 Steven M. Polan rights reserved. Printed on recycled paper. Maps CITYLAND Chair Michael D. Hess Norman Redlich presented in are from Map-PLUTO Arthur N. Abbey ’59 Lawrence S. Huntington ’64 Joseph B. Rose copyrighted by the New York City Department of Sheila Aresty ’94 City Planning. City Landmarks and Historic Dis- William F. Kuntz II Ernst H. Rosenberger ’58 Harold Baer, Jr. tricts printed with permission of New York City Eric Lane Rose Luttan Rubin David R. Baker Randy M. Mastro Landmarks Preservation Commission. Anthony Coles Frederick P. Schaffer Richard Matasar Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Edward N. Costikyan CITYLAND Paul A. Crotty Robert J. McGuire O. Peter Sherwood , 57 Worth Street, New York, New York Richard J. Davis Francis McArdle Edward Wallace 10013-2960. Periodicals postage paid at New York, Michael B. Gerrard John D. McMahon ’76 Richard M. Weinberg New York. Judah Gribetz Thomas L. McMahon ’83 Peter L. Zimroth Kathleen Grimm ’80 Gary P. Naftalis James D. Zirin 2 Volume 4 CITYLAND February 15, 2007 because its developers, the City and out the original proposal and it had Suburban Homes Company, con- CITY COUNCIL “logic” to it. Residents in favor of the structed its first, full-block afford- modified proposal spoke about able housing tenement one block Rezoning concerns for their homes’ resale away, called the York Avenue Estate. Douglaston, Queens value. Since special means “singular,” he Council modifies Council Member Tony Avella argued, the York Avenue Estate, a controversial Queens plan explained that the grandfathering designated landmark, provided the provision, which he proposed, best example of City and Suburban’s Change by Planning Commission reacted to a problem that arose after altruistic housing principle. rejected in part after lengthy Council the Bayside down-zoning. To be If the Council permitted Stahl hearing. The City Council voted to grandfathered, Avella explained, to construct a new building on the approve the rezoning plan for a 135- developers “only had to pour foun- site by a renowned architect, Selver block area of the Douglaston and dations” on large out-of-character explained that Stahl would retain Little Neck communities of Queens apartments while residents’ alter- 200 apartments, relocate displaced and rejected a portion of the modi- ations needed to be completely tenants to comparable apartments fications made by the Planning constructed. Avella said that the on the block, and would invest $15 Commission. down-zoning “inadvertently caught million in the restoration of the City Planning initially pro- homeowners in the middle.” The posed a complex rezoning and text remaining 13 designated buildings. new process allows residents to amendment for the area that down- Stahl’s new building could become continue alteration work if the zoned blocks found to have a zon- a “landmark of the future,” Selver Department of Buildings finds ing that permitted out-of-scale argued, adding that, if Landmarks the structural framing complete. buildings. It also reduced the depth existed in the 1930s, the city might This eliminates the need for BSA that commercial uses could intrude not have the Empire State Building approval.