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Early Addition
And once again Moynihan Station has hit a bump in the road. The Times today has a story on the newest set of roadblocks for the oft-delayed station. After years of delays the problems plaguing the station can still be summed up in one word: Politics.
We've been waiting for the Farley Post Office to be transformed into a grand entryway to the City in the manner of the Old Penn Station for some time now (the idea has been gestating for well over a decade) and every time we think it might happen something comes and throws a wrench in the plans. Currently there are two big issues holding up the station.
First and foremost is the fact that it is an election year. As you may or may not have noticed, Eliot Spitzer is running for Governor and as such it is not in his or his friends interest for work on the station to move forward while Pataki is still in office. Therefore we get Spitzer's campaign publicly worrying that the station plans have "been rushed," that “Unfortunately, this is part of a pattern of irresponsible actions by the outgoing Pataki administration,” and that the state board “should not approve this project until these unanswered questions are resolved.” The other big hold up is our city's ongoing development boom. The area around the Post Office is ripe for over-development and everybody wants in. Rather then simply let the city build a new station, a group of developers are trying to push forward a far more ambitious plan, cleverly called Plan B, which includes:
the complete renovation of Penn Station, which sits below Madison Square Garden, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The current Garden would be demolished to make way for office towers [and rebuilt on the Ninth Avenue side of the Post Office], a soaring glass canopy and a commercial complex. Across Eighth Avenue, the post office would be converted to an adjunct train station.
As we understand it though this is really just an excuse for developers to grab easy money and for the Dolans, who own Madison Square Garden, to squeeze out public financing for a new stadium (a Ninth Avenue stadium would be the fourth MSG built). Considering their aggressive fight against the West Side Stadium last year and the abysmal state of of the current Garden we can't for the life of us figure out why they'd deserve that. Strangely, we find ourselves in complete agreement with Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff who told the Times : “We’d like to see something move forward now. There’s no downside to going ahead with the current plan. It will not compromise our ability to work out the larger plan.”
Get Moynihan Station done first, then deal with the surrounding area. Please!
A 2005 rendering of Moynihan Station.
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Seriously, it'd be a commuter's dream to not have to wade through the living nightmare that Penn Station is. For once, give the public something that just ... is!!!!!!!
AMEN, please, may the officials get beyond the maneuvering and get this done, it'd be a real boon for real New Yorkers.
Far be it from me to take a developer's side about anything, but if this is the same plan that was written up in the Times a few weeks ago, it does deserve some consideration. The plans for the station seemed better in the Plan B, with a giant glass ceiling, and it did look beautiful. Plus the area around where they would build (I work in Two Penn Plaza) is a dump.
It seemed from the article that Governor Shitforbrains and his people were trying to rush their plan through so that they could claim some glory in these dark ages of their administration.
Two sides to everything, I guess. I know it benefits the scum-of-the-earth Dolans and puts money in developer's pockets, but sometimes they've got a good idea.
its all about money...and how to go about coating the inner lining of their pockets. I highly doubt they give a crap about commuters or their safety.
Once they yoked a new MSG to the project it was dead on arrival. Shelly wants nothing built in midtown before hsi area in downtown is developed.
www.forgotten-ny.com
Spitzer is shameless. What I wouldn't give to have seen him actually try a case. Instead, he let the Wall Street firms off with fines equivalent to about 1 week of profits.
I give up! We get the government we deserve and we keep electing these bozos.
The city that let the old, magnificent Penn Station be demolished so that a disposable glass and steel drum be put up on top of an ugly basement bus depot is about to let it happen again. The Dolans have no shame, Spitzer has no shame, Silver has no shame and Pataki is just inept or too stupid to have any shame.
Pataki was the one that force the selection committee to go against their own judgment and select the Libeskind fortress of solitude design over the Think Team's lattice towers because some family members did not like twin towers anymore. Now we have a Freedom Tower design that looks nothing like the original Libeskind concept. In fact, it looks like one of the original rejected ideas.
This state's government sucks!
Here's a crazy thought: If they really want to put office towers on the post office, let them, but in exchange, move Madison Square Garden (which is no longer square, but that's an aside) next door to the Javits Convention Center. Take the now-empty block and build a new Penn Station on the site, where it was initially built. It doesn't have to be a copy of the old station, but it should be something spectacular, a building for the ages.
This could work very nicely, insofar as the blocks around 10th and 11th avenues and 30th to 33rd streets are rail yards. So build the new Garden over the yards, connect it to Javits Center, and not only does the City now have a new Penn Station, but also a new Garden and expanded convention center to compete with Las Vegas, on land where once was an eyesore (I love trains, but not so much railyards).
Will it be cheap? Of course not, but nothing worth doing ever is, and it separates convention and sports traffic from commuter traffic.
Just a thought