HKNA Blog

A.J. Pietrantone
Executive Director, Friends of Hudson River Park
Posted: March 25, 2010 02:49 PM

“Quiet Victory” Secured for Hudson River Park

In this era of both political and budget gridlock, it’s important to recognize a truly “quiet victory” that has been won for all New Yorkers and for Hudson River Park, the City’s largest new Park in 150 years, which stretches all the way from 59th Street to the Battery, along the Hudson River. Long troubled by loud and disruptive helicopter tourism from the 30th Street Heliport, on April first the Park will finally be free of these tourist flights.

Ever since Hudson River Park’s creation, Park users have been continually assaulted by noise, fumes, wind, and dust from the Heliport. In fact, when the Park was formalized by the Hudson River Park Act of 1998, helicopter tourism was prohibited, but this ban was ignored by Air Pegasus Heliport, Inc., Liberty Helicopters, Inc., and their landlord, the Hudson River Park Trust.

In 2007, Friends of Hudson River Park filed legal action to stop the sightseeing flights operating out of the Park, to bring the Heliport into compliance with the Hudson River Park Act. After seven months of negotiations a 2008 agreement was reached to end the tourist flights on March 31st 2010. After April first, the Heliport can only be used for commercial, government, or emergency take-offs and landings.

In addition, Friends’ legal action also secured a cap on non-tourist flights at then-existing levels, and a commitment from the operators of the Heliport to cease all helicopter operations by December 31st, 2012 at 30th Street, provided a new location for helicopter operations has been established within the guidelines of the legislation.

The Hudson River Park Act defined the parameters for the development of a unique, urban oasis, along the formerly blighted West Side Waterfront after decades of community activism laid the groundwork for its creation. Eliminating sightseeing flights from the Park will improve the experience of everyone that uses and enjoys the Park, as well as the quality of life of its surrounding neighborhoods.

Today the Park hosts 17 million visitors a year and has been shown by a 2008 study to add significant value to surrounding properties. The better the Park is built and maintained, the better it is for the City as a whole and for its adjacent communities in particular.
Ending loud, dirty, and dangerous sightseeing flights is a first step in delivering on the commitment of uninterrupted open space along the waterfront for midtown Manhattan. We need to pressure our elected officials to take the next steps of relocating the Heliport and fully financing the transformation of the blight in this area like they have in Chelsea, Tribeca, Upper Clinton, and Greenwich Village.

The Park, now nearly 80% complete requires approximately $200 million in additional funding to finish the job. During tough financial times, it is important to keep the project moving not only to save jobs, and to avoid putting the hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars already invested in the Park at risk, but to deliver on the promise of a continuous, five-mile long waterfront park New Yorkers need now more than ever.

The end of helicopter tourism originating from Hudson River Park brings us closer to a new, and tranquil reality for Manhattan’s West Side Waterfront, and reminds us just how precious its uninterrupted access and a quiet victory can be.

Pietrantone is the Executive Director of Friends of Hudson River Park.

Allan Margolin
Communications and Marketing Director
Friends of Hudson River Park
311 West 43rd Street, Suite 300
New York, NY  10036

O 212-757-0981  Ext. 207
C 917-232-4491
www.fohrp.org    Join Friends on Facebook

I’m sorry to inconvenience you with yet another MTA e-mail.

In my haste earlier today I neglected to mention the tireless and tenacious work of the chair of our Transportation Committee, NYC Councilmember James Vacca. We are all upset about the potential MTA service cuts and the effects that they will have on NYC families. Councilmember Vacca has been the driving force at the NYC Council behind our fight to prevent these outrageous service reductions and proposed cuts to the Student MetroCard and Access-a-Ride programs. I want to publicly thank him and his staff for their leadership on this issue.

This email is also a reminder to encourage you and your family, co-workers and friends to attend the MTA Full Board Meeting this Wednesday. This is our final chance to let the MTA know how these devastating cuts in service will personally affect us and our communities. While they have agreed to remove several bus routes off the chopping block, there are still many other routes and services that desperately need to be saved. Details are below:

MTA Full Board Meeting

Wednesday, March 24th

9:30 a.m.

MTA Headquarters, 5th Floor

347 Madison Avenue (between East 45th and East 44th Streets)

Please arrive between 9-9:15 a.m. to register to speak.

Again, my apologies for the second e-mail. Please know that Council Member Vacca, members of the NYC Council and I will continue to do everything that we can to protect these critical services for all New Yorkers.

Sincerely,

Christine C. Quinn

Speaker

New York City Council

Yesterday, the United States Census Bureau mailed the Census questionnaire to households throughout the nation. Based on the results of the Census, the federal government distributes $400 billion in aid among the states – a significant portion of which may benefit New York City.

This funding supports vital social service programs that may affect you or someone you know, such as the Medical Assistance Program for healthcare, Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers for public housing, Federal Transit Capital Investment Grants for transportation initiatives, Title I Grants for our schools, Head Start educational programs and many more. Without these programs, thousands of families would go without public housing assistance and New York City children would lack additional educational programs to help them succeed in school. That is why every person must be counted.

We have come together as elected officials representing communities in Manhattan to encourage every resident in the borough to participate in the 2010 Census. We have joined forces with community-based and non-profit organizations, along with individual volunteers, to conduct extensive outreach – and are soon hitting the streets to educate as many people as possible about the importance of responding to the 2010 Census. Now, more than ever, we need a strong response rate to ensure New York City gets the financial support it requires.

The 2010 Census is completely confidential. We assure you that none of the information provided on the form is released, under strict penalty of law.

Tell your neighbors, family and friends about the 2010 Census and enlist your community to stand up and be counted! For more information, please visit the 2010 Census website or the 2010 Census Borough of Manhattan Complete Count Committee’s facebook and twitter pages.

Sincerely,

Scott M. Stringer
Manhattan Borough President

Office of the Manhattan Borough President, Scott M. Stringer
Downtown Office • 1 Centre Street, 19th Floor • New York, NY 10007
Phone (212) 669-8300 Fax (212) 669-4305
Northern Manhattan Office • 163 West 125th Street, 5th Floor • New York, NY 10027
Phone (212) 531-1609 Fax (212) 531-4615
www.mbpo.org

Con Edison, along with the Lower East Side Ecology Center, is sponsoring an electronics recycling event. On Sunday, March 28th, in Union Square, you can bring all manner of electronic stuff to be recycled in a responsible way. Appliances and business equipment are not acceptable, but here is a list of things that are:

• Computers (laptops & desktops, servers, mainframes)
• Monitors
• Printers, scanners, fax-machines, copiers
• Network devices (routers, hubs, modems, etc.)
• Peripherals (keyboards, mice, cables, etc.)
• Components (hard drives, CD-ROMs, circuit boards, power supplies, etc.)
• TVs, VCRs, & DVD Players
• Audio-visual equipment
• Cell phones, pagers, PDAs
• Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)

For more information on this event, visit the Lower East Side Ecology Center’s website. http://www.lesecologycenter.org/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=52&year=2010&month=03&day=28&Itemid=3

I wanted to take a moment to update you on the most recent developments regarding St. Vincent’s Hospital.

On March 1st, St. Vincent’s received another influx of new funds which will allow the hospital to keep up its day-to-day operations through the end of March.

St. Vincent’s is taking steps to cut down its debt by selling its non-acute care facilities in Westchester, which is its White Plains’ behavioral and mental health facility, as well as selling its home-health and hospice care agencies. While these moves are not finalized, the hospital has signed letters of intent to sell these operations.

Meanwhile, the hospital’s management has been in talks with numerous potential partners seeking to collaborate on a West Village hospital that is fiscally stable and allows St. Vincent’s to continue providing quality healthcare to the West Side of Manhattan. A few of these potential partners have been taking tours of the hospital and analyzing the feasibility of a St. Vincent’s partnership. We are hoping that the hospital is able to move forward with a viable collaboration soon and outline a plan that best serves the West Village with an acute care facility and a 24-hour emergency room.

I thought you might be interested in an article recently published in the local newspaper, The Villager, by health expert Alan Sager, PhD, a professor of health policy and management at Boston University School of Public Health. In his article, linked below, he argues for the necessity of stabilizing and saving St. Vincent’s Hospital.

http://www.thevillager.com/villager_358/talkingpoint.html <http://www.thevillager.com/villager_358/talkingpoint.html>

I will continue to keep you updated on any new developments in the days and weeks to come. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Noah Isaacs in my office at (212) 788-7757 ext. 105.

Sincerely,

Christine C. Quinn

Speaker

New York City Council

E-Waste Recycling Day at Union Square

March 28, 2010 | 10:00am - 4:00pm

Union Square, 17th Street and Broadway, New York, NY 10003

info@lesecologycenter.org

The Ecology Center is holding an electronic waste (”e-waste”) recycling event to responsibly recycle unwanted or broken electronics from New York City residents. All you have to do is bring your e-waste to the collection event. A list of acceptable materials can be found here. We do not accept home appliances such as microwaves or refrigerators and cannot accept any electronics from businesses. Registration is not required for this event. Cars should enter at East 16th Street and Union Square West. Map.

We would like to thank Con Edison for their on-going support of our e-waste program. A special thank you to the Department of Parks and Recreation for hosting the event.