New Date for Meeting: NYU 20 Year Expansion Plan

Mark your calendar for  Tuesday, January 10th at 6:30 p.m. January 4, 2012 (updated; time and location TBD; check the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation website for details) for a community meeting on the NYU 2031 plan hosted by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and several community groups. The meeting will be held at Our Lady of Pompei Church's Father Demo Hall (basement) at Bleecker and Carmine Streets.
Here is the announcement from GVSHP president Andrew Berman:

At the heart of NYU's massive proposed expansion plan are zoning changes to allow adding 2.5 mil. Sq. ft. of space, the equivalent of the Empire State Building, south of Washington Square Park.

Soon after New Year's, New York University is expected to file its application seeking to overturn long-standing neighborhood zoning protections and open space preservation requirements, and to acquire city-owned green space, in order to allow them to shoehorn 2.5 million sq. ft. of new space into the blocks below Washington Square Park -- the equivalent of the Empire State Building! (Find out more here) This would have a devastating impact not only on the immediate area, but on the Village, East Village, and surrounding neighborhoods as a whole, as the university's ever-expanding presence further tips the balance of neighborhood character.

Once NYU's plans are filed, a 7-month public hearing, review, and approval process will begin, which will decide which, if any, of the approvals NYU needs for its plans to move ahead are granted.  IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT WE ARE PREPARED FOR THAT FIGHT, AND THAT WE TAKE IT ON AS STRONGLY AS POSSIBLE.

To help, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and several community groups will be holding a community meeting on the NYU plan, informing the public of what it involves, how it affects you, how the approval process will work, and how you can help prevent the approvals from being granted.

That meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 10th at 6:30 pm at Our Lady of Pompei Church's Father Demo Hall (basement), Bleecker and Carmine Streets.  This will be shortly before the public hearing process begins later that month, and we will be informing and mobilizing our friends and neighbors and everyone who cares about preserving our neighborhoods about how best to win this fight.

Please circle this date on your calendar, and more information will follow.  If your group, tenants association, or co-op or condo board is interested in co-sponsoring the meeting or being involved, please just respond to this e-mail.  The meeting will be open to all.