Results of Feb. 26th Hearing of Article 78 Case

For Immediate Release: February 26, 2013

Contact: Linda Cronin-Gross, LCG Communications: 718.853.5568; 917.767.1141; linda@lcgcommunications.com

NYU Expansion Plan Case:

Victory for Petitioners: Court Orders City, NYU to Respond to Petitioners’ Request for Discovery and Hearing on Issue of Parkland Giveaway in NYU Sexton Plan; Actor Matthew Broderick, Playwright Kenneth Lonergan Join Sexton Plan Opponents in Open Court

Petitioners in the NYU Sexton Expansion Plan case walked away with their first legal victory today, as State Supreme Court Justice Donna Mills sided with them and ordered the City and NYU to “show cause” why petitioners’ request for a hearing and expedited discovery on their “parkland alienation” claim should be dismissed. Petitioners argued that the City’s approval of the NYU expansion plan was illegal because, among other things, it gave NYU rights over four public parks, in violation of state law, which requires, under the Public Trust Doctrine, that parkland can’t be given away without state approval.

Coverage of the 44-1 Council Vote for NYU 2031

NYU 2031 Approved with Modifications [The Nation]

The University That’s Eating New York! [The Nation]

City Council approves NYU expansion plan for Greenwich Village [Gotham Gazette]

Council O.K.’s N.Y.U. plan; Antis booted out before vote [The Vilager]

Big NYU expansion passes final hurdle [Crain's New York]]

NYU Expansion Wins Near-Unanimous Approval From City Council [Gothamist]

NYU Expansion Critics Tossed Out of City Council Chambers Before 'Yes' Vote [DNAinfo]

City Council Approves NYU 2031 Expansion [Village Voice]

NYU 2031 plan wins key vote by Council committee [Chelsea Voice]

City Council Passes NYU's Village Expansion Plan [Curbed NY]

Council Approves NYU Expansion Plan [WNYC]

New York Council Approves NYU Expansion Over Neighbor Objections [San Francisco Chronicle]

City Council approves massive NYU expansion, residents vow to sue [amNY]

Two Postscripts: 44-1 Council Vote for NYU 2031

From Alicia D. Hurley on the City Council Vote for Approval on the NYU 2031 Core Plan

Today’s City Council vote in favor of NYU’s 2031 Core plan marks the culmination of over five years of planning, hundreds of hours of meetings with our NYU and external communities, and successive iterations of our plans that were designed to strike a balance between allowing the University to meet its critical academic needs while being sensitive to our surrounding community. The University will now have the ability to plan for growth on its own property in Greenwich Village, complemented by expansion that is taking place in Downtown Brooklyn and near our Health Facilities on Manhattan’s east side. This roadmap for where to plan future facilities will ensure a vibrant and strong University for the decades to come. Read more at http://www.nyu.edu/nyu2031/nyuinnyc/.


From the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

We have to share with you the sad news that today the City Council voted 44 to 1 to approve NYU’s massive proposed Village expansion plan. The Council chose to ignore thousands of New Yorkers and by far the majority of NYU faculty, staff, and workers who had called upon them to reject the plan. GVSHP had urged NYU and the Council, the City Planning Commission, and Borough President Stringer to consider win-win alternatives to the current plan by locating new facilities in the Financial District where such development is wanted and needed. Instead, they voted to violate the public trust, turn this neighborhood into a twenty-year construction zone, and further tip the balance of the Village’s neighborhood character to increasing dominance by NYU. Read more at http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/preservation/nyu/nyu-07-25-12.htm.

Coverage of the City Council Vote Against the Community

Note: the full City Council does not vote until July 25th. Only the full Land Use Committee and the Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee voted today.

Margaret Chin and NYU [Chelsea Now]

NYU 2031 Approved with Modifications [The Nation]

City Council Gives Preliminary Greenlight to New York University Expansion Plan [The Village Voice]

Thank you, Councilmember Charles Barron of Brooklyn

Councilmember Charles Barron of Brooklyn was the only dissenting member of the full City Council Committee on Land Use. Thank you!

Council member Charles Barron slammed NYU and its proposal before entering the lone dissenting vote.

"These are neighborhoods. They are not university towns," he said. "We should send them back to the drawing board and make them respect the wishes of the community."

"We are going to regret this vote," Barron said. [Source: amNY]

NY City Council Votes Against the Community

The NY City Council voted against the community today. The City Council's Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises unanimously voted in favor of NYU 2031. The full Committee on Land Use vote was split: with 19 members voting in favor, one member opposed, and one member abstaining. (source: Deborah J. Glick)

TODAY July 16th Phone Zap

Per GVSHP, call City Councilmembers TODAY, July 16th to urge them to vote 'NO' on the NYU plan.  Phone numbers and a script are HERE and printed below.

Your own City Councilmember — search below for contact info or CLICK HERE if you don’t know who your Councilmember's name.

City Council Votes on NYU 2031 on July 17 and 25

Dogwood at the WSV Sasaki Garden (photo courtesy Hubert J. Steed, source)

CAAN2031 reports that the City Council will vote on NYU 2031 on July 17th and 25th.  The details are as follows:

July 17 at City Hall Council Chambers: Land Use Committee. The Zoning & Franchises subcommittee is meeting at 9:30, and the Land Use committee meeting starts at 10am. A committee-level vote on NYU 2031 is expected. Public may attend, but this is not a hearing so the public will most likely not be permitted to speak.

Deborah J Glick Speaking Out Against NYU 2031

Watch Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick at the June 29th rally which preceded the City Council Hearing on NYU 2031.



Check out the other videos on the Save the WSV Sasaki Garden channel at Youtube.

Coverage of City Council Hearing on NYU 2031

Media coverage of the June 29th City Council hearing on NYU 2031 courtesy of NYUFASP.  If you find other articles, photos, or videos, please include in a comment to this post, thank you.

• The NYT Local East Village Blog tweeted live @nytlev or http://twitter.com/nytlev

• http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2012/06/matthew-broderick-knocks-nyu-expansion-plan

• http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/broderick_fights_nyu_greenwich_village_WWFg6B7L23TWwKo9ihFf3M

TODAY, June 29th: Rally + Council Hearing

TODAY June 28th: Memorial for the WSV Sasaki Garden

Source: http://nyufasp.com/2012/06/is-the-sasaki-garden-doomed-join-us-there-on-thursday-to-say-no/

Contact Information for Elected & Appointed Officials

New Resources:

Contact Information for City Council 

Contact Information for Mayor's Office, BPs, and State & Fed Elected Officials 

Who’s Who of the City Council

The City Council consists of 51 members but the following five members are critical in the ULURP voting process on. The City Council's only public hearing on the NYU 2031 plan will be held on Friday, June 29th. Today, June 25th, Phone ZAP the City Council.

TODAY, June 25th: Phone Zap the City Council

Per GVSHP, call City Councilmembers next Monday, the 25th to urge them to vote 'NO' on the NYU plan. Phone numbers and a script are HERE and printed below:

--- 

PLEASE CALL CITY COUNCILMEMBERS URGING THEM TO REJECT THE NYU EXPANSION PLAN.

They are ranked in the order of importance for you to call; call all fifty-one if you can.

June 29th: Rally City Council to Vote NO on NYU 2031

GVSHP and NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan will be holding a press conference/rally on the steps of City Hall on Friday the 29th at 8:30 am, prior to the City Council NYU hearing, displaying our opposition to the NYU plan and calling upon the City Council to vote ‘NO.’

Update: June 29th: City Council Hearing on NYU 2031

The City Council will hold its only hearing on NYU 2031 on Friday, June 29th at 9:30 a.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall.

From GVSHP:

PLEASE ask people to write and call City Councilmembers urging them to vote no – see http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/preservation/nyu/nyu-2031-ltr-b.htm and http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/preservation/nyu/nyu-phone.htm, and please send an e-mail to Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio thanking him for his rep on the City Planning Commission’s vote AGAINST the NYU plan – GetHelp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov.

From NYUFASP:

One action that all of us, faculty, can and must take to convince the City Council to block the expansion is to call and/or write to the trio of Council Members who will no doubt prove to be the most influential in the political process going forward:

Speaker Christine C. Quinn
The New York City Council
224 West 30th Street, Suite #1206
New York, NY 10001
Tel.: 212-564-7757

Councilwoman Margaret Chin
The New York City Council
Chatham Green
165 Park Row, Suite #11
New York, NY 10038
Tel.: 212-587-3159

Councilwoman Rosie Mendez
The New York City Council
250 Broadway, Rm. 1734
New York, NY 10007
Tel.: 212-788-7366

A final name to add to our must-call list is that of Public Advocate Bill De Blasio:
Mr. Bill De Blasio
Public Advocate for the City of New York
1 Centre Street, 15th Floor
New York, NY 10007
Constituent services: (212) 669-7250

NYC Planning Commission Approves NYU2031 by 12:1

The New York City Planning Commission (CPC) voted 12:1 to approve NYU's 20 Year Expansion Plan with minor changes.  Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio's representative voted against the plan.  The recommended changes to the plan are:

• The height of the proposed new buildings in Washington Square Village have been reduced
• The commercial overlay for the blocks east of Washington Square has been eliminated
• The hotel use has been eliminated from the proposed "Zipper" Building on Mercer Street
• Some underground classroom space under what are currently publicly owned park spaces have been eliminated

Take Action:
Write City Councilmembers urging them to reject the NYU plan > >
Call City Councilmembers' offices urging them to reject the NYU plan > >
Thank Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio for his independence and for his City Planning Commission appointee voting AGAINST the plan -- e-mail him at GetHelp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov!

For more details on the decision, readthe full letter from Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation which is included below.  NYU's press release about the CPC decision can be read at http://www.nyu.edu/content/dam/nyu/govCommunAffairs/documents/2031/Resources%20Page/NYU-2031-Core-Proposal-June-6-2012.pdf.

Write to the City Council

You can write to all 51 members or you can write strategically to Council Members Quinn (Speaker), Chin (represents District 1), Weprin (chair of the Zoning Subcommittee), Comrie (chair of Land Use Committee), and Mendez (represents part of the Village, was on Borough President's NYU Task Force).  Contact information for these five council members are:

Council Speaker Christine Quinn (District 3)
224 West 30th St, Suite 1206
New York, NY 10001
212-564-7757

Council Member Margaret Chin
Chatham Green
165 Park Row, Suite #11
New York, NY 10038
212-587-3159
chin@council.nyc.gov

Council Member Mark Weprin (District 23)
73-03 Bell Boulevard
Oakland Gardens, NY 11364
718-468-0137
MWeprin@Council.NYC.gov

Council Member Leroy Comrie (District 27)
113-43 Farmers Boulevard
St. Albans, NY 11412
718-776-3700
comrie@council.nyc.ny.us

Council Member Rosie Mendez (District 2)
237 First Ave
Suite 504
New York, NY 10003
212-677-1077
rmendez@council.nyc.gov

Contact Information for all NY City Council Members

Contact information for all New York City Council Members is available at http://council.nyc.gov/html/members/members.shtml. This link can also be found on our Get Involved page. (Hat tip: Washington Square Village Tenants Association.)