Parkland Alienation Court Hearing: Thurs., July 18

 
WHO: YOU! PLEASE COME TO A HEARING ON THE NYU 2031 PLAN this Thursday at 10am — this may be our last opportunity to be heard!

WHAT: There are six causes of action filed against various City and State Agencies. Our attorneys will argue the merits of these claims, and the judge will decide whether to dismiss or uphold them.

WHERE: NY STATE SUPREME COURT–JUDGE DONNA MILLS–ROOM 574, 111 CENTRE STREET (between White & Leonard Streets), NYC

WHEN: THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2013, 10:30 AM (BE THERE BY 10:00 IN ORDER TO CLEAR SECURITY–BRING PHOTO ID)

WHY: IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THE JUDGE SEES THAT THE COMMUNITY IS OUTRAGED BY THE NYU 2031 PLAN. WE ARE, SO BE THERE!

Image and text from NYUFASP.

Alienation of Parkland Hearing on July 18, 10:30 a.m.

The Alienation of parkland hearing is scheduled for Thursday, July 18, 10:30 a.m. in Judge Mills' chambers, Room 574, 111 Centre.

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.

NYS Supreme Court Hearing on Parkland Alienation by City and NYU

NYS Supreme Court Justice Donna Mills will hear testimony on parkland alienation by the City and NYU. The four parks in question are the Mercer Playground, LaGuardia Corner Gardens, LaGuardia Park, and the Mercer-Houston Dog Run

Tuesday, February 26th
11:30 AM
COURTROOM OF JUSTICE DONNA MILLS
New York State Supreme Court, Civil Branch
111 Centre Street, Room 574

A message from Bo Riccobono of NYUFASP:

Recent Media Coverage of NYU 2031

From the Times Higher Education on November 14, Skyscraper's the limit for furious NYU academics.

Manhattan Neighborhood Network Interviews NYUFASP and GVSHP

Heather Wokusch of Manhattan Neighborhood Network interviewed Robert E. Riccobono, a member of NYU Faculty against the Sexton Plan and Andrew Berman, Executive Director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation about the Sexton Plan. The first half of the interview can be viewed below or by clicking here.



Hat tip: Washington Square Village Tenants Association (via NYUFASP)

A "Stop the Purple Monster" Video

The "Stop the Purple Monster" - Oct 20/2012 at Washington Square Park from NYUFASP on Vimeo.

Hat tip: Washington Square Village Tenants Association

October 20: "Stop the Purple Monster" March

An invitation from NYUFASP.

Join NYUFASP as we march with NYU students, faculty, alumni and members of the community to "Stop the Purple Monster." Led by a real "purple monster," we'll march to protest John Sexton's huge expansion plan, which will make student debt rise even higher while tearing down the Village we love.

Organized by All in the Red, a national group that fights for accessible debt-free education for all, the march will step off from Washington Square Park's Garibaldi Plaza around 12:30pm, rain or shine. 

The march coincides with NYU's Alumni Day. March coordinators will make several stops as the group tours the future construction zone: they will provide information about the history of the neighborhood & the university administration's expansion plans & will link these to issues of public space, education & student debt.

 The march will last about an hour and a half and is endorsed by many groups in addition to NYUFASP:  Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Community Action Alliance on NYU 2031, NYU Students and Alumni Against the Sexton Plan, and Save WSV Sasaki Garden Committee. In addition to our purple monster, we'll have balloons, puppets and a marching band.

Please plan to march with us.  Let's show our determination and unity!

For more information, 

 go here or email: nyu.fasp@gmail.com

October 10: Save the Village: A Benefit Show

Source: NYUFASP

Also, on October 23, starting at 6:30 p.m., a "presentation by NYU about the Restrictive Declaration and agreements controlling NYU 2031 construction" will be made before the CB2 Arts & Institutions Committee. Location to be determined; check the CB2 Arts page at http://www.nyc.gov/html/mancb2/html/calendar/calendar_js.shtml#Arts.  (Hat tip: CAAN 2031)

Media Coverage of Lawsuit Against the City re: NYU 2031

NYU, City, State Sued Over NYU's Massive 2031 Expansion Plan [A Walk in the Park]

11 groups sue city to block NYU expansion [Crain's New York]

Purple Pulverizers: NYU Faculty, Preservationists Sue University Over Greenwich Village Expansion [New York Observer]

NYU, City, State Sued Over NYU's Giant 2031 Expansion Plan [Gothamist]

11 groups file suit against N.Y.U. plan for its superblocks [The Villager]

NYU meets more roadblocks to expansion [Washington Square News]

Plus...

Save the Village: A Benefit Show fundraiser
Save Greenwich Village and NYU: Stop the Sexton Plan online petition

11 Groups Sue City for Approving NYU 2031

Washington Square News is reporting that "[on Sept. 25th], 11 groups and 11 individuals banded together and filed a lawsuit against New York City for its approval of the NYU 2031 expansion plan."  Read the full coverage here.

Protest Messages Projected on NYU Buildings

NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan (NYUFASP) "took a page from Occupy Wall Street Wednesday night by projecting images protesting the redevelopment project on a handful of the college’s campus buildings."  Read the entire DNAinfo.com story here.  

(Hat tip: Urban Omnibus)

NYU Professor Rebecca Karl Responds to WSN Reporter Amy Zhang

On August 25, 2012, Amy Zhang's article about NYU 2031 was published by the Washington Square News (WSN) here.  On September 4, 2012, WSN published Rebecca Karl's letter to the editor which can be read here.  Karl is an associate professor of East Asian Studies and History at NYU.  Her website is http://history.as.nyu.edu/object/rebeccakarl.html.

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.

Green Alternative to NYU 2031

Join GVSHP and NYUFASP on July 17 at a press conference for the Green Alternative to NYU 2031.  The press conference will begin at 8:30 a.m. on the steps of City Hall.  More details are available on the GVSHP website.

July 15th: A Book Party to Save New York City

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 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/

N.Y.U. is risking its intellectual and fiscal health

From a June 21st article written by an NYU faculty member published in The Villager:

As of this spring, 34 N.Y.U. departments, divisions and schools and counting have voted in support of individual resolutions staunchly opposing N.Y.U. 2031, in its massive size, density and cost. The departments expressing their lack of confidence in the expansion range from Economics (which includes no fewer than three Nobel Prize winners), Politics, History, Art History, English, Comparative Literature, Classics, French Studies and Music, to Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Linguistics, Chemistry and Mathematics.

Entire schools and centers voting against the plan include the Stern Business School (by an overwhelming count of 52 to 3, which should say something about the financial feasibility of the 2.1 million-square-foot, $4 billion-dollar-plus project), the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, the Silver School of Social Work and the Center for Neural Science.

Read the entire article at http://www.thevillager.com/?p=5537.

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.’