9/27/2023 0 Comments Penn station nyc to philadelphiaReThinkNYC sees the Hochul/ESD plan for what it is–a cynical land grab by real estate interests in exchange for political contributions. (Note: As of June 2022, interior demolition of the Hotel Pennsylvania continues.) Irreplaceable historic buildings and structures, including the fabled Hotel Pennsylvania and the Gimbel’s skybridge, would be demolished. ReThinkNYC calls for the rescue of neighboring historic buildings which would be destroyed as per the Hochul/ESD's plan-displacing hundreds of apartment dwellers (seniors and long-time city residents) and small business owners. The only blight in the Penn Station neighborhood is Penn Station itself. The Hochul/ESD plan declares the Penn neighborhood to be “blighted” in what is a deceitful and self-serving ploy in service to politics. It demolishes a unique and vibrant New York neighborhood while Penn Station itself remains buried beneath Madison Square Garden (MSG). It repeats the same errors made by discredited urban renewal projects of the recent past. The Hochul/ESD plan is profoundly flawed. Kathy Hochul is being developed under the purview of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The Pennsylvania Station Area Civic and Land Use Improvement Project and Master Plan (Penn Station proposal) calls for the demolition of vast amounts of the Penn Station neighborhood as recommended by New York State’s unelected Empire State Development Corporation (ESD). What’s going on in the Penn neighborhood? Affordable housing, including permanent affordable middle-income dwellings and high-quality homeless services staffed by a first-class provider of such services. A Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) process should be utilized before any project, including the present one, moves forward. No longer will the public be “left out” of the process and forced to respond after-the-fact to infrastructure issues without proper information. The reuse of historic architectural sites on 31st and 30th Streets along with the other structures threatened by the Hochul/ESD’s proposal. Construction would feature green construction technologies. New Penn Station would incorporate social services in spaces previously occupied by railroad company offices. The reconstruction of a New Penn Station inspired by McKim, Mead and White’s original configuration.The new station will include through-running, a modernized circulation plan, and new transit technologies, and will be part of a larger adaptive reuse effort in the 34th Street/Hudson Yards neighborhood. The removal of Madison Square Garden (MSG) to one of the three locations recommended by ReThinkNYC, including: the Port Authority Bus Terminal/West Midtown, 34th Street and Sixth Avenue/Herald Square, and the remaining undeveloped rail yards at Hudson Yards. The retention of an independent infrastructure firm with experience in peer international cities to evaluate how through-running can be implemented within the footprint of the existing Penn Station/Moynihan Train Hall complex. We stand in opposition to the proposal put forward by Hochul/ESD and immediately call for: We are battling to replace the present, grim, airless, dungeon-like Penn Station with a new, revitalized, and commuter-friendly Penn Station. Kathy Hochul and the Empire State Development Corp. We stand in opposition to the proposals for the Penn Station neighborhood, denominated in The Pennsylvania Station Area Civic and Land Use Improvement Project and Master Plan put forward by Gov. ReThink Penn Station NYC is a founding member of the Empire Station Coalition (Penn for All), which includes the 29th Street Association, City Club of NY, CNU NYC, Council of Chelsea Block Associations, Environmental Simulation Center, Historic Districts Council, Human-Scale NYC, ReThinkNYC, Limited Equity & Affordability at Penn South (LEAPS), Midtown South Community Council, Penn-Area Residents Committee, The Murray Hill Neighborhood Association, Save Chelsea, TakeBackNYC, and the Victorian Society of New York. We focus on transportation infrastructure, land use, governance, and socio-economic issues. We are an initiative of ReThinkNYC, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to applying innovative thinking to the future of New York and its region.
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