PRESS ALERT: PORT AUTHORITY AND LMDC TO ANNOUNCE DECISION TOMORROW, FEBRUARY 11, ON 5 WORLD TRADE CENTER
PORT AUTHORITY Board Meeting, ~12:15pm: https://www.panynj.gov/corporate/en/board-meeting-info/current-agenda-and-schedule.html LMDC, 2PM: http://www.renewnyc.com/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, February 10, 2021
New York, NY -- The decision to move forward with an announcement on 5 World Trade Center at the Port Authority and the LMDC board meetings tomorrow should be opposed. The public should not let these agencies dispose of the last World Trade Center lot according to the original RFP criteria since the needs of the city have changed after COVID-19.
To build a luxury residential tower at 5WTC represents a betrayal of the core principles proposed at the start of the post-September 11 reconstruction. Initially, September 11 was described universally as “an attack on all New Yorkers,” and in the dozens of public listening sessions in 2002-3, New Yorkers frequently urged that if the World Trade Center reconstruction included housing, it should be affordable and low-income housing. Promises on these lines made by these agencies regarding public land were not kept.
Any intention to change the World Trade Center General Project Plan to allow for luxury development needs much more public scrutiny and involvement. The full transformation of the World Trade Center into the Hudson Yards model could be a disaster.
Contact:
Todd Fine President, Washington Street Advocacy Group tdfine@gmail.com +1 917.789.6252