Last night was the Stakeholders' Meeting to discuss the issue of zoning along the Bowery. Longtime preservation activist Doris Diether anchored the meeting by detailing a proposal being put forward by the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors for submission to the Department of City Planning. Her plan is a "common sense" approach - simple amendments to the current text that will facilitate equal zoning regulations on both sides of the thoroughfare. As it stands, the west side is protected, with building caps of 85 feet and preservation of buildings deemed "significant." The east side is not included, though, hence the out-of-character skyscrapers.
City Council Member Alan Gerson was in attendance to show his unwavering support. But it wasn't enough. As mentioned by a few speakers, the turnout was rather paltry. Residents stood up and urged people to spread the word and mobilize the community toward action.
The wheels are in motion, albeit slowly.
3 comments:
Thanks for the coverage, BB. Any estimate to the number of residents in attendance?
Best guess is somewhere near 100 people.
the problem for me was not the lighter than desired attendance but the absolute lack of fresh faces there, no younger 20 - 30 year olds. pretty much the same people one sees at any noho/ bowery community poitical event.
but the biggest problem, and ive been thinking about this all day and need to write at length on the subject, is that the 2 main arguments i kept hearing are bullshit...
1. you can not credibly use the bowery's history on one hand to argue for its preservation and then fight to keep hotels and bars out of the neighborhood. at the turn of the 20th c. there were 97 licensed saloons on the bowery and several hotels on every block. not little flops but bustling rowdy hotels full of sailors, tourists, bridge and tunnel bar hoppers, whores, thugs etc. the same kinds of drunk asses who piss on my stoop every weekend except there were 10's of thousands of them. the old bowery legends who's images are projected overhead at these meetings were the same kind of people you want to shut out now.
you cant use hard drinking sports like steve brody, edgar poe and james cagney to pitch the preservation story and then bitch about the noisy new hotel next door and attempt to keep all nightlife out of your neighborhood. i could write all night about the history of the bowery and (as much as i dont want to admit it) how this "new bowery" we are fighting is actually true to what the old bowery always was, but ill save that for a real essay...
2. second problem, and its a big one. over and over i hear about preserving the "local small business", protecting the new york treasure that is the restaurant supply district, the poor little guys are getting priced out by the luxury lofts..etc.
OK, ready for some big news?
ALL OF THE development sites between houston and prince that were continually refered to, all 5 lots were sold to the developers who are currently building daft, flashy, texas-big, asshole condos/ hotels.. all 5 lots were sold to developers by small restaurant supply business owners for $5 to $8 million per lot. they dont need your help and they dont want your help. they are not disappearing because of gentrification they are cashing out rich men and probably resent people like us devaluing their property with zoning restrictions.
there are good arguements to be made for zoning revision and more important to me, historic preservation. i just didnt hear many of them last night.
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