July 26, 2012
By Assemblymember Deborah Glick
N.Y.U.’s 2031 Plan threatens the character of the Village as we know it, and the City Council’s action is akin to handing NYU the keys to a bulldozer that is guaranteed to wreck the Village for the next 20 years,”
The City Council’s abdication of their responsibility to act on behalf of average New Yorkers is devastating, considering the hundreds of residents, faculty members and graduate teaching assistants that flooded the City Council hearings on the NYU 2031 Plan. Today’s decision once again signals the Council’s deaf ear to community concerns about huge development schemes. Sadly, this has been a hallmark of Speaker Quinn’s leadership.
Once again, the tax paying citizens of New York are going to have to use their hard earned money to pay for lawyers, in order to sue to seek the redress that they should have expected from the City Council. It is disgraceful that NYU, even after being given a public owned Brooklyn building valued at $90 Million, came to the negotiating table with next to nothing and has offered the community less than that. The minor changes negotiated by the City Council are insignificant in comparison to NYU’s enormously detrimental proposal. I am extremely disappointed that the Council has given its stamp of approval to this egregiously out of scale plan.
That the Bloomberg Administration thinks the community should thank NYU for their development is one more stunning example of the Mayor’s indifference and casual disregard to the people who live in New York and struggle to maintain livable neighborhoods. The Mayor asks New Yorkers to live in 300 square foot apartments but applauds NYU’s 2 million square foot land grab. This is a dark day for our community and it is a decision that will no doubt force the community into court.
