Town Hall on Next Steps on NYU Plan Wed. 12/1;
NYU Breaks More Provincetown Playhouse Promises;
Elected Officials and Community Board Support Call for Public Green Spaces Preservation
- GVSHP and several other community groups will be holding a Town Hall meeting on the NYU plan this Wednesday, December 1 at 6:30pm in Father Demo Hall at Our Lady of Pompei Church, Bleecker and Carmine Street (enter on Bleecker). Now that NYU has dropped its landmarks application for a 400 ft. tall tower on Bleecker Street in the face of overwhelming opposition, including from architect I.M. Pei, what does this mean, and where do we go from here in responding to their still-overwhelming plan? Please come on Wednesday night (rain or shine) to find out more about how you can be involved and keep our momentum going. SPREAD THE WORD — tell your neighbors and friends and download the flyer HERE.
- GVSHP has discovered that NYU has broken yet another promise regarding the Provincetown Playhouse, which the university recently “re-opened.” As you know, in 2008 NYU had proposed to demolish the entire Provincetown Playhouse and Apartments at 133-139 MacDougal Street for new law school offices, promising only to preserve the tiny facade entrance to the theater space. After broad protests led by GVSHP, the university relented slightly, agreeing instead to demolish 94% of the building, but preserving the four interior walls of the theater space, which were to remain standing at all times (even during demolition), and committing to keep the few remaining historic pieces of the theater the university had not already removed, such as the 1940s seats. GVSHP continued to oppose this demolition plan, endorsed by the Community Board and Borough President Stringer, though acknowledged that it was an improvement over the original, 100% demolition plan.
Then in 2009 GVSHP discovered and exposed that NYU had broken its promise, and secretly, behind construction walls, demolished large chunks of the four walls they promised to retain. Now, unfortunately, we have discovered that NYU has broken their one remaining promise regarding preservation of the Provincetown Playhouse theater — the historic seat rows have NOT been preserved for re-use in the new theater. In fact, there is virtually nothing remaining of the historic Provincetown Playhouse in the newly re-opened space to which NYU has attached that name, and virtually none of the university’s commitments regarding the theater remain intact. Read our letter to NYU President John Sexton, with images, HERE.
- Earlier this year GVSHP and many other community groups who form the Community Action Alliance on NYU 2031 (CAAN 2031) wrote to city officials and Community Board #2 urging that they oppose NYU’s bid to gain possession of six pieces of publicly-owned land on Bleecker, Mercer, and West 3rd Streets and LaGuardia Place for development as part of their expansion plan (read the letter HERE; this is one of many aspects of the NYU 2031 plan we have called on elected officials and the Community Board to oppose — read HERE). We urged these officials to instead support our call for making these public spaces, which include parks, playgrounds, and dog runs, permanent park land. Last month Community Board #2 passed a resolution in support of this position, and local elected officials including Borough President Stringer, Assemblymember Deborah Glick, and City Councilmember Margaret Chin have also now supported this position. CAAN2301, Community Board #2, and local elected officials will hold a press conference announcing this support on Sunday, December 5 at 1pm on LaGuardia Place between Bleecker and West 3rd Street. All are welcome.
Next: 12/03/10
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