ALERT: PUSHING CITY ON REZONING VULNERABLE BLOCKS IN LIGHT OF NYU MEGA-DORM PLAN
Pushing for Better Neighborhood Protections in Light of NYU Mega-Dorm Development
GVSHP continues to push the City to include Third Avenue and the blocks to the west in the draft proposed rezoning of the East Village, especially in light of NYU’s recently begun plans for a 26-story mega-dorm – to be the tallest building in the East Village.
City Planning Chair Amanda Burden recently responded to a wave of letters urging her to reconsider the decision to exclude these blocks from the proposed East Village rezoning. She cited the differences between these blocks and those in the proposed rezoning as the major reason for their exclusion. But what Chair Burden didn’t acknowledge is that there is no reason why areas with slightly different built environments cannot be included in the same rezoning (and that they are all the time). Nor has City Planning yet come up with any other solution for the grossly out-of-scale development which the current zoning for these blocks encourages (such as the NYU mega-dorm). See GVSHP’s most recent letter to the Chair responding to her letter and urging her to consider these issues at www.gvshp.org/documents/EVzoningletters.pdf.
Special thanks go to State Senator Tom Duane and City Councilmember Rosie Mendez for also pushing the City to include these vulnerable blocks in the East Village rezoning.
HOW TO HELP:
PLEASE SEND A NEW LETTERS TO THE CITY urging them to include the vulnerable Third Avenue corridor and the blocks to the west in the draft proposed East Village rezoning, and to force NYU to find locations OUTSIDE of the Village for any further expansion of their facilities. Go to www.gvshp.org/zonelet.htm for a sample letter you can use.