Downtown Express, June 12, 2009

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Downtown Express photos by Milo Hess

Stormy waters up to Albany

Gov. David Paterson, inset, blessed the ﬂeet Friday as it left Battery Park Friday in the pouring rain for an eight-day trip up the Hudson River in honor of the river’s namesake, Henry Hudson, who ﬁrst landed in Lower Manhattan400 years ago. In hindsight, the stormy waters appeared to be a precursor of what was to come in Albany. OnMonday, State Senate Republicans appeared to have secured control of the body as Democrats tried to lock themout. The dispute remained unresolved Wednesday as Paterson called for a compromise.

BY JULIE SHAPIRO

In the battle betweenoffice towers and retailpodiums at the World TradeCenter site, office towersappear to be winning.Negotiations over whatto build and how to pay forit have been going on for thepast three weeks, and thenext meeting of top W.T.C.site stakeholders is sched-uled for Thurs., June 11.Going into that meeting,the consensus among thestakeholders appears to beshifting toward developerSilverstein Properties’ goalof building as many officetowers as possible withthe Port Authority’s help,Assembly Speaker SheldonSilver told DowntownExpress last week.“That’s the purpose,”Silver said in an interviewwith editors and reporterslast Friday. “Build more, andbuild more now. That is ourpurpose.”Silverstein cannot buildhis Church St. office towerson his own because he can-not get construction financ-ing. The Port has agreedto help with Tower 4 butrefused to backstop much of the financing for Tower 2,saying Silverstein can build itwhen the economy improves

BY JULIE SHAPIRO

The city will not beginreconstructing ChathamSquare this summer, afterthe unpopular plan drewmonths of criticism fromthe community and electedofﬁcials.The city insisted thisweek that the delay doesnot mean the $50 millionproject is shelved, but ofﬁ-cials would not say when thework would start. SeveralDowntown politicians andcommunity leaders saidthat the project is unlikelyto move forward anytimesoon.“I don’t think they’regoing to do anything any-more,” said Justin Yu,chairperson of the ChineseConsolidated BenevolentAssociation. Yu met withD.O.T. CommissionerJanette Sadik-Khan andother high-level D.O.T.staff last week to discussthe Chatham Square plan.

W.T.C. talks focuson towers & money,not podiumsChinatown happyas trafﬁc plan isstalled for now

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

Concern is brewing over Pier 40once more, after the Hudson RiverPark Trust passed a resolution to askthe State Legislature to extend thelease term for the huge W. Houston St.pier from 30 years to 50 years.Opponents of The RelatedCompanies’ failed Cirque du Soleil/Tribeca Film Festival plan for theHouston St. pier fear that with a leasechange, the “Las Vegas on the Hudson”scheme could rear its glitzy, high-impacthead again.In the past five and a half years,two efforts by the Trust to find privatedevelopers to repair and revamp the14-acre Pier 40 have sunk. As part of the second effort, which capsized lastyear, The Related Companies pro-posed its Cirque du Soleil-centeredplan that would have drawn mil-lions of people to the pier annually.But Related couldn’t make its plan’sfinancials work within the 30-year

Trust wants to pick piertenants twice a century

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VOLUME 22, NUMBER 5 THE NEWSPAPER OF LOWER MANHATTAN

JUNE 12 - 18, 2009

ARCHBISHOP DOWNTOWN, P. 15

June 12 - 18, 2009

downtown express

NDER

over

END

YOUR

Letter to theEditor

EWS

OWNTOWN

XPRESS

COM

145 S

IXTH

VENUE

, NYC, NY 10013P

LEASE

INCLUDE

YOUR

PHONE

NUMBER

FOR

CONFIRMATION

PURPOSES

ONLY

NEWS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-16, 18 Transit Sam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Mixed Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

EDITORIAL PAGES

. . . . . . . . . . . . 16-17

YOUTH

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19-22

ARTS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23-27 Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25-27

CLASSIFIEDS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26-27

C.B. 1

EETINGS

The upcoming week’s schedule of Community Board1 committee meetings is below. Unless otherwise noted,all committee meetings are held at the board ofﬁce,located at 49-51 Chambers St., room 709 at 6 p.m.

ON THURS., JUNE 11:

the Landmarks Committeewill meet in Room 501 of 49-51 Chambers St.

ON MON., JUNE 15:

The Waterfront Committeewill meet.

ON TUES., JUNE 16:

The Youth and EducationCommittee will meet.

ON WED., JUNE 17:

The Battery Park City Committeewill meet in One World Financial Center, 24th Floor.

ON THURS., JUNE 18:

The Quality of LifeCommittee will meet.

Read the Archives

www

DOWNTOWNEXPRESS

com

BZUG

OUT

Liz Abzug

put fast-spreading rumors to rest this weekand told UnderCover that she is not running for City Councilin the First District.Had she entered the hotly contested race for incumbent

AlanGerson

’s seat, many saw Abzug as a potential victor whose can-didacy would at the very least dramatically change the campaign.But Abzug said she is friendly with both Gerson and challenger

Margaret Chin

, which would have made a run difﬁcult.Abzug, daughter of the late

Bella Abzug

, an icon in thewomen’s movement and a former member of Congress, alsoconsidered running for the seat back when Gerson was ﬁrstelected, in 2001. She did make a run for City Council against

Tom Duane

in Chelsea in the early ’90s, but lost.Abzug, who moved to Tribeca 13 years ago, keeps busy run-ning a consulting business and a leadership institute she foundedin honor of her mother, along with teaching at Barnard College.She’s still looking for a chance to leap back into politics.“I would love to run for Congress,” Abzug said, though shewould never challenge Rep.

Jerrold Nadler

. She would considerrunning if Nadler ever stepped down, or she could possibly runout on Long Island, where she has a house in Sag Harbor.

HELLY

L.M.D.C.

Mayor

Mike Bloomberg

has been campaigning for nearlya year to shutter the state-city Lower Manhattan DevelopmentCorp. and transfer its functions — and money — to the city.Last week, when we asked Assembly Speaker

Shelly Silver

what he thought about the mayor’s proposal, we expected himto repeat his staunch defense of the L.M.D.C. and its chairper-son

Avi Schick

, a Silver ally.Instead, Silver said the leadership of the agency isn’t thatsigniﬁcant.“I don’t think, honestly, who does the job of L.M.D.C. is thatrelevant,” Silver told UnderCover. “I think what is important, as wesee in the development of ground zero, there has to be a coordina-tion between them, a working together. The vehicle is secondary.”Silver added that he sees no reason to change anything.“I would just as soon leave [the L.M.D.C.’s structure asis] because its function is running out,” Silver said. “Whychange ships?”The decision of what to do with the L.M.D.C. is ultimatelyup to Bloomberg and Gov.

David Paterson

, who Silver said isalso angling to control the development corporation’s budget.

HONE

DUSTUP

Councilmember Alan Gerson not only lost DowntownIndependent Democrats’ endorsement last week but he alsohad his cell phone thrown against the wall by club member

Gil Horowitz

after breaking up an argument Horowitz washaving with Gerson’s mother

Sophie

, 84. UnderCover hastried to get to the bottom of this to see what promptedHorowitz’s anger — was it an overreaction to the coun-cilmember’s justiﬁable defense of his mother or was itphysically aggressive behavior on Gerson’s part? We feel likewe’re in a remake of

Kurosawa

’s “Rashomon.”Horowitz, 72, says Gerson grabbed and held him whileshoving him 20 feet. Then when Horowitz complained to Alan,the councilmember offered the cell phone in case Horowitzwanted to call the police. Horowitz was so angered that hethrew the phone across the large hall in St. Anthony’s Church.There were few witnesses to the hullabaloo at the backof the room since most attention was directed toward thespeakers up front.

Allan Horland

, a physician and Gerson friend who waskeeping his eye on Sophie at the request of her son, agreedGerson did grab Horowitz and move him away, but saidGerson reacted appropriately since Horowitz “was wavinghis finger if not his fist” in the face of an elderly woman whocouldn’t easily get up and walk away. Sophie, who lives withAlan, has had two major surgeries in recent years.Gerson said he would stand by Horland’s account,although he denies ever grabbing Horowitz. At varioustimes over the last week, he has said he “may have ruffled”Horowitz as he stepped in, that he “gently ushered” himaway from his mother and that he did what anyone would doto someone “threatening” his or her ailing mother.Horowitz, a psychologist who is supporting

Pete Gleason

,says Gerson just snapped. He said he never shook his ﬁngerat Sophie, although he does regret some of the harsh thingshe told her about her son.Two witnesses with strong loyalties to Gleason, who beatGerson for the D.I.D. endorsement, said they saw Gerson takemore aggressive action — one said the councilmember grabbedand shoved Horowitz about 7 feet, the other said it was morelike a pushing — but neither would speak for attribution.Another witness who is a Gleason supporter,

AdamSilvera

, said he was right there and although each personinvaded the other’s personal space, he did not notice much if any contact. But Silvera also does not recall the phone throw,which every other witness remembers clearly.Go ﬁgure.

SLAND

THINK

TANK

Councilmember Alan Gerson tells us he is working withthe New York Academy of Sciences on its goal of openinga non-biotech science center somewhere near its home inLower Manhattan, perhaps on Governors Island. Gersonsays the city’s Economic Development Corp. is also on boardand the center is likely to be a think tank.

AFIR

REFLECTS

UnderCover caught up with former police and ﬁre commis-sioner

Howard Saﬁr

at a fundraiser for the New York City PoliceMuseum, where his wife

Carol Saﬁr

is president of the board.Safir is keeping busy as C.E.O. of the security company hefounded, called SafirRosetti.“Nothing can be as stressful as being police commissioner,”said Safir, who held that job under

Rudy Giuliani

from 1996 to2000 and before that was ﬁre commissioner for two years.Saﬁr added that the job has gotten even tougher for cur-rent police commissioner

Ray Kelly

. Kelly has 5,000 fewerofficers than Safir had, while Kelly also has to worry aboutfighting terror post-9/11.“That makes it a lot harder to fight crime and protect thecity,” Safir said.

ERE

STAY

Also in attendance at the Police Museum beneﬁt wasDeputy Inspector

Anthony Bologna

, the First Precinct’s com-manding officer, who received an award. We’d been curious about how much longer Bolognawas going to be leading the First Precinct, since the cityhas a habit of rotating commanding officers to differentposts every couple of years, and Bologna’s been in LowerManhattan since 2005.“If you have to be someplace for four years, the FirstPrecinct is the place to be,” Bologna said, smiling.He said there was no way to know how long he’d stay atthe First, but Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is trying to keepofficers at their posts longer, Bologna said.As for what Bologna would prefer, “You always look for newchallenges,” Bologna said, “but as long as I’m here, I’m happy.”

downtown express

June 12 - 18, 2009

BY JOSH ROGERS

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver toldDowntown Express last week he was opento fixed terms for the educational boardoverseeing the mayor’s management of theschools.Albany is now debating legislation torenew the seven-year-old law giving themayor control of the school system. MayorMike Bloomberg and Schools ChancellorJoel Klein have opposed fixed terms on thePanel for Educational Policy because theysay it will handcuff their ability to makechanges, and would end the clear lines of accountability.Silver said: “That’s a fake issue…. I don’tbelieve it matters.”He said even under the old system, themayor was still able to use “political machi-nations” to get what he wanted.“When the mayor didn’t have control,he had control of the Board of Education,”Silver said. “Go ask [former Chancellor]Rudy Crew, go ask the borough presidentsin Queens how many times they fired theirrepresentatives on the board because theymade a deal with the mayor….“Nobody ever became chancellor unlessthe mayor wanted them, nobody ever stayedchancellor unless the mayor wanted them,”the speaker said in a 30-minute interviewwith Downtown Express editors and report-ers June 5.Silver is not yet backing fixed terms forthe P.E.P., but other Assembly and StateSenate Democrats are in favor of it. Thecurrent law is set to expire at the end of themonth.Silver spoke before the senate’s upheavalon Monday, when two Democratic senators,Pedro Espada, Jr. and Hiram Monseratte,switched allegiances and appeared to putRepublicans back in control. It appearsthe change increases the mayor’s chanc-es. Bloomberg has been a large campaigncontributor to many Senate Republicans.Espada, the Senate’s apparent new president,and Republican Dean Skelos, the apparentnew majority leader, said in an Albany radiointerview Tuesday that they both supportedrenewing the law mostly intact.“The essential core of mayoral controlmust be preserved,” Espada said.Silver, a Democrat who has firm controlof the Assembly, has said all along he favors“tweaking” the old law to let the mayorremain in charge, while giving parents astronger voice and adding more transpar-ency over issues like school contracts.City Hall has signaled a willingness tonegotiate on all of those issues with theexception of fixed terms. Silver, who helpedcraft the original law with Bloomberg backin 2002, said he would relent on fixedterms provided the mayor gave parents astronger role in local school decisions andmade superintendents more accountable toparents.“I’m willing to trade with the mayor onfixed terms to get beef at the school level, atthe district level,” Silver said.He said he wants to “make sure youdon’t have to stand on the steps of City Hallin order to make your thought as a parentheard about what’s wrong with your child’seducation.”The mayor currently has eight of the13 appointees to the P.E.P. — the boroughpresidents have the others — and Silver saidthis gives the mayor insurance in case anappointee defies City Hall.“He doesn’t need all 8 — he needs seven,”Silver said. “I went through that issue with[Bloomberg] seven years ago.”Some legislators, education advocates andCommunity Board 1 in Lower Manhattanhave suggested going further by taking awaymost of the mayor’s power. Under this alter-native, an independent board would selectthe chancellor, and the mayor would onlyhave a minority of appointees.A spokesperson for the Dept. of Education,which succeeded the Board of Ed., declinedto comment on Silver’s remarks.

Josh@DowntownExpress.com

and the Port should not be expected to takethe risk of financing offices on spec for a pri-vate developer. In place of Tower 2 and theneighboring Tower 3, the Port wants to buildtemporary six-story retail podiums.No one is arguing for Tower 3 to bebuilt immediately and Silverstein appearswilling to accept a podium there, but he isstill fighting for Tower 2.On Friday, Silver allied himself closelywith Silverstein by agreeing that now isthe time to build Tower 2. Silver addedthat Gov. Jon Corzine and Gov. DavidPaterson are both being “cooperative” inthe goal of building more towers now, andMayor Michael Bloomberg has previouslyexpressed support for building despite theeconomic downturn.On Monday, three days after Silver’scomments appeared on DowntownExpress.com, The New York Times’ Web sitereported that the city proposed to back-stop $100 million of the financing to buildTower 2, which indicates Bloomberg’ssupport for the tower. However, the Timesalso reported that Corzine and Patersonare reluctant to make similar financialcommitments because of their alreadytight budgets.Silver said Friday that an agreementwould require all parties to make furtherinvestments.“They’re trying to work through a con-clusion that has everybody put in a littlemore: the Port Authority, the city, the state,and most important, Larry Silverstein,”Silver said. “And I hope to get there.”The Port Authority has offered addi-tional help to Silverstein on Tower 2, butnot as much as Silverstein wants, accordingto a rebuilding source who confirmed toDowntown Express the financial numbersin the Times article. The developer turneddown a proposal in which the Port wouldhelp with the financing if Silverstein put inan additional $370 million of his own moneyand $430 million of insurance money.“We remain far apart on a secondtower because of how much more publicmoney is required to fund this speculativeoffice building,” Stephen Sigmund, a Portspokesperson, said in a statement. “Ourposition continues to be that the public’sresources are better spent on public proj-ects first, not more private office space.”In a counterproposal to the PortAuthority, Silverstein suggested that hetake over much of the infrastructure workon the eastern side of the site, near histowers, including the demolition of the oldtemporary PATH station and the rebuildingof Greenwich St., another source involvedin the rebuilding said. This source saidSilverstein, who would charge develop-ment fees for the work, would still savethe Port Authority money because privatecompanies can move more quickly thangovernment agencies.The closed-door meetings about theTrade Center site began after an impassebetween Silverstein and the Port Authorityover the tower financing and delivery of key site infrastructure threatened to haltprogress. Alarmed by that prospect, Silvercalled all the site stakeholders together,and they held their first meeting May 21 atGracie Mansion, at Bloomberg’s invitation.The meeting included Bloomberg, Silver,both governors, Larry Silverstein and PortAuthority executive director Chris Ward.There had been three major meetingswith top stakeholders including LarrySilverstein since then, Silver said lastweek. Those three meetings were heldquietly and out of the public eye, often atodd times of the day, Silver said. In addi-tion, Deputy Mayor Bob Lieber has beenchairing daily meetings of lower-level staff representing all the parties, the secondrebuilding source said.The next publicly announced meetingof the principals will be June 11. Althoughthe Port Authority and Silverstein disagreevehemently on the financing for Tower 2, afew people involved said this week that theoutlines of an agreement could still comeby Thursday.“We’re not there yet,” Silver said Friday.“It’s a matter of money, it’s a matter of commitment, it’s a matter of saving money,it’s a matter of refocusing so we can get aresult.”Bloomberg’s office and SilversteinProperties declined to comment.All the parties involved have beenreluctant to talk after Bloomberg madeit clear he wanted the negotiations to beentirely private.“We’re all sworn to secrecy,” Silver toldDowntown Express, explaining why hecould not go into more detail.But Silver did repeat his position thatnow is the time to build Towers 2 and 4,even though the economy is down.“We’ll be in a different business cycle by2014 or 2015,” Silver said. “And there aresome people who think, there is no otherdevelopment going on in the city, no otheroffice space. If you look at all the studies,everybody will tell you there’s going to bea need for expanded commercial space inNew York City.”Silver listed the other office projectsthat are falling through, from HudsonYards to Atlantic Yards, which will makethe World Trade Center towers all themore important.“New York, Downtown Manhattan,ground zero is going to be the place togo,” Silver said.Silver said the rebuilt World TradeCenter could follow the example of theoriginal Twin Towers, which initially filledwith government offices because there waslittle demand for commercial space.Silver’s first district office was in room5489 of 2 W.T.C., he recalled, and later hewas moved down to the 26th floor as thereal estate grew more valuable. Finally, hewas moved out of the building altogether.“Hopefully there will be a market forit,” Silver said of the new office towers atthe site, “and we can prepare for it.”

With reporting by Josh Rogers

Silver: Fixed terms on school panel is ‘fake issue’

W.T.C. talks focus on towers & dollars

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Downtown Express photo by Patrick Hedlund

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver

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