How can a park for Riverside Center be paid for? Ask the NYC Sanitation Dept., Mayor Bloomberg, HUD and the Paul & Irma Milstein Foundation.We all are longing to see a lush, green park as part of the Riverside Center development. But the realists out there want to know: how can it be paid for? There are many ways in which a park can be supported, just look around.
The NY Department of Sanitation is currently obliged to to garage our
community’s sanitation trucks (CB7) in a CB4 location, because there is no room
for them in our neighborhood. The lower west side has a problem with that. NYDS wants to have space designed for the CB7 trucks
underneath the Extell development, where a car dealership is currently planned.
They are willing to pay $384 per sq. ft. which is a good price in today’s
real estate market. The Sanitation Department has also indicated their
willingness to green district garages with LEED certified standards and roof top
parks. Voile. New park paid for. To see a more thorough discussion of
this, please refer to this document by Michael Kramer. (And thank you
Michael for making us aware of this issue).
Also take a look at this ad by the Hudson Rise group for a fund-raising party, using some of the nabe’s celebrities as spokespersons (Kirsten Dunst, Lou Reed, William Thompson, etc).... Another idea to explore.
Readers should also be aware that yet another new park was recently formed in
Tribeca. Here is a photo:
It was paid for in part by HUD money granted to refurbish lower
Manhattan after the 9/11 attack, but the Paul and Irma Milstein
Foundation also contributed $500,000 for its construction, and $556,000 was contributed
by the Office of the Mayor.
Funding a park can be done, my dear Riversidecentrics, we just need to be patient and find a way.
This was written by Marta Hallowell.
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