Comments on: As Tishman deal collapses, Schumer and Bloomberg spar over development http://secondavenuesagas.com/2008/05/14/as-tishman-deal-collapses-schumer-and-bloomberg-spar/ A New York City Subway Blog Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:35:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Peter http://secondavenuesagas.com/2008/05/14/as-tishman-deal-collapses-schumer-and-bloomberg-spar/#comment-35624 Peter Wed, 14 May 2008 12:59:15 +0000 http://secondavenuesagas.com/?p=863#comment-35624 Unfortunately, all of these grandiose plans, whether "Moynihan Station" supposedly resuscitating the demolished glory of Penn Station, the Atlantic Yards-Nets-Ratner Brooklyn project, or the Castles-In-The-Sky over the West Side Yards share one significant function: They transfer Public Transportation assets to politically-connected private developers, returning transit improvements in the form of lavish lip service to actual transportation needs. None of the projects are anything but suburban-style shopping malls topped with skyscrapers, profiting from the transit passengers that will inevitably funnel to & from them, and providing no real long-term transit benefits. They provide no actual transportation benefits. The #7 extension is nothing more than a stub-end conveyor, a publicly-funded gift to the eventual W.Side developmer. Existing trackage at that site already goes to all four points of the compass, but it has never been integrated to provide the rational transportation that is possible. West Midtown has languished for decades, not because it lacked development (the Javits Center White Elephant was supposed to spark a renaissance 25 years ago), but because mass transit in that neighborhood was better 100 years ago. Penn Station, the West Side Yards and Amtrak’s Empire Connection (the former NY Central West Side Improvement) are the keystones to one-seat rides to and from Lower Manhattan and Metro-North’s Hudson & New Haven Lines and the entire LIRR System (as well as connections to NJT & Amtrak). Rail connections to Downtown could have been made part of the Route 9 Reconstruction and Amtrak’s Empire Connection (and might’ve even included parts of the High Line -!- ) a decade ago, but each project was - and is - instead seen as discrete and individual, instead of as a part of a regional transportation and economic network. Short-sighted speculative real estate development focuses only on maximizing bulk and short-term finances, instead of considering the synergistic benefits of the true integration of transportation and real estate development for the regional economy. Unfortunately, all of these grandiose plans, whether “Moynihan Station” supposedly resuscitating the demolished glory of Penn Station, the Atlantic Yards-Nets-Ratner Brooklyn project, or the Castles-In-The-Sky over the West Side Yards share one significant function: They transfer Public Transportation assets to politically-connected private developers, returning transit improvements in the form of lavish lip service to actual transportation needs.

None of the projects are anything but suburban-style shopping malls topped with skyscrapers, profiting from the transit passengers that will inevitably funnel to & from them, and providing no real long-term transit benefits. They provide no actual transportation benefits.

The #7 extension is nothing more than a stub-end conveyor, a publicly-funded gift to the eventual W.Side developmer. Existing trackage at that site already goes to all four points of the compass, but it has never been integrated to provide the rational transportation that is possible. West Midtown has languished for decades, not because it lacked development (the Javits Center White Elephant was supposed to spark a renaissance 25 years ago), but because mass transit in that neighborhood was better 100 years ago.

Penn Station, the West Side Yards and Amtrak’s Empire Connection (the former NY Central West Side Improvement) are the keystones to one-seat rides to and from Lower Manhattan and Metro-North’s Hudson & New Haven Lines and the entire LIRR System (as well as connections to NJT & Amtrak). Rail connections to Downtown could have been made part of the Route 9 Reconstruction and Amtrak’s Empire Connection (and might’ve even included parts of the High Line -!- ) a decade ago, but each project was - and is - instead seen as discrete and individual, instead of as a part of a regional transportation and economic network.

Short-sighted speculative real estate development focuses only on maximizing bulk and short-term finances, instead of considering the synergistic benefits of the true integration of transportation and real estate development for the regional economy.

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