Pataki Calls for Quick Fixes Downtown

by Ronald Drenger
 by Author

Responding to a growing chorus of criticism that rebuilding Downtown was moving too slowly, Gov. Pataki on April 24 announced a wide range of short-term and long-term improvements to revitalize Lower Manhattan and, for the first time, a timetable for their completion.

In addition to major transportation projects that will take several years, the governor, in a speech to the Association for a Better New York at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Battery Park City, outlined $50 million in projects that he wants to see implemented within the next year to improve the quality of life Downtown and to make it easier for residents and workers get around. These initiatives, which the governor is asking the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to fund and coordinate, include:

  • A new pedestrian bridge over West Street at Vesey Street, scheduled to open by November, when the temporary PATH station is completed. Also improvements to the Liberty Street bridge;
  • $10 million in improvements to parks and open spaces;
  • A new Greenmarket at Liberty Park Plaza on Broadway;
  • Up to $3 million to create a home for the Millennium High School at 75 Broad Street by September;
  • $4 million for a Downtown Alliance program to beautify lower Broadway;
  • Replacing the black shroud over the Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty Street with a mural depicting the 1,776-foot tower that architect Daniel Libeskind has designed for the trade center site; and
  • Enhancing street-level security measures in the financial district so that they look prettier and allow greater freedom of movement for pedestrians.
The governor, for the first time, also said that a tunnel will be built next to the trade center site, from Liberty to Vesey streets, as part of the plan to turn the West Street into a grand promenade. Rebuilding officials and Mayor Bloomberg’s office had previously said that a decision had not yet been made about whether to submerge West Street or keep it at grade.

“These improvements will make Lower Manhattan more attractive place to live, work and visit,” Pataki said.

The governor also announced programs to help small businesses Downtown, including a $7 million “I Love New York” campaign to boost tourism and a discount card for local stores and restaurants.

Long-term transportation projects, including the permanent PATH station on the trade center site, a new transit center at Fulton Street and Broadway, renovations of the South Ferry subway station and rail links to New York’s airports, must also move forward quickly, Pataki said. The transportation hubs should open in 2006, he said.

To create more direct access to the airports while the rail links are being planned, the governor announced that new ferry services will be created fro Lower Manhattan to LaGuardia and JFK. The service to LaGuardia, which the governor said would cut the trip to less than 40 minutes, should be in place by late 2004, and the service to JFK by 2005.

As for the construction of new buildings on the trade center site, the governor said that Libeskind’s 1776-foot tower, the first one that will go up, will be topped off by September 2006, the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attack, and will open in 2007 or 2008. And he announced that the first tenant had been found for the building: the governor’s offices will move there from 633 Third Ave.

Local elected officials and community leaders said they were pleased to hear the governor’s support for Downtown improvements, especially ones that can be implemented quickly, but pointed out that they had been advocating for months for many of the initiatives that were announced.

For example, Councilman Alan Gerson and Community Board 1 have been pleading with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to provide funding for the Millennium High School, so that the Department of Education can sign a lease at 75 Broad Street and renovate several floors by the beginning of the next school year.

“I think the governor has adopted a lot of what the community and the City Council have been calling for,” said Gerson.