At Forum, Many Agree on How to Spend $735 Million By Etta Sanders The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation needs to spend more money on affordable housing, parks and community improvements. That was the predominant message at an April 27 public forum on how the agency’s remaining $735 million of federal community development block grants should be spent. On April 13, the LMDC released a plan that outlines four main areas as priorities for spending: large-scale neighborhood projects; public infrastructure on the World Trade Center site; the WTC memorial; and a rail link between Long Island/JFK Airport and Lower Manhattan. The neighborhood projects, particularly improvements to Fulton Street, a bus garage on southern Greenwich Street, and parks on the east- and west-side waterfronts, won widespread support at the forum. Several speakers said that a $70 million contribution would be critical for the completion of the Tribeca section of Hudson River Park. “If the LMDC money does not come through for this section of the park, it will be many years before this section is built,” said Al Butzel, president of Friends of Hudson River Park. City Councilman Alan Gerson urged the LMDC to increase funding for the preservation of affordable housing, from $50 million to at least $200 million. Some community groups echoed that view. “If you continue to ignore the affordable housing needs of Lower Manhattan, the area will be rebuilt only for wealthy people,” said Bettina Damiani, director of Good Jobs New York. “That’s not the vision that America or the world had when New York City got that money.” Community representatives and civic groups, including Community Board 1 and the Regional Plan Association, reiterated their longstanding positions that none of the funds should be used for a rail link to Long Island. Two representatives of business interests, the Downtown Alliance and Brookfield Properties, owner of the World Financial Center, spoke in favor of funding the rail link. At the April 14 LMDC board meeting, Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff said the money should be found from other sources, such as $2 billion in federal tax credits that has been requested and a portion of the $700 million savings from the decision not to construct a West Street tunnel. “My hope is that we won’t have to use money from the LMDC for the rail link,” he said. In the next few months, decisions will be made on requests for about $400 million for neighborhood projects off the World Trade Center site, including $20 million dollars for a new school on Beekman Street and funding for the Manhattan Youth community center on Site 5C in Tribeca. With less than half of the $2 billion in federal grants remaining, LMDC board members have increasingly spoken of the money as a contingency fund for the rebuilding of the WTC site and creation of the memorial. Roland Betts, an LMDC board member, said after the April board meeting, “There are still tremendous needs on the site, and that is the highest priority.”