File #: Res 0287-2004    Version: * Name: Allocation and award of $70 million in Community Development Block Grant funds to the Hudson River Park Trust.
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Parks and Recreation
On agenda: 4/21/2004
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling upon the Council of the City of New York to request the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to promptly approve the allocation and award of $70 million in Community Development Block Grant funds under its control to the Hudson River Park Trust for the purpose of constructing the section of Hudson River Park running from Houston Street on the north to Chambers Street on the south and to call on the Governor of the State of New York and the Mayor of the City of New York to support such allocation and award.
Sponsors: Alan J. Gerson, Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr., Gale A. Brewer, Vincent J. Gentile, Margarita Lopez, Philip Reed, James Sanders, Jr., Helen Sears, Leroy G. Comrie, Jr.
Council Member Sponsors: 9

Res. No. 287

 

Resolution calling upon the Council of the City of New York to request the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to promptly approve the allocation and award of $70 million in Community Development Block Grant funds under its control to the Hudson River Park Trust for the purpose of constructing the section of Hudson River Park running from Houston Street on the north to Chambers Street on the south and to call on the Governor of the State of New York and the Mayor of the City of New York to support such allocation and award.

 

By Council Members Gerson, Addabbo, Brewer, Gentile, Lopez, Reed, Sanders, Sears and Comrie

 

Whereas, The State and the City of New York, through the Hudson River Park Trust, have planned and are now in the process of constructing a new waterfront park (Park)  along the Hudson River from 59th Street south to Battery Park, which will provide extraordinary recreational benefits to the citizens of the City and the State, and will also help the economic revitalization of areas adjacent to the Park; and

 

Whereas, The first section of the Park in Greenwich Village has opened to rave reviews, demonstrating the extraordinary public benefits of this new park; and

 

Whereas, Portions of the Clinton section of the Park are now under construction, but the $200 million needed to complete the rest of the Park, including the sections in Tribeca and Chelsea, has not been identified, much less committed, by the State and City and, as a result, the construction of these sections is very much in doubt; and

 

Whereas, The citizens of Downtown Manhattan and Tribeca were severely affected by the tragic events of September 11 and will continue to be affected for many years as the reconstruction process goes forward, creating many difficult impacts within those communities; and

 

Whereas, The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has under its control $1.2 billion of Community Development Block Grant Funds to use for projects in Manhattan south of Houston Street; and

 

Whereas, The Hudson River Park Trust has applied to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation for $70 million, which it would use to construct the otherwise-unfunded Tribeca section of Hudson River Park; and

 

Whereas, The Tribeca section of Hudson River Park would provide residents and businesses in Tribeca and downtown Manhattan with extraordinary recreational resources, including two 1,000 foot long park piers, with ample open space that is sorely lacking in the area, plus a museum of the estuary, a boathouse for kayaks and other human-powered craft, docks for recreational boaters, places to eat, volleyball courts and a host of facilities for  kids, together with a mile-long stretch of lawns, trees, play areas and gardens paralleling the Hudson; and

 

Whereas, All this can be provided at an early date compared with most other projects under consideration by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, because the environmental review of the Tribeca section has already been completed and the final constructions are nearly finished; and

 

Whereas, If the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation acts promptly on the Hudson River Park Trust’s application, construction of the Tribeca section could get underway next spring and possibly be complete by the spring of 2006; and

 

Whereas, The Tribeca section of Hudson River Park would offer residents and businesses in Tribeca and downtown Manhattan a place of respite and recreation at a time when reconstruction will be imposing very significant burdens on them; and

 

Whereas, The application of the Hudson River Park Trust for $70 million is broadly supported by elected officials and community groups, members of Council whose districts include portions of the Hudson River Park, Community Board 1 (which serves the area), the Tribeca Organization, and more than 40 environmental, civic and community groups concerned with Hudson River Park; and

 

Whereas, Prompt action by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation is essential;

 

Now therefore be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York requests that the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation promptly approve the allocation of $70 million in Community Development Block Grant funds under its control to the Hudson River Park Trust for the purpose of constructing the section of Hudson River Park running from Houston Street on the north to Chambers Street on the south, and calls on the Governor of the State of New York and the Mayor of the City of New York to support such allocation and award.

 

493/CH/4/16/04