Let’s start this drop with a little bit of NYC history. There used to be an office building slash exhibition center at Columbus Circle called the New York Coliseum. It was one of the many edifices commissioned by municipal developer ROBERT MOSES. Every thing that you hear about this man is true, the good and the bad, at the end of the day though he is the reason that New York City is NOT Washington D.C. or Boston. Those are both great cities, but horribly mismanaged from the aspect of infrastructure and transit.
A city with great architecture but poor infrastructure and poor transit systems isn’t really a city at all, The buildings only serve as tombstones to landowner’s desires. The infrastructure and transit systems are like the veins of the body. They carry the fresh blood and oxygen that makes the body alive. ROBERT MOSES understood this and this is why he consolidated so much power into the MTA and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. There is NOTHING more powerful in New York City than the land we walk on.
You are on an island for crissakes! You can’t really add anymore land to an island. You have to build upwards. MOSES’ seat of power was in an office complex and exhibition hall right off Columbus Circle called the New York Coliseum. The Triboro Bridge and Tunnel Authority had their executive offices there until the construction of the World Trade Center was completed in the early 1970’s. The site was great because of the access to the various subways, the West Side highway and easy crosstown jaunt over the Queensboro 59th Street Bridge.
I remember the building so well even to this day. DALLAS, my biological dad, took me to a Walt Disney World show at the Coliseum. I have only two memories of being with him and one of them is going to this circuslike show. I will remember the building’s facade marquee forever. I first met the rabbi, who later hired me as his draftsman, when I worked as a mailroom messenger in an office building across from the Coliseum. I was awoken one New Year’s Day on the benches outside of the Coliseum after I passed out leaving a party on Central Park West. Only good times at the Coliseum.
I knew the Coliseum building well inside and out and I would agree that it was time for a re-visioning of that property, but mainly because the Transit Authority let it languish with minimal care or consideration. The managers at the MTA know how to take money from the system, but they are considerably lax when it comes to preserving the architectural and infrastructural elements of the system. Proof of that is how hard it is sometimes to distinguish a bus depot from a Sanitation Department facility. The Coliseum needed to be retrofitted and the MTA took their sweet time in selecting a developer for the job. Now we have the Time-Warner Center at the site and this building kicks major ass.
I’m not one of these longtime New Yorkers that hates new development. Understand that what I’m doing at my day job right now while you read this drop is working on a project that is brand new construction in an area that was blighted. New York City needs this constant retrofitting because of all the new blood and fresh air that move through her veins. But at what price do we mortgage this new development? The Metropolitan Transit Authority is practically giving Forest City Ratner the Atlantic Yards site for a fraction of the initial offering.
Like I just said to you earlier, I LOVE new construction. This is what keeps my lights on and my sneakers crispy. That is until Mountain Dew cuts me a check (prA’li in Nevuary 3009). The Atlantic Yards is an expansive site that needs consideration, and not the reckless whoring that the MTA is providing. Keep in mind that the things that make this city great are her infrastructure (roadways, waterways) and her transit system (buses, subways, commuter rails). These things move us through the city expeditiously and safely. Since the Forest City Ratner plans have little consideration for these elements the plans should be reconsidered.
Barclays Bank, Forest City Ratner’s underwriter, is offering the MTA 200K per year to rename the Atlantic Avenue transportation hub ‘Barclay’s Center’ for the next twenty years!?! The only two words that accurately sum up that proposal are “Negro Please”. The prA’li link is still up and running. I wonder if we could raise that same amount of cash to rename the Franklin Avenue station “MTA Kiss My Grits”? I reluctantly eschewed profanity but since I know that kids use the subway system I figured we should keep the name 100 for the children. O.D.B. would be happy.
The MTA just passed fare increases on all of their assets because the nearly 6.5 million daily users weren’t generating enough cash. Along with all the branding that now exists overtly, and discreetly throughout the system I have to wonder where is all the money going? And if times are so hard on the boulevard inside of the MTA’s coffers why are they giving away important real estate for pennies on the dollar? The Atlantic Yards development project must be subject to additional review.
The arena plan for a Nets team that perennially languishes in last place is laughable. Especially since that team’s overwhelming fan base is in New Jersey and the brand new Prudential Center that hosts the Devils could benefit more from the additional tenancy. I just visited a mixed use residential district in Philadelphia that was vibrant and flourishing with open space and economic activity. I like that plan more than some bowl shaped void that is only in use for what is technically two months out of the year. The arena proposal is shitty and gives Brooklyn no value. The same can be said for the corporate branding of the subway.
I can still remember when graffiti artists were considered scofflaws and derelicts. Maybe it was because we couldn’t afford the 200K it costs to put our brands on the side of a train?
