Lots of Government officials and community organizations (like GVSHP) are organized to fight the trashy billboard that threatens to soon over-illuminate our skies, and clash with the historic feel of our neighborhood. Check back here to see what you can do.

****Update: 3/23: City (DOB) agrees that Billboards are in violation of zoning regulations.  GVSHP rocks!  Thanks Andrew Berman.  The fight isn’t over yet – the billboards have to be moved only 4degrees to be in compliance, but there are still two more potential issues that the city has yet to rule on.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission is preparing to approve a proposed design (as protrayed in this photo from GVSHP website) for an 11-story undulating glass tower at Greenwich Avenue, 8th Avenue, and 13th Street, in the Greenwich Village Historic District. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is gravely concerned about the impact approving such a design would have both on our historic neighborhood and on the integrity of landmark protections in general. For more information, see the GVSHP statement and press release.

PLEASE WRITE TO THE LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION RIGHT AWAY AND URGE THEM NOT TO GO AHEAD WITH THIS APPROVAL. Sample letters and contact information

Or see more photos.

And additional info from the Federation to Preserve the Greenwich Village Waterfron and Great Port

Several years ago a 32 story residential Tower (Jean Nouvel architect) was being planned at this site but the project was defeated by the community. Now a hotel called the Standard is being built there by Hotelier Andre Balazs.

Curious about this new Hotel??. Then come to an event sponsored by the JANE STREET ASSOCIATION to hear the architect, Polshek Partners, give a talk on the plans for the new Standard Hotel.

WHEN: TUESDAY OCTOBER 25TH AT 7:30 PM
WHERE: HOUSING WORKS 4th Floor
320 West 13th Street (Far West Door)
UPDATE: CANCELLED

CITY PRESENTS DRAFT DOWNZONING and LANDMARKING PLANS for FAR W. VILLAGE –
Proposed measures would preserve much of area, But some large gaps in plans STILL pose great dangers

To a packed house of over 300 Villagers and preservationists, on June 9 City Planning Commission Chair Amanda Burden and Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Robert Tierney jointly presented plans to help preserve the Far West Village through a combination of downzoning and landmarking measures. The plans come in response to recommendations submitted by GVSHP last year, and to literally thousands of people working with GVSHP, allied community groups, and elected officials to urge the City to implement such measures.

While the plans do not go as far as GVSHP recommended, they do cover most of the Far West Village, and will make sweeping changes to the zoning and landmark status of the area (go to www.gvshp.org/FWVRezoningandlandmarking.htm for map and full plans, related materials, and full text of GVSHP’s comments).

THE GOOD NEWS: If enacted swiftly enough, the substantial downzonings and landmark protections being proposed by the City would go a long way to preserve many of our most precious historic buildings, and would significantly reduce the allowable height and bulk of any new or additional construction on many vulnerable sites in the Far West Village.

THE BAD NEWS: The City’s proposal fails to downzone two critical sites facing likely development — and even UPZONES a third site — and fails to offer landmark protections to some sites which greatly need and deserve them. This includes:

*No downzoning is proposed for the Whitehall Storage site at 150-160 Charles/303 W. 10th Street, where a developer is planning a 300,000 sq. ft., 200 ft. tall tower. Under current zoning and the City’s proposal, the development could be even larger and taller, reaching over 300 ft. in height!

*The City actually proposes to slightly UPZONE the Superior Ink site at Bethune and West Streets and to allow as-of-right residential development (currently prohibited on the site), although the size and height of development which would be allowed under the new zoning would be substantially less than what Related Companies is seeking a variance for (go to www.gvshp.org/superiorink2_05.htm for info on Related proposal). This site should be landmarked, and if the City is to give the developer the right to residential development there, the site should be substantially DOWNZONED as compensation.

*Two one-story buildings on the NE corner of Charles and Washington (139 and 145 Charles) are carved out of a proposed landmark district and are not proposed for downzoning or height limits, opening the door to inappropriate development there. These sites should be included in the landmark district and/or downzoned with height limits imposed.

*The 1856 former stables and factory at 387-391 West 12th Street (now the Diane von Furstenberg studios, recently sold for likely development) are NOT proposed to be landmarked, though they are proposed to be downzoned, limiting the height and bulk of any future development. However, this building’s unique history as the oldest surviving factory on the Greenwich Village waterfront merits landmark protections.

SINCE WE NEED AND WANT THE CITY TO MOVE AHEAD WITH THE DOWNZONING AND LANDMARKING PLANS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE, WE MUST URGE THEM TO MAKE THESE CHANGES TO THEIR PLANS IMMEDIATELY.

If you’ve never written a letter in support of preserving the Far West Village, PLEASE DO SO NOW. If you’ve written to the City before, PLEASE BE SURE TO
WRITE AGAIN NOW — THIS IS THE MOST CRITICAL TIME YET IN THE FIGHT FOR PRESERVATION OF THE FAR WEST VILLAGE!

TO HELP PUSH for FULL LANDMARKING and DOWNZONING PROTECTIONS for ALL of the FAR WEST VILLAGE:

*GO TO Letter-Writing Campaign Website FOR NEW LETTERS TO SEND TO THE CITY URGING THEM TO MAKE THE ABOVE CHANGES TO THEIR PLANS RIGHT AWAY!! If you are mailing your letters, please be sure to e-mail and/or fax a copy as well, because we need the City to receive the letters as soon as possible. [Note from HSA - if you post them as a comment on the horatiosteet blog, we will take care of passing them along to the appropriate peeps]
*PASS THIS E-MAIL ALONG TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS AND ASK THEM TO WRITE IMMEDIATELY AS WELL, AND TO KEEP PASSING THE WORD.
*ASK YOUR BLOCK, TENANT, or CIVIC ASSOCIATION, or your CO-OP or CONDO BOARD, TO WRITE A SIMILAR LETTER, and ask these groups to reach out to their members to mobilize them to write as well.

After a struggle extending back nearly 50 years,we are finally nearing the point of securing substantial protections for the Far West Village and Greenwich Village waterfront. BUT WE MUST FIGHT EVEN HARDER NOW TO ENSURE THAT THIS ONE OPPORTUNITY TO PRESERVE OUR NEIGHBORHOOD PROVIDES ALL OF THE PROTECTIONS WE NEED AND DESERVE.

You can

I think they both want the same outcome in the end, even if they post different ways of going about it. The latest from GVSHP:

DELAYING THE LANDMARKING AND DOWNZONING PROCESS WOULD UNDERMINE EFFORTS TO PRESERVE AS MUCH OF THE FAR WEST VILLAGE AS POSSIBLE, AND TO PREVENT NEW HIGH-RISE DEVELOPMENTS.

Q: Why is it so critical that we DO NOT DELAY the process for landmarking and downzoning plans for the Far West Village?

A: Every minute we delay the implementation of these plans allows developers to move ahead with demolitions and huge high-rise developments which can ONLY be prevented by landmarking and downzoning. In just the last several months of this fight, several developers have moved ahead to quickly get permission to do just this. MANY MORE WILL DO SO OVER THE COMING WEEKS AND MONTHS, AND DELAY WILL ONLY RESULT IN MORE.

Q: But do we really only have 11 days to decide what we think of these plans, and to give feedback?

A: Absolutely NOT. These plans have to go through a very long public hearing and approval process that can take as long as seven months, and at about a half dozen steps along the way the public will have an opportunity to see presentations of the plans, to give testimony, and to convince various bodies to approve, reject, or modify them. Additionally, the plans will be posted on the City’s websites with detailed explanations, and staff at city agencies must answer the public’s questions about the plans.

Q: But isn’t the City rushing this through unusually quickly?

A: Not at all; in fact, they are taking unusual steps to consult with the public before their proposals even become official. The June 9 presentation of the City’s draft downzoning and landmarking plans is a preview of what they are thinking, NOT the final plan. We can urge changes on June 9, and after, and once plans are officially filed, and throughout the multi-month approval process.

THURSDAY NIGHT’S HEARING IS A GREAT OPPORTUNTITY TO PUSH FOR CHANGES TO THE CITY’S DRAFT DOWNZONING AND LANDMARKING PLANS.
INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON DELAYS, WE SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON MAKING THIS THE BEST PLAN POSSIBLE, AND URGING THAT DOWNZONING AND LANDMARKING CHANGES MOVE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.

REAL LANDMARKING * REAL DOWNZONING * NO MORE DELAYS!

More information on the fight: Save the Far West Village

We’ve been fighting to protect our neighborhood for more than 20 years
and now the City wants us to decide its future in 11 days? On June 9,
the City Planning Commission (CPC) will present their proposal for
re-zoning the Greenwich Village Waterfront to the community. The CPC
wants to certify this plan on June 20. The re-zoning certification
process has a no-return policyand the city wants to give us only 11
days to decide if we want to buy. The community needs more time to
fully review the plans.

The Federation to Preserve the Greenwich Village Waterfront &Great
Port says WAIT A MINUTE! We need more time to make sure that, after all
of our fighting, this plan goes far enough in protecting the future of
our unique neighborhood

Let your voice be heard! Continue the fight to preserve Greenwich
Village by attending the Community Board #2 presentation of the
proposed Greenwich Villagere-zoning Thursday, June 9 at 6:30 p.m. @
the NYU Silver Building, 32 Waverly Place, Room 714(ID required for
entry).

Amanda Burden, chair of the City Planning Commission and Robert
Tierney, chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission will be at this
meeting. Tierney is expected to reveal the landmarks proposal for the
Greenwich Village Waterfront along with the CPC’s zoning proposal. Come
out and tell chairs Burden and Tierney that we need more than 11 days
to make a decision that will affect our community forever. We simply
don’t have enough time to discuss this plan and decide whether it will
truly benefit our community.

Funky Informational Flyer.

Dear Friend,

There are few events that GVSHP has ever staged that are as critical to the future of our neighborhood as the MARCH TO SAVE THE FAR WEST VILLAGE this Saturday, May 14, starting at 12:30 pm sharp at West and West 12th Streets in the Hudson River Park, rain or shine.

Related Companies is seeking permission to build the largest tower yet on the Greenwich Village waterfront at West and West 12th Streets. Another developer has acquired a site on Charles and West 10th Streets between Washington and West where present zoning would allow him to build an even larger development. And more than six other sites in the Far West Village face similar threats of demolition and grossly out-of-scale new development.

We won a great victory with a unanimous vote last month by Community Board #2 rejecting Related’s “super-sized” tower plan. And six months ago, Mayor Bloomberg, the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the City Planning Commission responded to our call to preserve our neighborhood by promising that they would begin the processof downzoning and landmarking the Far West Village this Spring.

WE MUST INSIST THAT THE CITY ACT IMMEDIATELY AND COMPREHENSIVELY TO PROTECT THE HISTORIC SCALE AND CHARACTER OF ALL OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. We must keep our momentum going, and demand that the City keep its promise enact ALL OF THE PROTECTIONS our neighborhood needs.

WE ARE SO CLOSE. But your help and support is needed now more than ever. In the next few weeks we will either win the protections necessary to preserve this historic neighborhood, or it will be lost forever.

For more information on the march (which should last about an hour, taking us to the development site on Charles Street), see www.gvshp.org/SuperiorInkScans.htm. Please help us to spread the word and send the strongest message possible to the City.

I hope to see you on Saturday.

Sincerely,
Andrew Berman
Executive Director
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

Show up at the CB2 Zoning meeting tonight @ 6:30 at 75 Morton Street to voice your opinion about a variance request at the Superior Ink Site @ 70 Bethune for a 20 story mixed use development. Related Companies proposes to demolish the Superior Ink factory, built in 1919 as a cracker bakery for Nabisco, and replace it with a 270-ft. tall tower, the tallest on the Greenwich Village waterfront. Yikes!