Good morning. It’s Tuesday. Scroll down to see why a 58-year-old state senate candidate is happy to get along with his mother, who is 94. But first, a challenge to the city’s plan to make room for a climate change center on Governors Island.
Roger Manning recognizes the irony of filing a lawsuit against an environmental assessment of an office complex expected to be occupied by a climate change research center.
But the climate center is irrelevant, said Manning, a co-founder of the Metro Area Governors Island Coalition. “The problem was the repurposing. Heights. Densities.”
Now, a hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled for Tuesday in the state Supreme Court in Manhattan. The land in question, as the name of Manning’s group suggests, is located on Governors Island, across from New York Harbor from lower Manhattan.
Manning and others describe the island in the shape of an ice cream cone, with the climate center planned for the cone section. The ice section has buildings dating back to 1794. The federal government sold both sections to the city for $1 in 1995.
The concerns of the opponents are not about the importance of the climate center, but about the buildings it would occupy.
They say the buildings would devastate the island, with towers Manning said could reach as high as 25 stories. That’s short compared to the super-talls on Billionaires’ Row in Manhattan, but big enough, Manning said, to cast shadows on New York Harbor School, an island public high school that trains students for maritime and environmental careers. He also said the buildings would displace three urban farms, including one with a learning garden for school groups to visit.
The lawsuit also discusses the idea of creating parking for 200 vehicles.
The city and the Trust for Governors Island, which oversees the island, say the climate center would create 7,000 jobs. Mayor Eric Adams named the center in March in his “rebuild, renew, revent” blueprint for the city’s economic recovery. And in April, the trust announced four finalists in a competition for the climate center — the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Stony Brook University and, in a joint application, the City University of New York and the New School. The winner is expected to be announced next year.
Manning’s lawsuit aims to reverse the 2021 repurposing and save what he called “our rural place in the city.” His group, a grassroots organization founded in 2020, has joined more than 20 other claimants, including the South Street Seaport Coalition and Kent Barwick, president emeritus of the Municipal Art Society.
The trust also has strong supporters, including Tom Wright, the president and chief executive of the Regional Plan Association. “I think there’s a fundamental disagreement here,” Wright said Monday, “and while everyone wants to protect and preserve the uniqueness of Governors Island, the question is whether it’s the best way to do that with a partnership.” along the lines of the strategy that the trust has taken.
Manning called the city’s environmental impact statement “inadequate,” and the lawsuit says it “evades the environmental impact” of allowing buildings on the cone-shaped portion of the island. The lawsuit also alleges that the 2021 rezoning did not provide for 40 acres of dedicated parkland, in violation of the deed that came with the city’s $1 purchase of the island. The lawsuit says 40 acres of parkland in the cone-shaped part of the island “has been zoned as ‘open space’ only.”
Sarah Krautheim, a spokeswoman for the trust, said she was “completely confident that the rezoning was carried out and approved in accordance with the law.”
Weather
Expect a mostly sunny day, with a maximum of around 90 and a chance of showers in the morning and late afternoon. Expect clear skies in the evenings, with temperatures dropping to the mid-70s.
ALTERNATE SIDE PARKING
Valid until August 15 (Feast of the Ascension).
You’ve read about the new New York State Senate district maps that prompted some incumbents to run in districts they don’t currently live in. This makes them think about new forms of housing.
Take Senator Joseph Addabbo Jr., a Democrat from Queens. Its current neighborhood, stretching from Maspeth to Rockaway Beach, was made more compact. Howard Beach, where he lives, was eliminated. To move into the new neighborhood, he said he would probably have to move in with his 94-year-old mother.
“Thank God I’ve been kind to my mom all these years,” said Addabbo, who is 58 and faces a primary challenge for the first time since he was chosen in 2008. “I think my old bedroom is still available.”
Contrast Addabbo’s lightness with the unfortunate pragmatism of state senator Gustavo Rivera in the Bronx. He was faced with a choice: stay in the rent-stabilized apartment he had lived in for years and face Senator Robert Jackson, or flee to another district. He chose a different neighborhood, even if he will have to jump into the overheated rental market.
“I’ll think about that pain after August 23,” Rivera said, referring to the primary election date. “I am not content.”
Reclassification has prompted some incumbents to campaign in uncharted territory, which explains why Senator Andrew Gounardes recently campaigned in Brooklyn Heights. It’s now part of his district, and much more liberal than the Trump-supporting neighborhoods he represents in Bay Ridge.
But the new area created an opening for a challenger, David Yassky, a former Brooklyn Heights city councilman. “I have a deeper knowledge of these neighborhoods than anyone in the race,” Yassky said, adding that he entered to voice the district’s concerns about subway affordability and safety.
In the Bronx, Rivera’s primary election sparked a party clash. To avoid facing another legislator, he decided to run in a district that comprises about 50 percent of the heavily Hispanic district he currently represents. But the new neighborhood also includes Riverdale, which is whiter and more affluent.
Also in the running is Miguelina Camilo, who was endorsed by the Bronx Democratic Party before the lines were pulled. The party, in a move Rivera called “terribly disappointing,” backed her after Rivera changed districts.
“The rules put me in the worst-case scenario,” Rivera said, adding that it was no secret that he did not have a close relationship with the party organization. Camilo, a family law attorney, called the situation “unfortunate,” noting that the approval was decided before the courts intervened.
Dear Diary:
When my wife and I got married, we chose to go to the city office in lower Manhattan. Only my wife’s brother and sister-in-law accompanied us. On arrival we took a number and sat on a bench to wait our turn in one of the small wedding chapels.
As we sat there, we were amazed at the array of outfits worn by the other couples, from a man in a tuxedo with a woman in a short dress to a couple both wearing T-shirts, shorts, and flip flops.
Numbers were called as they are at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Hearing ours, we entered the little chapel and met the officiant who was to marry us.
“Which service would you prefer?” he asked. “The short version or the long one?”
We asked what the difference was.