In This Issue:

– Making Places Grand Makes Them Work: On The Fulton Street Transit Hub and Moynihan Station Complex.

– Calendar

Making Places Grand Makes Them Work
Le Corbusier, the great and controversial architect of the last century, famously and misleadingly declared that a house was a “machine for living.” At the time, Corbusier intended to steer architecture away from what he saw as excessive attention to decoration. But his association of a human environment with something as cold as a machine contributed to an unconscious belief many have that beauty can be separated from functionality.

This false dichotomy is popping up or threatening to pop up in two big projects that will be home to many people when in use, the Fulton Street Transit Hub and the new proposal for a Moynihan Station complex that moves Madison Square Garden and overhauls the existing Penn Station.

Let’s look at the Transit Hub first. Because of rising costs, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is considering numerous changes in the project. The key corridor linking this new Hub with the adjoining PATH Terminal may be narrowed, and the signature conical glass dome that would provide both light and air is at risk of being trimmed. Both features are critical to making the transit hub more of a destination than a set of hallways.

As this project moves forward, authorities must remember that this is a long-term venture, and it is worth it to do things right. That means building spaces that will accommodate growing demand, and making the overall environment as uplifting and as beautiful as possible. With almost a billion dollars in hand from the federal government, surely the money can be found so that the original grand vision of this project can be completed. There is great value in creating an attractive, modern entryway into a business and residential district, rather than having a labyrinth of 100-year-old subway passages. If the project is downgraded to a more pedestrian (in the worst sense of the word) renovation, support for the project will go down as well. Ultimately, a pleasing environment must be part of any place that can be called functional.

Budget cutters have focused first on the conical glass dome. While no one feature of a project should be sacrosanct, surely this signature element should be retained in its original distinctive form, unless there are other, non-budgetary reasons for changing it.

A look at the history of the New York subway system provides some perspective. After the first line opened a century ago with wrought-iron entrances and glass roofs, skylights that let light onto many platforms and mosaic-tiled walls, ridership soared above all estimates in initial decades. In the 1970s and 1980s, as stations grew dark, gloomy and smelly, and trains became covered with graffiti, ridership plummeted. In the 1980s and 1990s, as everything got better (although with a long way to go), ridership steadily grew above planning estimates based on things like economic and population growth.

There’s a general principle here: People are more likely to use environments that feel pleasant, safe and uplifting. In a public project, where high usage ensures that the public collectively gets the most for its money, it is even more important for a project to be beautiful than with a private commercial project.

That’s why the views of Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member Barry Feinstein are so off base. At the meeting where the budget crunch was discussed, Feinstein was quoted in The Daily News as saying, “The cutesy stuff - the beautiful stuff - I have no interest in that if we don't have enough money to do the job. . . I don't care about a pretty building. I just don't care.” While Feinstein may believe he is being a hard- nosed realist, the MTA is not going to “do the job,” at least not a complete one, if it does not do it beautifully.

Beauty is hard to define, but most people agree large quantities of light and air make public spaces more pleasing. Grand Central Station has soaring, cavernous spaces that make a crowded environment feel less so. After light and air comes some sort of color and texture to walls, floors and other surfaces. Dingy gray suits no one.

These principles also come to mind when contemplating the bold new proposal to transform Penn Station and its environs. Developers Vornado and Related, in partnership with Madison Square Garden, propose a multi-phased project. First, construction would begin on the “Moynihan Station West” train hall and a new Madison Square Garden in the east and west portions of the historic Farley Post Office Building, respectively. The current Madison Square Garden would then be torn down, allowing for a complete overhaul of the existing Penn Station, to be renamed “Moynihan Station East,” and the construction of some 5 million square feet of commercial and residential space on the site.

Some forty years ago, the soaring spaces of the old Penn Station were torn down. It was said at the time that what was essentially a big hallway was a mere luxury, not affecting the essential corridors of trains, tracks and people below. As we can see, this was false. Penn Station became less usable because it became less pleasant. Even after being renovated in recent years, it is still far from a pleasing environment.

As the Bloomberg administration, the Empire State Development Corporation, the Dolan family and the development team all jockey for position, we can’t let them lose sight of the public purpose here. First and foremost, we must demand a grand new Moynihan Station encompassing both the Post Office and the existing Penn Station that puts the public uses first. Where Penn Station’s 500,000 daily users now crawl through cramped quarters, the new facilities should and must provide big public spaces bathed in light and air. The accompanying development is entirely appropriate at our busiest transit hub, but it should only be allowed if the train station complex below is truly world-class.

This may be the only chance we get in this century to put right the wrong that was done when the original grand Penn Station was demolished in 1963. The New York Times on Monday caught the balance of interests, and the appropriate outcome, exactly right in an editorial that finished by saying that what the various players “should construct on the site of Penn Station is a set of buildings that the city will want to landmark one day.”

Beauty should not just be part of New York City’s past, but of its future as well.

-- Alex Marshall, Editor, Spotlight on the Region

Questions Or Comments On What’s In This Issue? Send Them To The Editor Of Spotlight On The Region, Alex Marshall At alex@rpa.org

June 4th, 8 a.m.
2nd Annual Tour de Brooklyn / Transportation Alternatives. Join hundreds of friends and neighbors for the 2nd Annual Tour de Brooklyn. The Tour kicks off from Hebert Von King Park (formerly known as Tompkins Park) in Bed-Stuy. The 18 mile route will take you through scenic Brooklyn neighborhoods to the tip of Greenpoint, and follow along the waterfront (featuring many portions of the planned Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway), down to DUMBO and Red Hook, returning to Herbert Von King Park. This is a family friendly ride at a leisurely pace, escorted by the police and safety marshals. There will be one rest stop along the way where you can take a break, check out the scenery and grab a complimentary snack. Check-in: 8 am. Ride: 9:30 am. For more information, visit http://www.tourdebrooklyn.org/ride.html.

June 8, 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.
2006 Downtown NJ Conference, Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Special Improvement Districts in NJ. Cranford, NJ. Using the first SID in Cranford as the case study, this daylong program will provide an enhanced tutorial of the processes and new tools that have been developed to help downtowns maintain and in some cases renew their vitality.
For more information, visit http://www.downtownnj.com

June 8, 6:30 p.m.
Designing Tomorrow's Future: The Long Island Mayors' Institute on Community Design Keynote program, featuring Anthony Flint, author of "This Land: The Battle over Sprawl and the Future of America." Alumni Hall, Adelphi University, Garden City NY. The Mayors' Institute on Community Design promotes better planning and development in communities throughout the tri-state region. Lecture starts at 6:30 pm. Doors open to the public at 6:15. Reception to follow. Limited seating. For information or inquiries, please call 212.253.2727 x333.

June 9, 8:30 a.m.
Getting the Deal Done: A Conference on Making New York State Brownfields Law Work For You. SUNY College at Old Westbury Duane L. Jones Recital Hall. For more information: http://www.sustainableli.org/conference.html. The program will have 3 panel discussions focusing on the New York State Brownfield Law Financial and Tax Incentives for Brownfields Cleanup and community involvement in Brownfields Redevelopment. Speakers will include Dr. Calvin O. Butts III, President, SUNY College at Old Westbury; the Honorable Steve Levy, Suffolk County Executive; and the Honorable Thomas Suozzi, Nassau County Executive.

June 15, 5:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Designing Our Future: The Ninth N.J. Mayors' Institute on Community Design Keynote program, featuring Stefanos Polyzoides of Moule & Polyzoides. Dodds Auditorium in Robertson Hall, Princeton University, Princeton. The N.J. Mayors' Institute on Community Design promotes better planning and development in communities throughout New Jersey. Keynote speaker Stefanos Polyzoides is a co-founder of the Congress for New Urbanism and a strong proponent of new urbanism, transit-oriented and mixed-use developments, housing and sustainability. The program will begin with a reception at 5:00pm, followed by the start of the keynote at 6:00pm. For more information, please call 732 828-9945 or email symposium@rpa.org.