Community Board Votes Against MoMA Tower; Development Enthusiasts Counter With Petition
There’s been a bit of movement on the MoMA tower front since I wrote about it in this week’s paper.
Last night, Manhattan’s full Community Board 5 voted overwhelmingly (21-1, according to the board’s office) to deny the transfer of air rights from two landmarked buildings to the site for Jean Nouvel’s planned 75-story midtown hotel/residential/Museum of Modern Art skyscraper (the community board’s vote is only advisory).
The Landmarks Preservation Commission has the official say on the air rights transfers needed for the building, and then the process needs to go through the city’s lengthy public approval process, over which the City Council and the Bloomberg administration get the final say.
Today, I noticed an online petition, linked on the Wired New York skyscraper forum (which usually seems to attract a tall building-loving crowd that salivates whenever a rendering is posted for anything over 60 stories), urging the community board to drop its objections.
From the petition:
Some developers still have vision and a desire to add to New York’s storied skyline. One such developer is Hines, who is proposing the MOMA Spire in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. This building is designed by Jean Nouvel and is every bit as great as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building, which is no small claim.
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THIS CITY IS SO FUCKING STUPID.
LOOK HOW STAGNANT AND OLD AND DECREPIT NEW YORK LOOKS COMPARED TO CHICAGO, LONDON, PARIS, DUBAI, TOKYO ETC. WITH ALL THEIR NEW TOWERS.
THIS CITY IS DEAD. EVERYBODY'S ALWAYS AGAINST SOMETHING. I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL ALL THOSE OLD ASS NIMBYS ARE WIPED OFF THE FACE OF THIS PLANET.
I cannot believe that people are against this building! It's height is inappropriate? This is MIDTOWN MANHATTAN FOR GODS SAKE!!! What better place than in America's main business district? What has new york come to, for crying out load!?
"every bit as great" what does he mean by great? tall? because the only other thing that building is... is UGLY
If you don't want a tall building near you go and live in the fucking suburbs where you belong.This building is GREAT!
This city is becoming so backwards and stagnant, it's really all depressing. Chicago will soon surpass New York and that's a shame.
If it were up to those stupid worthless, piece of shit, hold, post-menopaulsal, fuck bag NIMBYs the Empire State Building wouldn't be built because it was "out of context" to the neighborhood. Why can't they just move to the suburbs where they belong?
I wish a bomb set off at the venue of the Community Board meeting and sent them all to hell where they belong.
A very sad day. These zealots will drive architects out of the city if one of the most beautiful and impressive designs since New York embraced Modernism in the 1950s is shot down because skyscrapers are "out of place in Midtown." Are you kidding me? It has the world's highest number of 800-foot buildings, for crying out loud, and this building would be similar in height to dozens all around it.
New York is a world financial capital that needs to compete with cities around the world for jobs. Midtown is not a UNESCO World Heritage site -- nor should it be a place for rich townhouse-dwellers on Community Boards to thwart both residents from having the sorts of icons our grandparents had built in their day as well as the entire city's business competitiveness.
Christ in a kayak. The sheer stupidity of gentrified NIMBY community boards are going to ruin this city.
When I first saw Nouvel's gorgeous tower on curbed.com I thought it was the best thing to happen to Midtown in decades... and now it looks like it won't even happen because certain people can't see beyond their own jealously guarded backyard.
If you want change, start voting the city council clowns out. Stop reflexively voting Democrat.
It's easy to stop this type of NIMBY crap; get out and vote for the Independent, the Republican, or beat these geriatrics in the primaries.
You get the government you deserve.
Finally the Community Boards are standing up to the rape & pillage of our city by bad foreign "starchitecture" glass towers!
Let's start a petition to get Jean Nouvel & Co out of our city!
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