CONGREGATION SHEARITH ISRAEL’S W. 70TH STREET LUXURY CONDOS
DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN…
Back in 2003, the late Peter Jennings (a West 70th Street neighbor) wrote:
The synagogue gives the impression of having worked to bypass the neighbors, to have its way whatever the neighbors think…
[T]hose of us who harbor productive feelings about government – and the governing process – feel that in this instance our rights – yes, it is not too strong a word – are being ignored by people who wish to serve their own interests at the expense of the community.
Here’s what else I hear on the street. That people have lost faith in the process – the governing process – because they believe ‘the fix is in.’
After yesterday’s public hearing at the NYC Board of Standards & Appeals (BSA), Peter Jennings’s words ring true…again. Despite hours of potent public testimony, supported by volumes of documentation laying bare Congregation Shearith Israel’s (CSI’s) convoluted attempts to beat the City’s land-use system, the BSA (an agency currently under City Council scrutiny) seems poised to approve CSI’s application to construct a precedent-setting luxury condo tower on the midblock of West 70th Street.
Thanks to all of you who continue to stand up, speak up, and show up. Because of you, we keep fighting!
Please stay tuned…and mark your calendars for the final BSA hearing on February 28, 2017, starting at 10am.