Former Parks Chief Opposes NYU Expansion Plan

Henry Stern, Former Chief of Parks, Joins Legal Effort to Block the NYU Expansion.

From The Wall Street Journal :

Henry Stern, who led the Parks Department for 15 years under mayors Ed Koch and Rudolph Giuliani, said in an affidavit filed Friday that the city had for decades "either expressly or impliedly" dedicated the four sections on the superblocks between Houston and West Third streets as public parks. Mr. Stern's affidavit was part of a legal effort to block the NYU expansion.

The tracts of land—LaGuardia Park, LaGuardia Corner Gardens, Mercer Playground and the Mercer-Houston dog run—would be taken for either the permanent or temporary use of NYU in the construction of its planned 1 million-square-foot development. The City Council voted to approve the expansion plan in July, over the opposition of some neighborhood groups and members of the university's faculty.

"It was always the City's intent in continuously making these sites available to the public for recreational use over many years to treat them as dedicated parkland," Mr. Stern's affidavit says.

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Fran Lebowitz Criticises Mike Bloomberg Over Hospital Closings

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At NYUFASP book launch, Fran Lebowitz slammed New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bill Rudin.

Fran Lebowitz denounced New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's record on hospital closings in a speech about the larger issues of mega, zone-busting real estate development deals that are destroying the social fabric of New York City

At 10:53, Ms. Lebowitz begins to speak about the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital. She describes Bill Rudin as one of the mayor's best friends.

When St. Vincent's Hospital closed, I said, "Where is that mayor ? Where's that health conscious mayor -- that mayor, who doesn't let Fran smoke a cigarette in a restaurant ? Where is that mayor ? Not a sound out of that mayor, when they closed the only hospital in the entire neighborhood. And I said, "Wait until you see, who ends up with that property, which is now way too valuable to use as a hospital. Billy Rudin is going to end up with that property," and he did. And he is one of the mayor's best friends. Okay, how many hospitals did this mayor close ? How many hospitals closed under him ? Public health is what the mayor is in charge of.

The purpose of her speech was the book launch of 'While We Were Sleeping : NYU and the Destruction of New York' at McNally Jackson bookstore in SoHo.

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