...the synagogue’s development is especially worrisome because of the precedent it could set in a city where every nook and cranny is becoming fair game for development. Neighbors to Synagogue: Enough With the High-Rise
Zoning isn’t the only issue with the project that irks the neighborhood.
The timing of the application’s submission to the community board seemed suspicious to a number of people. One neighbor at the July 11 meeting, where the application was presented, said the general feeling was the synagogue did it then so that the board wouldn’t have time to review it before it went to the Board of Standards and Appeals.
According to Landmark West executive director Kate Wood, the Landmarks Commission told Shearith Israel that because there was no preservation purpose to their project, it did not merit special permits for construction.
“Now, as an alternative, they are taking the design to the Board of Standards and Appeals in hopes of getting variances to begin construction,” Ms. Wood said recently. “The thing is that they could easily build a building within current zoning restrictions, but the residential component is a moneymaker.”
Photo from Property Shark via NY Observer
7 comments:
H-m-m-m, it appears that religion (not G-d) is dead !
Must religious institutions now look to residential development in an effort to subsidize the preservation of their buildings ? !!!
This does seem to be an increasing pattern !
Remember how the MAS Sacred Sites program squashed every effort at Queens to stop church development.
After writing grants for NYC, and spending it on NY only, they figured the folks from Queens will never figure it out.
They were only half right.
In crushing preservationists in Queens, they took away a line of their own defense. The morons.
You see, it was the developers who figured it out. Now church development is popping up everywhere in Manhattan.
Tough, no sympathy here. You are too late to stop it.
Our message to the West Side: build baby build!
Yea, I remember how they knocked the legs under the community when it tried to stop building the 1st Presbyterian Church in Astoria: 9 stories on a 3 story block.
The actually met with the church (behind the backs of the community and its preservation advocates.)Told them it was ok, a fact that the gleeful church threw into the community's face in the press.
Some program.
Now its Manhattan and its a different story?
Not to worry, soon the hot dog & falafel vendors will be granted "mobile" air rights over their push carts.
Remember, it was a religious group that sold Saint Saviors to the developer devils!
Administering to "the bottom line" instead of "ministering to the soul" is the work of demons not angels....no matter what excuse you may wish to make for it !
It's ironic.....but as a so called free and progressive nation ....the USA seems to be resembling our former Soviet (etc.) adversaries !
A Godless state, ugly severe "architecture", corporate (socialistic) welfare, totalitarian political leadership, leveling of social classes to include only the equality of the wealthy, etc.
United Soviet America....the new USA ? !!!
Heil....Premier Commissar Bloomberg !
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