Bloomberg wants to give playground away to U.N.

From the NY Post:

City officials are breathing life back into a moribund plan to erect a 35-story office tower for the United Nations in Robert Moses Park -- a 1.3-acre concrete square at East 42nd Street and First Avenue.

The project could pump millions into city coffers by providing work space for about 1,000 UN employees currently housed in two city-owned office buildings on First Avenue, which the UN rents for $25 a square foot -- a deep discount that amounts to about half the market rate the city could charge.

Mayor Bloomberg has been pushing for the office tower for years. At one point he even dispatched his sister, Marjorie Tiven, whom he appointed commissioner for UN affairs, to Albany to lobby lawmakers. But the plan was quashed in 2005 by the state Legislature, which must approve any plan that involves the loss of city parkland.

In May, city Economic Development Corp. staffers quietly began meeting again with elected officials, including Assembly members Jonathan Bing and Brian Kavanagh, Councilman Daniel Garodnick and state Sen. Liz Krueger, who in the past have opposed plans that eat up open play space in the dense neighborhood.

Some state lawmakers said they were shocked that the plan, in which the city would cede land to the United Nations for them to build an office tower, is back on the table.