Hell's Kitchen Alert 7/20/98
"All the News the Times Won't Print"
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In this issue...
* Zoning Update
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First, sorry for the delay in reporting the news... a few computer glitches and some R&R got in
the way.
So what happened? The Clinton neighborhood got creamed.
No matter how many times you see it, or how much you expect to see the backroom deal, it's
disgusting every time it happens.
If you had attended the Public Hearing at City Hall on Tuesday (and about 200 HK residents were
there, many wearing HK white painters caps), you would think the zoning proposal was a dead duck.
Even with distinguished performers like Tony Randall, Eli Wallach, Betty Comden and others, the
Broadway Initiative was properly reduced to joke status. Councilmembers repeatedly challenged
theater union reps and others in the industry as to how they intended to pay for the Broadway
Initiative. No one had answers.
Gerald Schoenfeld of the Shubert Organization admitted the entire boondoggle was only about his
getting his 2,000 seat theater. He was even heard complaining about the city giving Disney
financial assistence, but not the theater owners.
Councilmembers from our area, Tom Duane and Ronnie Eldridge, as well a the Lower East Side's
Margarita Lopez, Queen's Sheldon Leffler and Brooklyn's Steve DiBrienza tore the plan apart, from
all angles.
They reminded everyone that this was a land use zoning deal, and that there were other ways to
help the theater.
Civic groups and concerned citizens from all five boroughs appeared calling the plan the first
step in the loss of community review and dangerous to all NYC neighborhoods.
But it was all for show.
In the end, City Council Speaker Peter Vallone, who has refused to speak to anyone from the
Clinton/Hell's Kitchen neighborhood who are opposed to the plan, made a backroom deal with Mayor
Giuliani. When the negotiations got into full swing the following morning, City Planning
Commissioner Joe Rose was reduced to the status of errand boy, shuffling between the Mayor and
Council sides of City Hall.
We'll save you blow-by-blow, but here are the provisions of the deal (or the changes to the plan
as it had come from City Planning)
MODIFICATIONS TO THE THEATER SUBDISTRICT TEXT
1. Deleting the west side of 8th Avenue north of 45th Street.
2. Theatre Subdistrict Council shall be comprised of 8 members. 4 of which shall be appointed by
the mayor, 1 of which shall be the director of DCP, the mayor himself, the Speaker and his
designee and the Manhattan Borough President.
3. The Theatre Subdistrict Council shall adopt a plan every 3 years for the sale, distribution and
marketing of reduced price tickets to new undeveloped audience groups.
4. The plan shall include a mechanism to evaluate on an annual basis its effectiveness, which
shall include; the number of tickets sold; the penetration of the new identified markets which
shall be reported to the chairperson of the city planning commission and filed with The Council of
the City of New York
5. The first 20% of transfers of development rights shall be permitted on the east side of 8th
Avenue by certification by the city planning commission.
6. Transfer of an additional 20% of development rights shall be by city planning authorization
with the following findings: (1) that such development rights relates harmoniously to all
structures and open space in its vicinity in terms of scale, location and access to light and air
in the area (2) That such development servies to enhance or reinforce the general purposes of the
theatre subdistrict.
7. An additional transfer shall be accomplished by special permit of the City Planning Commission.
An additional finding has been added relating to pedestrian and vehicular circulation.
ACTION BY CITY COUNCIL
On Wednesday afternood, the Zoning and Franchises Subcommittee voted 4-1 to approve the plan with
the above modifications. Sheldon Leffler was the only NO vote. A few minutes later, the larger
Land Use Committee voted 15-2 to accept the plan with the above modifications. (we had earlier
thought it was 14-2, but it appears all members were there). The only NO votes were Leffler and
our councilmember Tom Duane. Ronnie Eldridge was also there in oppositiion, but not being a
committee member, had no vote.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
The plan must go back to City Planning for a "scoping session" to see if it's within the
parameters of the original plan It will be, and they have fifteen days to do this, during this
time the ULURP clock is stopped, so the original August 11th date will be extended.
It will then come back to City Council for a vote by the full council. We hear that might happen
either August 5th or 6th, but it could happen as early as July 28th.
ANALYSIS
Remember that Vollone had been hearing from Scheonfeld, the lobbyist employed by the Broadway
Initiative Ethan Geto and Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields that Clinton would be
satisfied with this arrangement. Vallone got bad advice.
Leaving three blocks, from 42nd to 45th Streets of the west side of Eighth Avenue in the new
zoning, is unacceptable. It still carves up the neighborhood and for the first time pierces the
Special Clinton District.
As we all know, the riches of this neighborhood are not its glitz or amenities; it's a sense of
place and community. With one fell swoop, Peter Vallone started the destruction of Clinton. (Yes,
we know the neighborhood had been carved up in the 30's and 40's, but the Special District had
held the line since 1973).
The makup of the Theater Subdistrict Council (TSC) essentially ceded control over part of the
Broadway theater industry to the Mayor. As the mayor who cuts arts funding, who arrests street
artists, and who invents scams like the Broadway Initiative, having Giulinai in complete control
of the TSC does not bode well.
Even though the Broadway Initiative's credibility was destroyed, the Mayor can still put it in
charge of the Theater Subdistrict Fund. And the Shuberts still need this public lie in front of
its real estate shenanigans.
But next time a controversial play like McNally's Corpus Christi comes along, and if the Mayor
doesn't like it, he can easily pull its funding on a dime. Moreover, playwrights like Wendy
Wasserstein (who bought into supporting the plan) will themselves be reduced to screenwriters,
writing by committee, or writing in anticipation of funding or moral guidelines of the Broadway
Initiative. Scary.
And Virginia Louloudis of the Alliance of Resident Theaters, could soon discover that support from
the Broadway Initiative may be restricted to theaters actually inside the Theater Subdistrict
itself. When the Broadway Initiative discovers that theatrical unions will not (and can not) pay
the $9 million yearly shortfall, it will turn to the funding community, thereby knocking smaller
not-for-profits out of the ballpark.
We know what Joe Rose was thinking when he put this nonsense together, but what was Jack Goldstein
thinking?
Items # and 4 refer to Zoning Subcommittee Chair Walter McCaffrey's contention that theater has
lost touch with the average New Yorker, instead becoming entertainment for tourists only. He has a
point, and this is a trend that's been developing for many years and for a whole host of reasons.
One reason is the cost of plays, and our course the Broadway Initiative did not even attempt to
deal with the issue of theatrical costs.
But McCaffrey got what he wanted: what little money will trickle into the Broadway Initiative was
grabbed by politicians so there could be a TKTS booth in Queens.
Perhaps Queens and the other boroughs should have TKTS booths (Brooklyn used to have one), but
they should also have theaters and theatrical companies. And the entire city should pay for it,
not just one neighborhood.
But McCaffrey's tinkering did nothing for the Special Clinton District, overdevelopment issues
east of Eighth Avenue, inappropriate use of air rights throughout the city, and loss of community
review by community boards. One of the reasons so many civic groups and community boards joined in
opposition was that they saw this plan would be the first (and we're starting to hear of others)
down the slipperly slope of dismantling the community boards. Local control of development is a
precious commodity, and Vallone threw it out the window.
Almost everyone said this would be a precedent for wide receiving areas for air rights transfers,
for lack of community and environmental review, and for supporting specific industries through
zoning. McCaffrey and June Eisland (chair of the larger Land Use committee) simply ignored this
argument. They dismissed it completely, saying "who knows?" That's the only thing they could do,
just dismiss it; if one were to give any part of that argument credence, then they would have to
deal with the implications.
McCaffrey also did not deal with the issue of "Special Permit" which triggers full ULURP review.
The Times Square/Bowtie area from the east side of Eighth Avenue to Sixth Avenue was upzoned. New
buildings will be much much larger, perhaps up to 70 stories. A Special Permit may not stop the
building, but it can at least require some rational review.
What's even more appaling is that Vallone threw away City Council review. ULURP also requires City
Council to review large developments. With this, developers can do what they wish. Vallone gave
that power to the Mayor.
And it must be remembered that development that happens on the east side of Eighth Avenue will
affect us in the Clinton Neighborhood.
So what we got was a dirty deal between Peter Vallone and Rudy Giuliani. It wasn't based on help
to the theaters, it wasn't based on sound land use principles, it wasn't based on the integrity of
neighborhoods.
It was about money -- money to their campaign coffers. Both the Nederlanders (theater owners) and
lobbyist Ethan Geto (of Geto & DeMilly) have made substantial contributions to both Giuliani and
Vallone.
What next? See the next newsletter.