Friends, That got your attention didn't it?
ACGA board member Tessa Huxley and her crew do amazing work with the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy (Battery Parks City Parks Conservancy) FYI - The Battery Park City Parks Authority operates nearly 32 acres of open space on the southern tip of Manhattan, including parks and gardens, playing fields, playgrounds, piazzas and walkways; all of this land is permanently protected and open to the public. The Liberty Community Garden is sited on this land as well, the closet community garden to ground zero. The Battery City Parks Authority is funded in large part by Battery Parks City Authority, an autonomous semi-governmental agency that manages all the properties on the 92 Acres of i Battery Parks City (Battery Parks City Authority), including the World Financial Center. The Battery City Parks Authority reports to NY State Governor George Pataki. Stay with me, because this gets interesting - the funding for Tessa Huxley's group, The Battery Park City Parks Conservancy (Battery Parks City Parks Conservancy) comes from, in almost in its entirety, from the Battery Parks City Authority. Now NY State Governor Pataki wants to take $300, 000, 000 from the Battery Parks Authority to fund the state's contribution to the great, unloved West Side Jets Stadium. This would almost certainly mean cutbacks in Tessa's program in the short and long term. The other $300,000,000 would come out of NYC capital funds that are desperately needed to rebuild the World Trade Center area, and to help build affordable housing units, schools, etc. This does not include the billions that are part of Deputy Mayor Doctoroff's plan to build the equivalent of 7 World Trade Center's worth of office space in Midtown Manhattan. Battle has been engaged on a new level this morning. Jets Stadium Amidst rising opposition, the city presented its plan yesterday for a $2.8 billion development for Manhattan's Far West Side centered on a 75,000-seat stadium for the New York Jets. The project's supporters hope that the stadium, an integral part of the city's bid for the Olympics in 2012, will be finished by 2010. But with opponents threatening lawsuits and the plan still needing the approval of the state legislature, it is not yet a sure thing. State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver dealt the plan a blow yesterday by criticizing the proposal to use tax revenue from Battery Park City to contribute $350 million to the stadium development. Silver said that Battery Park City money shouldn't be used for anything but the revitalization of lower Manhattan. Best wishes, Adam Honigman Volunteer, Clinton Community Garden
