Did anyone catch the teasing title for an article in yesterday's New York Times regarding the battle between the NY Botanical Gardens and Fordham University's Radio tower for WFUV-FM ? If you don't have access to the paper, you can read the article titled "Tower Pits the Garden Crowd Against Joni Mitchell Fans" by Alan Feuer online, the only drag is free registration, so I'll cut and paste for you. Sylvia http://forums.delphiforums.com/JoniMitchell/start
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/28/nyregion/28WFUV.html Tower Pits the Garden Crowd Against Joni Mitchell Fans By ALAN FEUER Could there be a more profound existential crisis for New Yorkers of a certain breed financially well off, intellectually curious and, for the most part, liberal-leaning than having to pick sides between a world-class public garden and a commercial-free public radio station? Essentially, that was the choice hundreds struggled with yesterday at a public hearing in the Bronx to decide whether WFUV-FM, a station run by Fordham University, has the right to build a soaring broadcast tower above the conifers and glass conservatories of the New York Botanical Garden. This dispute has raged for eight years, but that did not stop the hearing, which was overseen by the Federal Communications Commission, from being a civilized affair. Caterers in bow ties welcomed the partisans to sample from a wide selection of Danishes served with coffee on a flagstone patio in the pleasant morning air. During the speeches, there were references to Robert Frost, John Dryden and aesthetic theory with a few Latin phrases thrown in. Speaking of the issues, the crowd broke down between those who fear that without the tower, WFUV's irreplaceable, offbeat programs will go off the air and those who view the unfinished, 260-foot-tall structure as a hideous intrusion on the irreplaceable beauty of the garden. But speaking of the sociology beneath the issues, one could say the battle pitted the white-shoed against the tennis-shoed. Or even, Philippe de Montebello, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who spoke on the garden's behalf, against college students with names like Phil. A brief history of the squabble may be useful. The tower was erected in 1994 on the northern edge of Fordham's Rose Hill campus, directly across Dr. Theodore Kazimiroff Boulevard from the garden's main entrance. Starting in 1947, WFUV had broadcast by way of an antenna atop Keating Hall at Fordham, but the station felt the antenna was old and weak. It considered more than 20 sites but dismissed them all before settling on the tower in its current spot. In 1996, the State Supreme Court affirmed the university's right to build, although the next year, the F.C.C. ruled that the tower had an adverse effect on the garden by "introducing an obtrusive visual element" to its landscape. Negotiations started. They lasted about three years. They failed so badly that when the notion of the hearing arose, the university and the garden could not agree on where to hold it. The morning session was at the garden, the afternoon session on Fordham's campus. The F.C.C. is considering whether to move the tower to a new location, allow it to continue broadcasting at its current height or permit Fordham to build it higher. The F.C.C. will not rule on the tower for several months, but the hearing was remarkable nonetheless for how it highlighted differences between people who might, in other circumstances, be politically and socially aligned. Among the first handful of speakers were two men who perfectly personified the rift. Anthony R. Smith, president of the Horticultural Society of New York, offered his support for the garden. In a cream-colored suit, Mr. Smith called the tower an "inappropriate, unsightly affront" and its proximity to such natural beauty comparable to housing the Met's collection in a Quonset hut. Then he started speaking Latin, saying, "Res ipsa loquitur," which means, "The thing speaks for itself." This became his refrain: The tower is ugly. The thing speaks for itself. A few speakers later came Bob Paterson, a chemical engineer, who said, "I'm, like, one of the world's biggest Joni Mitchell fans." In a T-shirt reading, "No Tower, No Tunes," Mr. Paterson said the loss of WFUV would be devastating, and he looked as if he, personally, might bear the brunt of this devastation. His next statement drew applause: "This garden is a visual oasis. But WFUV is an audio oasis." The difference between the two camps was even more glaring during lunch. The garden gave a private lunch where young women in cocktail dresses checked names at a table in front of a canopied dining hall with chandeliers and waiters in 19th-century-style vests. Jessye Norman, the opera singer, sat on the dais next to Mr. Montebello. (Brooke Astor sent along a statement of her own, saying of the tower, "In a whole century, I have never seen anything so sad.") Meanwhile, in Fordham's McGinley Student Center, young women in tank tops sat on folding chairs to listen to a concert of Celtic music and folk crooners. Sausage pizza and spaghetti Alfredo were being served in the cafeteria downstairs. _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx
