Community
As a
third generation Upper East Sider, I am committed to maintaining our neighborhood's quality of life. I will support and work with our community centers such as cultural and religious institutions as well as neighborhood associations to ensure our neighborhood remains safe, clean and a wonderful place to live.
Hearing the news, neighborhood residents stirred themselves promptly into a tizzy of protest. Hundreds turned out to raise a fuss (and learn more about the facts) at meetings of Community Board 6—whose jurisdiction encompasses the neighborhood—SAC and the East River 50s Alliance, a group organized for the express purpose of blocking the tower. Nearly 1,000 people have signed a petition opposing construction circulated by Councilman Ben Kallos, who represents the Upper East Side.
Another perceived ally for community members in Councilman Ben Kallos, who held a public forum last week regarding the super-tall building structures. While Kallos represents a district spanning Sutton Place up to 100th Street and Roosevelt Island, he as voiced his concern for what could be described as the first "Billionaires' Row" suburb. A 90-story building located in Sutton Place is slated to rise 900 feet, outraging a community that believed it would be half as high.
Kallos is now pushing for a cap on buildings reaching over 500 feet in a residential area.
"We want to make sure these buildings are in the context of what we have and what we want to be. We want to make sure we don't have the dog wagging the tail when it comes to planning," Councilman Garodnick said at July 23's meeting (although Central Park South is arguably already wagged.) Although 57th Street may be a lost battle at this point, DNAinfo suggests that attention is now turning to the Upper East Side after DDG's 551-foot-tall condo building was greenlit in mid-June. Council member Ben Kallos, whose district it's in, urged meeting attendees to press the neighborhood's community board to adopt a resolution to change the Upper East Side's zoning to restrict larger developments. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who has gained a reputation for curtailing development, attended the meeting to cheer Kallos on.
