Much of our efforts in 2011 centered on fighting a developer-driven, tax-raising Business improvement District(BID) for Broadway from Canal to Houston Streets, which plans to include eventually all of SoHo.
The community board recommended denial of the BID in November 2010. However, the City Planning Commission (all Bloomberg appointees) recommended approval in January of this year, completely ignoring testimony from SoHo residents who attended the hearing. At a packed neighborhood meeting in March, over 150 SoHo residents, businesses and landlords spoke out almost unanimously against the scheme. This summer, the Mayor’s Office sent the legislation to create the BID to the City Council for a vote.
The SoHo Alliance and its offshoot, the NO SoHo BID Committee, organized a campaign to spread the word of the perils of the BID to a wider audience. As a result, two of SoHo’s elected officials, State Senator Daniel Squadron and Assemblymember Deborah Glick, have come out strongly against the BID, as did the editorial boards of two local newspapers. We have also now begun lobbying other influential public leaders to support our efforts.
Currently, the BID legislation is still in committee, with no hearing date set. Once a hearing is set, the SoHo Alliance will be sure to notify you and your neighbors to fill the Council chambers in person and to write letters to the electeds, to convince the legislators to put this scheme to rest, for once and for all.
At one point in the 1990s, SoHo was fast becoming what the Meat Market looks like today: a late-night destination spot for bridge-and-tunnel partygoers. After a number of successful lawsuits and attendant publicity, the nightlife industry realized that our neighborhood did not want to become Party Central.
Now, when an applicant applies for a liquor license in SoHo, the Alliance gets a courtesy phone call, outlining the applicant’s business model. Generally, if it is a legitimate restaurant with a well-managed bar that closes at a reasonable hour, we get the liquor-license applicant to sign a legally-binding stipulation, with the establishment’s method of operation (its hours, its capacity, its noise level, etc.) clearly spelled out. This strategy now saves a lot of money in lawsuits and a lot of time in not having to fight at the community board or State Liquor Authority. Everyone is happy. In 2012, the SoHo Alliance will continue to work in maintaining a healthy mix of commerce and residential living in our neighborhood.
In April, SoHo Alliance organized a large turnout at the community board to defeat a proposal to install numerous sidewalk cafes (which the zoning laws do not permit in residential areas like SoHo) that were shrewdly and deceitfully being marketed as “pop-up” cafes, to be placed in the gutter in heavily congested parts of SoHo. Residents had worried that this endrun around our zoning laws would cause unwanted noise, garbage, vermin and crowds in front of their homes.
2011 witnessed the end to the Trump SoHo saga. You will recall that Trump tried to violate our zoning by introducing luxury condos under the guise of a “condo-hotel”. The SoHo Alliance filed several lawsuits and legal complaints, as well as waging a media campaign to warn potential buyers that Trump was pulling a fast one on them. As a result, this summer Trump announced that he hadn’t closed on a single condo and that the project is now operating as a legitimate hotel, which is what the SoHo Alliance wanted Trump to do all along.
Talking about Trump, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who recently purchased the Puck Building on Lafayette and Houston, attempted to construct an oversized penthouse on the roof that would be clearly visible for blocks around, destroying the beauty of this iconic building – a building so special that the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission has designated it as an Individual Landmark.
SoHo Alliance leadership on the community board’s Landmarks Committee was crucial in convincing the Landmarks Commission that the proposal was a bad idea. After five modifications over a period of several months, this week the Commission finally approved the penthouse addition – but only after it was reduced twenty feet, mostly in reduced ceiling heights, as well as scaled back about 1,500 square feet. It is gratifying to see that the SoHo Alliance again is able to get a Trump to exercise some modesty and restraint.
In September, SoHo’s Democratic Party voters, at the urging of the SoHo Alliance, flocked to the polls to oust an incumbent Democratic district leader who repeatedly sold out our neighborhood to developers at the residents’ expense. District leaders serve as a liaison between us and public officials, so we need one who supports us. The pro-SoHo candidate, John Scott, not only won the district election, he trounced his opponent here in SoHo by an incredible margin of 93% to 7%. Now SoHo has a local political leader who will work to help SoHo, not hurt us.
SoHo Alliance activists have been in contact with City agencies to try to get some much-needed work done in addressing our transportation issues. Just today, the City announced that historic Bishop’s Crook lampposts will replace the standard lampposts currently on Broome Streets and West Broadway. Furthermore, we are working with the Department of Transportation to get the crumbling crosswalks on Greene and Mercer Street repaired. The agency has promised us to do this in 2012.
We also our investigating whether the cobblestones on Wooster and Crosby Streets can be repaired, since they are full of potholes. We also have been in touch with the borough president’s office to try to have several Don’t Block the Box markings and signage installed along Broome Street that would reduce the gridlock from Holland Tunnel traffic.
Throughout 2011, the Alliance has maintained a Hot Line to support residents and businesses. If you ever need assistance or information, phone us at 212-353-8466 or email at info@sohoalliance.org and we shall be glad to help you.
Sean Sweeney
Director