UPTOWN LEADERS FED UP WITH RUNAROUND FROM PORT AUTHORITY AND DEVELOPERS ON GWB BUS TERMINAL RENOVATION; TO CALL FOR IMMEDIATE CONCESSIONS TO COMMUNITY

 

Long Stalled Port Authority/Private Developer Project at George Washington Bridge has Failed to Address Community Needs, Months after Politically Motivated Bridge Closings Crippled Northern Manhattan Traffic

 

Elected Officials, Community Leaders and Organizations to Call for Needs to be addressed by Multi-Million Dollar Development, set to Disrupt Community for Years

 

New York, NY-On Friday, May 16, 2014, NYS Senator Adriano Espaillat, NYS Assembly Member Gabriela Rosa and NYC Council Members Ydanis Rodriguez, Chair of the Council Committee on Transportation and Mark Levine, Chair of the Council Committee on Parks will join community leaders and organizations in calling for a major shift in community responsiveness as plans for $183.2 million redevelopment of GWB Bus Terminal move forward.

 

The participants will voice their continued frustration with the developers, Tutor Perini Corp. and SJM Partners as well as the troubled NYNJPA, in relation to:

• The lack of adequate space offered to the Washington Heights community;
• The loss public space: a subway entrance at 175th st. and second floor of the terminal;
• The quality of the businesses set to open and their refusal to guarantee a living wage for prospective employees;
• The refusal to fully fund a traffic study and the additional traffic enforcement necessary for increased activity; and
• The lack of outreach to local and MWB/Es in the area to date.

The community will suffer through long periods of construction, truck traffic, congestion and loss of public space, yet are receiving little to no benefits aside from big box and chain stores that fail to pay more than entry level poverty wages. For these reasons and more, the community will call for an end to the unresponsiveness to their needs as the developers stand to profit immensely on their backs.

 

What: Northern Manhattan Community to Call for Greater Responsiveness to Neighborhood Needs

 

Who: NY State Senator Adriano Espaillat, NY State Assembly Member Gabriela Rosa, NYC Council Transportation Committee Chair Ydanis Rodriguez, NYC Council Parks Committee Chair Mark Levine, NY Communities for Change, Make the Road NY, Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, WEACT for Environmental Justice, Community Board 12, La Fuente, Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Community League of the Heights, the Bodega Association of the US, Dominican Women's Development Center, Washington Heights-Inwood Chamber of Commerce.

 

When: Friday, May 16th, 2014. 12pm, Noon.

 

Where: Corner of 179th St. and Fort Washington Ave., Manhattan, NY