Closing Bell: Historic Districts Council "Appalled" Award Going to Forest City Ratner
The Historic Districts Council, an advocate for New York’s historic neighborhoods, today sent out a press release saying it is “appalled” developer Forest City Ratner will receive an award, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal, from the Municipal Art Society for their contributions to New York City. “As an organization devoted to preserving New York City’s…
The Historic Districts Council, an advocate for New York’s historic neighborhoods, today sent out a press release saying it is “appalled” developer Forest City Ratner will receive an award, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal, from the Municipal Art Society for their contributions to New York City. “As an organization devoted to preserving New York City’s physical character, HDC is appalled by the decision to honor what Forest City Ratner has done to our city. Conflating the company’s record of bulldozing neighborhoods with Mrs. Onassis’s pivotal role in preserving New York City’s Landmarks Law is something HDC feels should not go unnoticed,” said the statement.
The council plans to screen the film “The Battle of Brooklyn” and host a panel discussion about “communities, development and the future of the area in and around downtown Brooklyn,” the same night Forest City Ratner will be awarded, June 11. Panel speakers include Michelle de la Uz, Executive Director of the Fifth Avenue Committee; Daniel Goldstein, Co-founder of Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn; Norman Oder, Journalist, Atlantic Yards Report; and Ronald Shiffman, Pratt professor.
The screening and panel are free, but RSVP is required. The event will start at 6 pm at the Brooklyn Lyceum at 227 4th Avenue. For more information, email bharmon@hdc.org or call 212-614-9107.
Under MAS watch NYC has become a sad cavern of a place where people now run to the river sides to get a look at the sky. Now that that MAS is turning their attention to Brooklyn can we expect a similar outcome? Because what has gone up in NYC over the past few decades is certainly on the scale of Robert Mosses actions.
Forest City Ratner did not bulldoze Penn Station. Some act as if any development in the city is akin to Moses era projects that viewed any thought of historic preservation as absurd. It is easy to allow nostalgia to shape one’s opinion of what “New York City’s physical character” should be, let alone speak for the late Mrs. Onassis. As charming as the abandoned ruins and decay may have been pre-Atlantic Yards, I don’t think Mrs. O and Lee Radziwill were having picnics there.
I too, am speechless. What an absolutely tone-deaf decision. Forest City Ratmer “contributions” to New York City? Graft, deception, destruction, greed and blight. Thanks very much. Maybe REBNY made a bid contribution to the MAS.