Support Fordham Plan
In the coming days, the New York City Council will make a final evaluation of Fordham University's plan to expand its Lincoln Center campus. We urge the Council to support this proposal, which has undergone several important modifications since Community Board 7 initially voted it down in January.
The expansion would add nine new buildings for Fordham, as well as commercial space and two luxury apartment towers to help fund the school's endowment. The center of the campus, bordered by West 60th and 62nd streets and Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, would offer an outdoor area accessible to the public.
Critics of the plan have complained about building height and bulk, as well as community access to the campus and the potential for increased crowding at public schools. Many of these concerns were addressed by Borough President Scott Stringer, who brokered a deal in February that reduced square footage, increased public space and access, and cut parking in half. In April, the City Planning Commission passed the plan with additional modifications.
Council Member Gale Brewer, whose district includes Fordham, will now play a crucial role in getting the plan approved. One concession she's pressing for is for Fordham to get involved with after school programming at nearby Martin Luther King, Jr. High School. We think that's a great idea, and an excellent way for Fordham to further its connection to the neighborhood.
The neighborhood needs Fordham, too. The university hosts free legal clinics, sends teachers into public schools and brings expertise to various social service outlets throughout the city. But without an adequate campus, the school cannot continue providing students with a first-rate education and will lose its competitive edge. Fordham is a local educational gem that deserves our support, and the Council should approve the university's plan.
West Side Spirit Editorial
June 5, 2009
Time to Let Fordham Build
Enough talk: It's time to expedite Fordham University's redevelopment plan. In the next few weeks, the City Council will vote on the project. It should give it an unconditional thumbs-up.
Fordham has sorely needed an upgrade — larger, fresher quarters — at
its Lincoln Center campus for years. It's planned this project for a decade.
In past months, it's endured endless meetings, negotiations, a community board vote, talks with Borough President Scott Stringer, give-and-take with the City Planning Commission and more.
It's made numerous modifications and concessions to the locals and other critics, agreeing to such things as providing new services (like security and legal aid) to nearby public-housing residents.
Stringer and the commission are now, finally, on board.
So it's up to the council — which means it's up to the councilwoman
for the district, Gale Brewer. (Council members typically defer to whichever
of their colleagues is most affected by a project.)
The argument in favor is compelling. As we've noted before, Fordham needs the space to cement its reputation as a top-tier national university. Not only will that benefit the school and its students; it'll also enhance New York City's claim as an academic leader.
It'll help the school turn out top students for labor-hungry firms. And, yes, it'll help revitalize the neighborhood.
Remaining foes include those who want further restrictions on the height of the new buildings, including residents who fear the loss of their great city views.
Brewer & Co. need to be broader-minded than that; a lot's at stake. It's time, finally, to let the project begin.
New York Post Editorial
May 29, 2009
Designing Woman: Councilmember Brewer et al. Must Okay Fordham Plan
The City Council is nearing a vote on Fordham University's plan to invest
$1.6 billion in upgrading the school's Lincoln Center campus to meet 21st century
challenges. Let's get it done.
After 10 years of planning, approvals by the Planning Commission and Manhattan
Borough President Scott Stringer, the project's fate rests with local Councilwoman
Gale Brewer and her colleagues.
Brewer says that, while she's a big Fordham supporter and backs a buildout
at Lincoln Center, she has issues with "architecture." Such as? Nothing
specific, just "architecture." Whatever Brewer means, that's not
germane to the Council's task.
Her responsibility extends to passing on zoning without regard to design taste.
What counts are whether a development is generally in tune with a neighborhood
and whether it would pay dividends to New York.
Fordham passes both tests with flying colors. Still, some have objected to
the university's plan to finance the new construction by selling off two parcels
of its campus property to private developers for building of residential towers.
The charge is that the structures would be too tall for the area. Nonsense.
At 630 feet and 530 feet, they are in line with Lincoln Center's nearby Rose
Building and smaller than the Time Warner Center a few blocks south. Shrinking
the towers would threaten the financial viability of the university's plan.
A great citizen of New York, Fordham plays a vital role in maintaining the
city's leadership in education and research. It must maintain that status.
Let Fordham build.
New York Daily News Editorial
May 26, 2009
Fordham’s lessons for NY
Wall Street’s recovery is in serious doubt. Clearly, New York City’s economy must become more diversified. But do New Yorkers understand what it will take to help make that happen? A key test comes in the next few weeks, when the Planning Commission and the City Council vote on Fordham University’s $1.6 billion proposal to expand its Lincoln Center campus. This is exactly the kind of big thinking on which the city’s future depends.
The importance of higher education to the local economy can’t be overstated. In the last 10 years, employment at New York City colleges and universities has grown by more than 20%, to more than 90,000 full-time employees, and the jobs total easily surpasses 150,000 when contract workers are counted. These are just the sort of middle-class jobs-from highly educated teachers to entry-level support staff-that New York needs.
Fordham offers both immediate and long-range boosts for the city with its plan to revamp the Lincoln Center campus to alleviate overcrowding-its space per student is half that at other New York City schools —and expand enrollment to 11,000 from 8,000. It could break ground a year from now, providing 5,000 desperately need construction jobs, and the additional students will create an estimated 500 permanent Fordham jobs and 200 contract positions.
The university has already significantly changed its original proposal to help ease community concerns about neighborhood density. It has sacrificed 144,000 square feet that could have been developed under current regulations. It is spending more than $5 million on a temporary park for residents and permanently opening much of its Lincoln Center campus to the neighborhood. The school has also agreed to consult community groups as the design evolves.
Yet neighborhood opposition persists in a so-yesteryear way, with some activists pressing for further reductions in building heights and density and others demanding a veto over future alterations. While there is always room for negotiation, the fact is that further changes— especially downsizing two residential towers that help finance the plan— could hurt other parts of the city. For example, Fordham might have to delay planned construction on its Bronx campus. Robbing Peter (the Bronx) to pay Paul (the West Side) makes little sense for anyone. A community veto would set a dangerous and unneeded precedent.
Fordham’s plan should be approved on its merits— and to send a signal to other universities that the city stands behind them, because they hold an important key to New York’s future.
Crain’s New York Business Editorial
April 12, 2009
LET FORDHAM GROW
OK, it wouldn't be New York if the mal contents didn't pipe up whenever someone proposes building something to make for a better city. The grumblers' latest target: Fordham University's redevelopment plans in Manhattan.
Yet those plans will help Fordham — an excellent university — and greatly enhance New York City.
So municipal officials need to ensure that a few local Luddites don't manage to pull the project down into the muck.
Fordham hopes to build several buildings on land between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, next to Lincoln Center. Its ultimate goal: some 3 million square feet of space, enough to comfortably handle 11,000 students by 2032.
(It now serves some 8,000 students on a severely overcrowded campus there.)
Fordham believes the extra elbow room will help catapult it into the uppermost echelons of higher education. The expansion would also reinforce New York's status as an intellectual capital — and shore up the city's capacity to churn out a sufficient supply of talented labor to satisfy the businesses that rely on it.
The project also means 5,000 construction jobs before the final coat of paint goes on — and 500-plus permanent jobs.
The foes' gripe? Some fret that the new buildings may mar their spectacular views; others simply fear change.
Last month, the local community board officially nixed the idea — though its verdict isn't binding.
The simple truth is that development refreshes and revitalizes neighborhoods — and this one is no exception. The community would greatly benefit.
City Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who represents the area, and Borough President Scott Stringer should rally behind the school and lend the project their enthusiastic support. As should the entire City Council, which ultimately must vote on the plan.
If they do, they'll be acting in the interests of not just Fordham and the neighborhood — but of the whole city.
New York Post Editorial
February 16, 2009
Ram this one through
Fordham University has plans to create a jewel of a campus on its Lincoln Center property — and the city government must get foursquare behind this project.
The continued health of New York's institutions of higher learning is vital to the city's future. They area growing source of economic activity and of the intellectual smarts that keep the town on top.
The need to boost the vast array of schools that populate the five boroughs is all the more important withthe demise of Wall Street as an engine of growth. And here comes Fordham with plans to spend $1.6 billion to upgrade a tract devoted largely to graduate schools of law, education, social service and business.
Talk about a shovel-ready, jobs-producing project.
Current zoning allows Fordham to erect what would be sky-high towers on the two-square-block tract. But instead, the university wants to build eight less imposing structures and help finance construction by selling two parcels to residential developers. The city planning department has given an initial nod to a waiver needed for the plan.
The concept makes sense on numerous levels. By relieving severe crowding and creating first-class facilities, Fordham's respected professional schools would be poised to gain elite status. At the same time, the public would benefit nicely from the real estate levies generated by placing two privately controlled parcels on the tax rolls.
This being the persnickety West Side of Manhattan, the community board refused a stamp of approval. It has had its say and now the matter is in presumably wiser hands, including those of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
Fordham needs a big yes. New York needs a strong Fordham. Let's make this a win-win.
New York Daily News Editorial
February 9, 2009
NY's economic success stories
Believe it or not, there is good news about the New York economy. Although we're in the worst national economic downturn since the Great Depression, three industries in the city are doing well. And therein lie a number of important public-policy lessons.
SUCCESS STORY: The movie and TV business is thriving here. Last year, employment in this segment grew an impressive 9%, adding 3,000 jobs. On the basis of percentage growth, this was the best-performing sector of the economy. In the past several years, Silvercup and Kaufman Astoria studios in Queens have thrived, as has a new facility, Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, which was once seen as a threat to existing facilities. Most of the benefits go to people in high-paying blue-collar jobs-electricians, painters, set builders. The studios, all located outside Manhattan, are expanding, despite the rocky credit markets.
THE LESSON: Tax incentives work. The boom in the movie and TV business is directly traceable to a tax incentive offered by both the city and the state that offsets the higher costs of producing shows in New York. Last April, the city increased its tax break to 30% of production costs. As a result, Ugly Betty-a TV show set in New York that had been filmed in Los Angeles-moved here. It was one of several shows that recently brought their work to the Big Apple.
SUCCESS STORY: Colleges, universities and professional schools will be bulwarks during the downturn. The higher-education field now employs more than 91,000 people in the city and is likely to add jobs, as enrollment swells during the recession. This group, more than almost any other, can provide good jobs for the middle class. While professorships may require advanced training, schools employ thousands of support people who have earned more modest degrees.
THE LESSON: Help universities expand. Too few politicians were willing to publicly support Columbia University in its multiyear effort to win approval for a new campus in West Harlem, despite the project's enormous potential for the economy. The opponents may have been loud, but they put parochial interests above the needs of all New Yorkers. The scenario threatens to repeat itself on the West Side, where Fordham University is mired in another battle in which the city's future is at stake.
SUCCESS STORY: The telecom business is hot again, adding 1,200 jobs last year in what was the third-best performance among all sectors. The wireless phone companies continue to do well, but the big gains here are in jobs that Verizon is adding as it rolls out its cable TV service in the city and surrounding areas.
THE LESSON: Foster competition. With implacable opposition from New York's two most powerful cable companies, Time Warner and Cablevision, the Bloomberg administration dragged its feet on allowing Verizon to enter the market. That changed when Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber came on board, and the results are obvious. This lesson should be applied in other ways, such as opening up competition in the liquor business and allowing Wal-Mart to enter the city, to name only two of the most obvious possibilities.
Crain's New York Business Editorial
February 1, 2009
Fordham Needs to Grow
In the latest of many development debates facing the Upper West Side, Fordham University has asked the city to grant it several variances so that the school can expand its Lincoln Center campus. Important questions about the project have been raised during recent community board meetings, but we believe that with some key modifications, the school should be permitted to move forward with the plan. The need for Fordham’s growth is clear. The school says it currently handles almost 8,000 students on a campus designed for 3,500; by 2032, that number is expected to grow to more than 11,000 students. The amount of space per student here is exceptionally low as well: only 106 square feet per student, compared with 388 square feet per student at Columbia, and a national average of 360 square feet per student. And these students serve the community well. Fordham hosts free legal clinics, sends teachers into public schools and brings expertise to various social service outlets throughout the city. The expansion would add nine new buildings for Fordham, two luxury apartment towers to help fund the school’s endowment and commercial space. In the center of the campus, bordered by West 60th and 62nd streets and Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, would be open space accessible to the public. Administrators appear to be sensitive to the fact that the neighborhood has been nearly inundated with development projects in recent years. Fordham has not asked for additional square feet beyond what zoning allows, but instead has focused on seeking variances for building heights and setbacks, as well as curb-cuts.
Still, Community Board 7 has highlighted some problems with the plan. With buildings as tall a 550 feet along the avenues, Fordham’s project has the potential to become an imposing wall separating the community, especially along Amsterdam Avenue. The project is also fairly dense, adding more than 2.2 million zoning square feet to a plot of land that currently has just less than 800,000 zoning square feet. The addition of two apartment towers also raises significant concerns about increased crowding at already overburdened public schools. Fordham has already made some concessions regarding design and bulk; this is a good start, but more reductions are needed. The school might also assure the community that it will have a voice what sort of buildings will eventually rise at the site, as the master plan currently under consideration does not specify design elements. We are confident that Council Member Gale Brewer, who has facilitated communications between the community and Riverside South developer Extell, and Borough President Scott Stringer, who has stressed the importance of community board involvement in the land use process, are apt mediators for the discussion. With a little compromise and creative thinking, Fordham should be granted the right to move forward with this important plan.
West Side Spirit Editorial
January 28, 2009
