Opponents of Controversial Penn Station Mega-Towers Deal to Rally Ahead of Senate Hearing

NEW YORK, NY (06/24/2022) (readMedia)-- Trains Before Towers – a new initiative supported by community residents, housing and transit advocates, and local business owners – rallied today to stop the plan to build 10 new massive towers around Penn Station. The rally was held outside of a State Senate hearing, at which lawmakers grilled representatives of the Empire State Development Corporation, which is rushing to approve the controversial real estate deal this summer without answering key questions about the project's necessity and financing.

VIDEO AVAILABLE HERE.

The plan, which would usurp City land use authority, would enrich billionaire Steve Roth of Vornado without any guarantees the scheme would adequately fund transit improvements at Penn Station. Roth is also a major donor to Gov. Kathy Hochul's campaign.

Despite serious and unanswered concerns raised by New York City's Independent Budget Office, New York City Planning Commission and nearly every State Senator representing the five boroughs, the Empire State Development Corporation (ESD) says it will vote on the plan in a matter of weeks.

"Lawmakers must halt the Penn Station area development project immediately. This plan, which is a tax giveaway to a Hochul donor, has lacked transparency from the start. While today's hearing is a start, the public deserves answers. This project should not go forward as a secretive state maneuver to unilaterally take future NYC property tax dollars to pay for the state's refurbishment of Penn Station and possibly provide extremely large subsidies to the politically connected Vornado Realty Trust," said Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY.

"Steve Roth and his corporation are going to make billions off of the Vornado Penn Plan, and hard-working New Yorkers are going to pay for it. We'll pay for it when they raze our homes and our small businesses; we'll pay for it when their high rents drive up prices in the surrounding neighborhood. And we'll pay for it when Vornado's bill comes due and they use loopholes in the secret financing scheme to weasel out of their obligations and stick taxpayers with the bill. New Yorkers are going to pay for a new Penn Station either way, so let's start by asking for federal infrastructure funding, instead of this half-baked scheme to enrich Steve Roth at our expense," said Tito Delgado, Penn South resident & Limited Equity & Affordability at Penn South member, tenants' organizer.

"Community Board Five is grateful for the NY State senate to hold a hearing on the GPP. The state should not consider or approve this plan without detailed financial information and absent this, the plan should be withdrawn. It is unconscionable for ESD to consider a plan so vague that it could end up costing billions to taxpayers," said Layla Law-Gisiko, Urban Planning chair at Community Board 5.

"This project is bad for New York City. We have a serious homelessness problem in New York. It is unconscionable this project will cause the eviction of over 2,000 tenants. These tenants will have no protections because this project has been designed to circumvent all New York City protections. How can a project be approved that will cause even more homelessness? There are over 100 small businesses that will also be evicted," said Roberta Gelb, Chelsea resident.

"In the last 6 months alone, Empire State Development and Governor Hochul have given away billions in unpopular subsidies to wealthy campaign donors for vague back door deals that essentially pinky swear to benefit the public. That's why almost every elected official in NYC is trying to halt this deal. Why does the Governor continue to ignore New Yorkers who simply believe we cannot continue to waste public money on corporate grift?" said Charles Khan, organizing director for Strong Economy for All.

Last month, the City's Independent Budget Office released a report, raising serious questions about the financial viability of the project and whether there were enough details to gauge the plan's impact. The IBO report also concluded that while the State would collect payments from Vornado, the City would lose out on property tax revenue that it would have earned in a standard rezoning process. A majority of the city's Senate delegation have voiced opposition to the plan. The Senators specifically voiced concerns about how much Vornado will receive in subsidies and other State-sponsored benefits as part of the plan and how much the City stands to lose in property taxes, urging ESD to halt the plan until there are "??explanations provided and agreements made associated with the cost, design, scope, bond liabilities, and other aspects of the project that remain unknown." Good government groups including Common Cause, Reinvent Albany, BetaNYC, League of Women Voters and NYPIRG have also voiced opposition to the plan.

About Trains Before Towers

TBT is a coalition of community organizations, transit advocacy groups, preservation organizations, affordable housing advocacy groups, and good government organizations dedicated to improving the transit infrastructure at Penn Station.