"Trains Before Towers" Thanks State Senators for Scheduling Hearing on Penn Plan

NEW YORK, NY (06/16/2022) (readMedia)-- Trains Before Towers – a new initiative supported by community residents, housing and transit advocates, and local business owners – thanks State Senators Leroy Comrie, Brad Hoylman and Liz Krueger for scheduling a hearing on June 24 to scrutinize a plan to build 10 new massive towers around Penn Station as the State needlessly rushes to approve the controversial real estate deal.

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. 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.

"We're thankful to Senators Krueger, Comrie and Hoylman for scheduling the upcoming hearing on the Governor's Penn plan. We must stop the corrupt and disastrous Roth plan to build 10 megatowers around Penn Station, which will devastate the neighborhood and enrich a massive donor to the governor's campaign at the expense of New Yorkers and the millions who commute through Penn Station every year. The Roth plan is a runaway train that will take our transportation system off the rails and leave taxpayers on the hook for the damage done–and this hearing will show New Yorkers why this plan must be slowed to a halt," said Sam Turvey, co-coordinator of Empire Station Coalition and chairperson of ReThinkNYC.

"Thank you to Senators Krueger, Comrie and Hoylman for scheduling the upcoming hearing to hold ESD accountable for providing key details on this plan that have so far been withheld from the public. This plan to build 10 megatowers as a means to finance upgrades to Penn Station will destroy the quality of life for Penn South residents without even making desperately needed transit improvements. We're being steamrolled by this plan to enrich a major donor to the Governor's campaign, so we're thankful for the hearing as an opportunity to stop this runaway train," said Penn South resident Luana Green.

"We are grateful to Senators Krueger, Comrie and Hoylman for their leadership in scheduling a hearing on the Penn Station real-estate plan. This plan to build unnecessary supertall office towers, without actually improving transit is simply a massive corporate giveaway to Vornado, a donor to the Governor's campaign. New Yorkers deserve better than this secretive plan – we look forward to the hearing to finally get details to expose the lack of merits of the proposal and bring this plan to a screeching halt," said Layla Law-Gisiko, Land Use, Housing and Zoning Committee Chair of CB5.

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.