Assemblymember Deborah Glick, with VID President Jonathan Geballe and Executive Committee Member Ellen Peterson-Lewis

On Saturday, February 11, VID put together a solid group of supporters for the Rally Opposing the NYU2031 Plan, NYU’s aggressive, tower-heavy 20-year construction proposal to jam our low-rise community with structures of inappropriate size, height and bulk (including a huge hotel), which will mean the takeover of public space and the influx of a concentration of more thousands of students, staff and faculty.

Seen at the rally were Jonathan Geballe and Ellen Peterson-Lewis, pictured with rally organizer Assemblymember Deborah Glick, on the steps of Judson Church, along with :  Nat Johnson and Anne Heaney, Sharon Woolums, Mary Petretti, Katharine Wolpe, Laura Morrison, Jo Hamilton and our District Leader/CB2 Chair Brad Hoylman who energized the rally-goers with an electrifying speech and threw in a shout out to VID (thanks, Brad).

A huzzah to those VIDers who braved the cold to join several hundred other Villagers in this battle to Save the Village.  Look for an article in this week’s Villager.

In a follow-up e-mail, Assemblymember Glick suggested the following as recommended recipients of letters:

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer
1 Centre Street, 19th Floor
New York, NY 10007
The Borough President makes a recommendation, not a binding vote.

Chair Amanda Burden
Chair of the City Planning Commission
22 Reade Street
New York, NY 10007
The Chair votes when City Planning reviews the application.  There are 12 other members of the City Planning Commission who also vote on the application. Letters to each member of the Commission is also advisable. The list of all members can be found at: www.nyc.gov/dcp, then clicking on the “about us” followed by “city planning commission.”

Councilmember Margaret Chin
Chatham Green
165 Park Row, Suite #11
New York, NY 10038
The Councilmember represents the area of proposed development. She votes when City Council votes.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn
224 West 30th St, Suite 1206
New York, NY 10001
Speaker Quinn’s district is just a few blocks away so many constituents in the community-at-large are Speaker Quinn’s constituents. Additionally, as Speaker, she has influence over the Council. She votes when City Council Votes.

FOX News covered the event as did CBS Local blog and NYDailyNews.com

UPDATE:  The Villager, March 1st,  CB2 votes unanimous No on NYU’s superblocks plan.