Hoylman takes aim at Penn project after Cuomo aides tried to boost support for Manhattan BP bid
ALBANY — State Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) is pitching a piece of legislation that would force Gov. Cuomo’s controversial redevelopment plan around Penn Station to go through the standard city land-use review process.
The introduction of the measure comes after the Daily News revealed that top Cuomo officials tried unsuccessfully to drum up union support for Hoylman’s Manhattan borough president bid earlier this year.
Hoylman refused to comment on the calls made by Cuomo allies to union officials or his relationship with the governor, instead focusing on the one-house bill that would make the Empire Station Complex project subject to the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.
“The only boosters of this project seem to be the governor and the real estate developers who are going to profit,” Hoylman said. “I want a new Penn Station more than anyone, we should focus on that.”
One of dozens of Dems who called on Cuomo to resign in March after multiple women accused the governor of sexual harassment, Hoylman has positioned himself as one of the most vocal opponents of the plan to transform the blocks surrounding Penn.
Cuomo’s vision includes 10 massive towers and a super-tall structure with the seemingly suggestive name “PENN 15.”
The overhaul is going through as a general project plan, which allows the state to skip over the city’s bureaucratic building approval steps and may include the use of eminent domain. Critics have complained that residents and community stakeholders have been shut out of the process.
Lawmakers approved a scaled-back version of the $1.3 billion in bonding authority Cuomo sought for the project in this year’s state budget. The capital budget bill, which Hoylman voted against, limits the use of borrowing power to “transportation improvement projects” and can’t be used for “above-grade development.”
Hoylman’s new bill has the support of fellow Sens. Robert Jackson and Liz Krueger, both Manhattan Democrats, but has not been introduced in the Assembly.
Cuomo senior adviser Rich Azzopardi pushed back on the measure, making it clear the bill has little chance of gaining the governor’s signature.
“You want to talk about silly season: This is part of the most important infrastructure project in North America and preventing it from being subject to a hyperpoliticized NIMBY-prone process is exactly why the state’s powers were created in the first place decades ago,” Azzopardi said.
The city’s land-use process allows local community boards and the borough presidents to hold public hearings and make nonbinding recommendations.
Applications are also subject to binding approval by the City Planning Commission and the City Council, both of which hold their own public hearings before issuing determinations on projects.
“I think, at this time, the last thing we need is a taxpayer-subsidized commercial real estate deal in the heart of Manhattan,” Hoylman said. “I think we need to have a robust public discussion with full transparency and community input before we proceed.”
The senator’s break with the governor comes as he competes against Lindsey Boylan, one of Cuomo’s accusers and a former aide, as well as Councilmen Mark Levine and Ben Kallos for the Manhattan beep position.
Kimberly Watkins, president of Community Education Council 3 in Harlem and Elizabeth Caputo, former chairwoman of Manhattan’s Community Board 7, are also on the ballot for the June 22 Democratic primary that will decide who replaced Gale Brewer.
Hoylman remained silent on the support he received earlier this year despite a source in Cuomo’s camp saying the lawmaker sought out the governor’s assistance and “asked for a personal attestment to some in the labor movement about his effectiveness as a legislator.”
