The local paper for the Upper East Side
2018
WEEK OF MARCH
OT T Y OT Awards
1-7 2018
Our Town Thanks You P.13
‘SAVE THE UNION CARBIDE BUILDING!’ VIEWPOINT A mega-bank and its ally at City Hall want to tear down a classic of Park Avenue corporate modernism and demolish the legacy of an unsung woman who was one of the great architects of the post-war era Ridership on NYCT buses is down over 11 percent since 2012, MTA data shows. Photo: Michael Garofalo
MTA TO PITCH BUS FIXES THIS SPRING TRANSPORTATION With city buses plagued by declining ridership, officials pledge solutions will be forthcoming BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Though delays in subway service have attracted the bulk of attention surrounding the current struggles of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, steep and steady declines in bus ridership in recent years, concentrated largely in Manhattan, offer a reminder that the New York’s transportations problems extend to street level. Average weekday ridership on New York City Transit buses dropped 5.6 percent from 2016 to 2017, according to preliminary MTA data released last week, marking the fifth consecu-
tive year of declining ridership. Since 2012, average weekday NYCT bus ridership is down over 11 percent. MTA leaders plan to present detailed plans for enhancing bus service and reversing ridership trends this spring. Andy Byford, who took office as president of NYCT in January after previously heading Toronto’s public transportation system, has named improving bus service as one of his top priorities. “Performance is nowhere near good enough,” Byford said of the transit system as a whole at a meeting of the MTA board’s transit committee last week, adding that there are too many performance interruptions on the subway in particular. This spring, officials will release a bus strategy to mirror the subway
BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
It was a wanton act of urban desecration that was executed by one of the city’s storied corporations and blessed by municipal government, to its enduring shame. In broad daylight, wrecking crews demolished the Singer Building, an ornate Beaux-Arts masterpiece that had graced lower Broadway at Liberty Street since 1908. The year was 1968, and it was the early preservation movement’s most spectacular failure. Now, half a century later, that dark chapter in city history is at risk of repeating itself. Crowned by a shimmering mansard roof and glowing multi-story lanterns, the 612-foot, 47-story home of the old Singer Sewing Machine Co. was the tallest building in the world ever to be intentionally torn down. Soon, it could lose that dubious honor: JPMorgan Chase has disclosed plans to raze its 707-foot, 52-story tower at 270 Park Avenue and erect in its stead a super-tall headquarters soaring 1,200 feet and 70 floors. “It would be the largest voluntary demolition in human history,” said Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the Historic Districts Council, a preservation advocacy group that is galvanizing opposition to the plan.
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Her mind and hands worked marvels in design.” Nathaniel Owings, a founder of architectural giant Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, about architect Natalie Griffin de Blois
The headquarters of JPMorgan Chase at 270 Park Avenue, a 1961 classic of corporate modernism that was designed largely by Natalie Griffin de Blois, one of the most accomplished women architects of her time. It could be demolished under plans developed by the bank to build a new home, 500 feet higher. Photo: Reading Tom, via flickr
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