WestView News
The Voice of the West Village
MARCH 2015
The Guardian Calls Diller Island “Fairyland Urban Planning”
LONDON CRITICS CALL FOR FAST TRACK INQUIRY: A con-
troversially expensive bridge over the Thames by the same designer doing Diller Island, Thomas Heatherwick, is being questioned by critics for its swift and secretive emergence from the approval process, echoing the well engineered entry of Diller Island via a New York Times article. Image: Arup.
By George Capsis Oliver Wainwright, a trained architect and the architectural critic of the Guardian does not seem to like the so called “Garden Bridge” designed by Thomas Heatherwick. The proposed and partially approved fairytale garden bridge over the Thames is much like the proposed Diller Island (Pier 55) also designed by Heatherwick. On Tuesday, November 18, Wainwright compared the two with lip-biting frustration. What, asks Wainwright, oh what “makes people want to part with millions” for “ a Disneyfied confection” on stilts—is it the
trees and water and fairytale stories that “allow conventional urban planning to be gleefully suspended”? But what Wainwright really hates is the design—“It is a vision straight from the set of Avatar—fecund flowerbeds erupting from mushroom-shaped columns, their canopies joining to support parkland above the water…a thicket of 300 fungi rising from [30 to 75 feet] above the Hudson River to form an undulating platform.” And Wainwright takes a whack at the architectural judgment of Diller and partner Diane Von Furstenberg: “A faceted glass lump…crowns the roof of the Von Furstenberg empire, while Diller is proudly known as the patron of one of Frank Gehry’s worst buildings a few blocks away.” In another article about Heatherwick’s London Bridge released on November 19, Wainwright says “Critics are calling for a public inquiry into this mayoral project of most unique origins which appears to have been fast-tracked through the system.” Those exact words could apply to Diller Island. I read about Diller Island around 8:00 AM in the Times, which recorded that very same day and in advance of the gift that de Blasio gave $17 million and Cuomo $18 million to build a bridge to the island. I mean what if a follower of ISIS flew an explosive drone into City Hall that morning—what if de Blasio was prevented from writing the check for $17 million, which the Times had already reported he had given. Then The New York Times would have lied, and the slick, expensive PR firm that so carefully managed the reveal of the Diller Island plan would have had egg on their face.
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$137,000 MUSHROOM WestView estimates the cost of just one concrete and steel mushroom pile to hold up Diller Island at $137,000. 6’ Person Deck
Concrete
Water
Riverbed
Hi-Pile
Approimately 300’
VOLUME 11, NUMBER 3
Governor Cuomo Is Stealing From Our Kids By Arthur Z. Schwartz It was hard not to write this month about Rudy Giuliani and his ongoing rant about President Obama not loving America, and about his attempt to be “relevant” again by appealing to the most racist elements in our country. It reminded me that we spent 8 years surviving under the Mayoralty of a bombastic buffoon—an embarrassment to NYC who got away with some sort of hero label because he maintained his cool during and after 9/11. If you think there are divisions in our City now, they are noth-
ing compared to the divisions stirred by Rudy and his chauffeur-turned Police Commissioner-turned felon Bernard Kerik. But I will resist, because I know that my neighbors overwhelmingly dismiss him as a jerk. But I do want to write again about our Governor, Andrew Cuomo. Andrew is slicker than Rudy Giuliani, but the two have a lot in common, which may be why Cuomo has refused to denounce Giuliani for his comments about Obama. Andrew Cuomo may characterize himself as the Governor of working New Yorkers, but his campaign contributions show that he
is the Governor of the very wealthy. Andrew Cuomo doesn’t like to be criticized, and he certainly doesn’t like those who disagree with him. It is well known in political circles that if you cross Cuomo, you may get a piece of your body chopped off. The fear is palpable. Rudy Giuliani actually had a better relationship with public employee unions than Cuomo does. He didn’t see himself as an educator, and actually appointed some good educators to run the NYC school system. Cuomo spent a good portion of his recent State of the State address talking continued on page 21
Bedrock
A $44 MILLION DOLLAR BOUQUET: the 300
Diller Island mushroom piles will cost $41 million to construct and the Hudson River Park will be charged with their expensive maintenance. Illustration by Stephanie Phelan
City, State Review Rent Stabilization in June — See Page 4