PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Jesse Bodine, District Manager of Manhattan Community Board 4, on behalf of Jean Daniel Nolan, Co-Chair of Hell's Kitchen Land Use Committee
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121 sec
Jesse Bodine, representing Manhattan Community Board 4, reads testimony from Jean-Daniel Noland regarding the Port Authority Bus Terminal project. The testimony recounts the historical context of infrastructure projects displacing communities and expresses support for the current project while emphasizing the need for community mitigation and engagement.
- Highlights the destructive impact of past infrastructure projects on Hell's Kitchen
- Acknowledges Port Authority's commitment to avoid eminent domain and work with the community
- Stresses the large scale and long-term disruption of the project
- Calls for fulfilling Community Board 4's mitigation requests to benefit the community
Jesse Bodine
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Good morning.
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My name is Jesse Bodine.
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I'm the district manager of Manhattan community board 4.
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I have been asked to read the following testimony by Jean Daniel Nolan, the cochair of Hell's Kitchen Land Use Committee for community board 4.
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Good morning.
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I'm sure you are all too young to remember the Federal Highway Act in 19 fifties.
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The goal was to build roads to connect the emerging suburbs to downtown city centers.
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Highways cut through dense, often poor city neighborhoods.
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Communities lost churches, businesses, and homes.
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More than a 1000000 people nationwide were displaced.
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The completion of the Lincoln Tunnel, the Lincoln Tunnel access roads, and the Port Authority bus terminal and ramps destroyed much of Hell's Kitchen south of 41st Street.
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Tenements were demolished.
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1,000 lost their homes.
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Imagine demolishing affordable housing today to make roads for cars and buses.
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On April 18, 2016, the port authority came to the Metro Baptist Church on West 40th Street to propose the a building, a new bus terminal, at the cost of more demolition to of Hell's Kitchen.
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The hundreds of community members gathered on West 40th Street that night spoke with one voice.
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This will not happen again.
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No eminent domain, no demolition of homes, no displacement of residents.
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To their credit, the port authority agreed.
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The committee community also said this could be an opportunity to knit the the neighborhood back together, east to west, north to south.
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Again, to their credit, the port authority listened and agreed to the to work with the community board to make the development fit into the fabric of the neighborhood through contextual design, environmental responsibility, pedestrian safety, and community engagement.
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We support this project, but we must not lose sight of the immense scale and impact on the community.
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It will span 4 city blocks.
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It will disrupt the community for a decade or more.
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We cannot undo the harm inflicted on the community a mere 2 generations ago, but we can ensure that this time, by fulfilling the mitigation CB 4 is calling for, the harm will be less and community will be made better.
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So when the generations in the future look back, they can say this time, they got it right.
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Thank you.
