REMARKS
Council Member Carlina Rivera's remarks on Innovation East and Kips Bay life sciences corridor
0:05:05
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Council Member Carlina Rivera discusses the 455 First Avenue Innovation East project and its role in creating a life sciences corridor in Kips Bay. She emphasizes the potential for high-wage job creation, the need for community benefits, and the importance of public realm investments.
- Highlights Kips Bay's suitability for life sciences industry due to proximity to hospitals
- Stresses the need for investments in public spaces, housing, and quality of life improvements
- Calls for partnerships with public schools to create opportunities for young people
Carlina Rivera
0:05:05
Thank you so much.
0:05:06
Good morning, everyone.
0:05:06
Thank you for being here and for being so committed to your community and to your city.
0:05:11
I wanna thank the chair for his leadership and and everyone at the council who was involved with this project.
0:05:17
455 First Avenue Innovation East, which is a part of what I I we see as this larger map of a life sciences corridor, a biotech area that includes SPARC and Kipps Bay, which is very exciting.
0:05:31
Again, I wanna thank chair Riley for the opportunity to say a few words about Innovation East and the city's vision for a life sciences corridor on First Avenue in Kipps Bay.
0:05:40
Innovation East at 455 First Avenue is one piece of a larger initiative to make the Kipps Bay neighborhood a destination for life sciences and the health care industry.
0:05:50
Life sciences is a dynamic and growing industry that provides high wage jobs in a variety of fields including sciences, research, technology administration, health care, and direct service care, and may I add that we ensure that the jobs to create these buildings are also high paying and, of course, sustainable.
0:06:11
Kipps Bay is especially well suited to serve these industries with proximity to local hospitals such as NYU Langone and Bellevue with health and hospitals.
0:06:20
This area has also attracted similar investments from life science developers and has become a biotech corridor that includes adjacent bustling parts of my district I have been proud to support.
0:06:32
As we review the redevelopment proposal, we must ensure our community and city benefits beyond the project scope and that economic activity continues, adjacent and, of course, beyond the very building itself.
0:06:46
There must be in investments in the public realm, housing, and quality of life improvements that speak to the needs of existing residents ensure the neighborhood amenities such as Bellevue South Park and our transit system are adequately invested in and never overburdened.
0:07:01
Our community must see that this space in the building serves as a meeting place for civic engagement, that the development team and tenants of the building make concerted efforts to partner with public high schools and of course, young people of all backgrounds to provide pathways for opportunity, apprenticeships, and much more.
0:07:19
I appreciate the work that, EDC has done with the community board and their Kips Bay task force, and I look forward to working together to ensure the public benefit of this project is clear and memorialized.
0:07:31
Thank you very much, chair Riley.