Crains New York - May 13, 2013 - (Page 8)

OPINION Plan for Penn Station’s future M adison Square Garden’s owners aren’t getting much sympathy around town in their quest for permission to operate the arena above Penn Station in perpetuity, despite their accurate assertion that the city’s other big sports venues enjoy essentially permanent use of their sites. The difference is that the others don’t sit on a crucial transportation hub that’s crowded, dark and hemmed in by the structure above. Penn Station, which is serving three times more passengers than it was designed for, is so substandard that it threatens the city’s long-term competitiveness and arguably presents a safety risk as well. As long as the arena is above it, it cannot get the major overhaul it so desperately needs. The Garden is an economic engine in its own right and an important part of the city’s culture. But its benefits to the local economy are marginal compared with those of Penn Station, which handles more than twice as much traffic as Grand Central Terminal. If one West Side venue had to be sacrificed for the other, the Garden would have to give way. Fortunately, there need be no sacrifice. Both Penn Station and the Garden could end up winners. And should. Thus, we urge the City Council to affirm the Bloomberg administration’s proposal to extend by only 15 years the special permit that allows the Garden to be where it is. That’s enough time to come up with a project that expands and modernizes Penn Station, relocates the Garden without CRAIN’S ONLINE POLL interruption and creates a vibrant business district. Development around the site today doesn’t take full advantage of the station’s 600,000 daily commuters. Adding office, retail and other space around a renovated Penn Station would be lucrative enough to subsidize a new Garden nearby. The arena’s owners, who would see their air rights soar in value, would be effectively compensated for leaving their current building, despite their having spent, by their count, $980 million on its recent upgrade. That investment, which was made even though the arena’s permit is contingent on its providing a public benefit and was to expire in 2013, followed failed talks about a relocation and development plan. But it need not condemn the nation’s largest transportation hub to unending gloom. Penn Station could be a gleaming gateway to New York, welcoming commuters and businesspeople from across the city, suburbs and East Coast via subway, Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit and Amtrak. In any event, Penn Station can’t be moved. The Garden can. In fact, it has moved three times already. The fourth could be the charm. Both the station and Madison Square Garden can be winners COMMENTS Pedal pushers BULLISH ON BIKE SHARE WHAT PORTION OF NEW YORK POLITICIANS DO YOU THINK ARE CORRUPT? 10% are corrupt. The few bad apples overshadow the honest elected officials. 50%. Flip a coin. It’s a good bet that about half of elected officials are up to no good. 80%. The vast majority are guilty of something. Ethics is a foreign concept to these scoundrels. Date of poll: May 6 172 votes 10% 36% 54% Citi Bike (“Gearing up for Citi Bike,” May 6) is a great idea. I can’t believe it’s controversial to some to actually give a tiny bit of the streets back to New Yorkers, instead of reserving them for permanent car usage. Only about 40% of New Yorkers own cars, yet it seems like 99% of the streets are reserved for cars. It’s time to have some balanced transportation planning. Citi Bike is a good start, but we need more bike-, pedestrianand transit-friendly infrastructure, and we should probably end free on-street car parking, which is a gross misuse of public property. Kudos to Michael Bloomberg and Janette SadikKhan, easily the best mayor and transportation commissioner in my lifetime. —alexander schwarz Bay Ridge, Brooklyn IN FORT GREENE and Clinton FOR THIS WEEK’S QUESTIONS: Go to www.crainsnewyork.com/poll to have your say. 8 | Crain’s New York Business | May 13, 2013 editor in chief Rance Crain publisher, vp Jill R. Kaplan EDITORIAL editor Glenn Coleman managing editor Jeremy Smerd deputy managing editors Valerie Block, Erik Ipsen assistant managing editor Erik Engquist senior producer, news Elisabeth Butler Cordova news producer Amanda Fung contributing editor Elaine Pofeldt columnists Greg David, Alair Townsend crain’s health pulse editor Barbara Benson senior reporters Theresa Agovino, Aaron Elstein, Lisa Fickenscher, Matthew Flamm reporters Chris Bragg, Matt Chaban, Daniel Geiger, Andrew J. Hawkins, Annie Karni, Adrianne Pasquarelli web reporters/producers Ken M. Christensen, Nazish Dholakia art director Steven Krupinski deputy art director Carolyn McClain staff photographer Buck Ennis copy desk chief Steve Noveck copy editor Thaddeus Rutkowski data editor Suzanne Panara assistant data editor Emily Laermer researcher Eva Saviano intern Ali Elkin ONLINE AND INTERACTIVE SERVICES senior web developer, interactive Chris O’Donnell ADVERTISING, MARKETING AND PRODUCTION director of sales and marketing Nancy Adler senior account managers Irene Bar-Am, David Harkey, Jill Bottomley Kunkes, Courtney McCombs, Suzanne Wilson director of custom content Trish Henry sales coordinator Lauren Black newsletter product manager Alexis Sinclair credit Todd J. Masura (313-446-6097) director of audience & content partnership development Michael O’Connor senior marketing manager Catherine Schutten director of conferences & events Courtney Williams reprint sales manager Lauren Melesio production and pre-press director Simone Pryce advertising production manager Suzanne Fleischman Wies For print and digital subscriptions or customer service, e-mail customerservice@crainsnewyork.com or call 877-824-9379 (in the U.S. and Canada) or 313-446-0450 (all other locations). $3.00 a copy for the print edition; or $99.95 one year, $179.95 two years, for print subscriptions with digital access. www.crainsnewyork.com/subscribe TO ADVERTISE: Contact Nancy Adler at nadler@crainsnewyork.com or call 212-210-0278. www.crainsnewyork.com/advertise POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN NEW YORK SAY WHAT YOU WANT about Mr. Bloomberg’s policies, but at NEW YORK BUSINESS TO SUBSCRIBE: Hill in Brooklyn, out of 6,800 parking spaces, 35 were used for the city’s new bike-share stations. That’s 0.5% of all parking spaces—hardly enough to have an impact on finding parking. —j. salsa New York election laws beg for massive reform, yet there’s no one independent enough to make that happen. In Albany, we have an attorney general who won election because of huge union contributions. And in the city, officials are beholden to special business and union interests. Ballotaccess rules and election laws are written to limit access by middle-class and poor candidates. We need a major housecleaning! —aaron CRAIN’S FOR INFORMATION ON OUR EVENTS: Contact Courtney Williams at cwilliams@crainsnewyork.com or 212-210-0257. www.crainsnewyork.com/events TO CONTACT THE NEWSROOM: least he is not influenced by special-interest dollars. I think his will be a case of the public not recognizing his contributions and value to the people until after his term is over and he’s been replaced by someone who will be influenced by politics and the money that influences most politicians. Mr. Bloomberg has been a breath of fresh air in that respect. —don CRAIN’S WELCOMES SUBMISSIONS to its opinion pages. Send letters to letters@crainsnewyork.com. Send columns of 475 words or fewer to opinion@crainsnewyork.com. Please include the writer’s name, company, address and telephone number. 711 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017-4036 editorial phone: 212.210.0277 fax 212.210.0799 Entire contents ©copyright 2013 Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. ®CityBusiness is a registered trademark of MCP Inc., used under license agreement. CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS chairman Keith E. Crain president Rance Crain treasurer Mary Kay Crain Cindi Crain executive vp, operations William Morrow senior vp, group publisher Gloria Scoby vp/production, manufacturing David Kamis chief information officer Paul Dalpiaz founder G.D. Crain Jr. (1885-1973) chairman Mrs. G.D. 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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - May 13, 2013

Crains New York - May 13, 2013
IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
REAL ESTATE DEALS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
STEVE HINDY
GREG DAVID
SMALL BUSINESS
REPORT: TECHNOLOGY
THE LIST
CLASSIFIEDS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - May 13, 2013