LandmarkWest!
NEWSLETTER SPRING 2000
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Grand Central: Gateway to a Million
Lives
by John Belle and Maxinne Rhea Leighton,
W.W. Norton
& Company, 1999, 192 pages, $39.95.
A chronicle of the story of Grand Central Terminal in New York
City - "a remarkable and beautiful building whose birth, survival, and
restoration reflect not only the changes that have taken place in our
country’s history, culture and social consciousness but also the critical
role architecture plays in the expansion of our cities." The history centers on
the struggle to save Grand Central in the wake of the destruction of Penn
Station and in the face of economic forces in the real estate industry that
were intent on its demise. Along with 192 pages of rich text, 50 color plates
and 100 black-and-white illustrations provide a fascinating firsthand account
of the recent $400 million restoration. |
Lecture and Walking Tour
Join architectural historian Andrew S. Dolkart for a lecture and
discussion on his 1998 award-winning book Morningside Heights: A History of
its Architecture and Development (see offer, p.6). Autographed books will
be available for purchase at the lecture. Following the lecture, join Mr.
Dolkart for a walk through Morningside Heights. The tour will explore the rich
architecture and history of the area, including the unfinished Cathedral of St.
John the Divine, St. Luke's Hospital, and the Columbia University campus, as
well as the buildings that form New York's earliest middle-class apartment
house community.
Lecture: Tuesday, June 13, 6-8 pm Walking Tour: Tuesday, June 20, 6-8
pm
Walking Tour
Back by popular demand is Andrew S. Dolkart's tour of West 72nd Street
from Central Park to Riverside Park, a fascinating boulevard of rowhouses,
great apartment buildings, and shops. This tour will discuss development and
change on West 72nd Street, the impact of the elevated railroad and subway, and
the restoration work on the block between Broadway/Amsterdam and Columbus
avenues recently undertaken under the direction of LW!
Walking Tour: Thursday, July 6, 6-8 pm
The cost of each event is $10. For reservations and meeting locations
call LW!, 496-8110. Space is limited.
Extra! Extra! LW! is to receive an award from the NY Metropolitan
Chapter of the Victorian Society in America, honoring us for our advocacy in
support of the many Victorian-era structures on the Upper West Side. The award
will be presented June 5th at the Great Hall of Cooper Union. The
Victorian Society in America fosters public appreciation and understanding of
the artistic expression of the 19th century.
Fall 2000 Upcoming Event Celebrate our second awards ceremony,
highlighting the revitalization of West 72nd Street, and mark the 15th
Anniversary of LANDMARK WEST!
by Bruce A. Simon
 |
It had to look like a set-up. We were having a breakfast sit-down
at the Elite. A box of brown sugar for my oatmeal and Ronnie's Diet Coke on our
tiny table for two left no room for my yellow legal pad. Anyhow, this guy comes
over and starts telling Ronnie how wonderful West 72nd Street has
become, what a difference it has made to shopkeepers and shoppers, and
profusely thanks the Council Member for her work on the revitalization project
Ronnie beams and gracefully says that others worked hard, too. At
that point, I had the "hook" for this piece that I'd been groping for –
government can work, in a direct, observable, appreciable way; but it takes
someone like Ronnie to make it work. |
The thing is, you need a hook for Ronnie. Otherwise, her sheer
effervescence, the hop-scotchedy nature of her focus, can leave you bathed in a
warm glow, and convinced, but not always sure of what. That's not a criticism
– in politics, that's a fair description of an artist.
Readers of this Newsletter – and recipients of LW's various
communications – know how the Columbus-Broadway block of West
72nd Street has been transformed from a tacky deteriorating
downscale retail strip to a visually handsome and commercially appealing West
Side destination. And how an unusual partnership of building owners,
shopkeepers, and city agencies, fostered and nurtured by the joint leadership
of Landmark West! and Eldridge, made the difference.
Ronnie's role, of course, was more than that of coordinator – she
was the source of the unique commodity that makes miracles happen in this town
– money. $400,000 of City Capital Budget funds to do the heavy end of
72nd Street's restoration: paving, sidewalks, curbs, street lights,
trees.
Now the tricky question: How did Council Member Eldridge, a renowned
maverick and ultra-liberal voice in a basically conservative (though
Democratic) City Council, who is used to being by-passed by the Council
leadership as a result of her outspoken refusal to "go along with the program,"
pull this off?
That question prompted a breakneck review of her life and career. Born
and stayed on the West Side. P.S. 166. Joan of Arc Junior High. High School of
Music and Art. Barnard College. Stickball on 89th Street. Father
managed the Ansonia hotel in the Thirties. Watched Lincoln Center being built
while pushing baby strollers. Major roles in Lindsay administration; RFK
campaign; Public TV producer; Channel 13 Director of Communications. Ronnie and
her second husband, Jimmy Breslin (a landmark writer) share nine children and
eight grandchildren from their first marriages – both ended by the early
death of their partners.
With that demonstration of real life West Side bona fides on the table,
Ronnie described the constant and conscious "balancing" necessary to preserve
one's integrity, but get things done. Stand up for what you believe; oppose
what you don't. That's not being a "maverick"; that's being honest. Cooperate
with the leadership, be constructive, be responsible on budget issues. That's
not co-optation, that's the art of politics. Ronnie muses: "You have to realize
that the New York City Council is basically a suburban legislature." To many ,
Council Members, Manhattan is still "the City." To them, the Central Business
District, not a series of residential neighborhoods, is the basic image. Its
expansion northward to Lincoln Square, for example, is seen by many Council
members as manifest destiny. Council Member Eldridge works relentlessly to
portray her district (roughly – W. 55th to 96th
Sts., with jagged east-west boundaries) to her Council colleagues as a
community, not a fringe around a business and cultural behemoth.
Ronnie will be term-limited out of her seat in November 2001. In the
landuse/landmarking context, I asked which of her current projects she hopes
most to advance before she leaves. No hesitation:
The area in front of Lincoln Center. The so-called "Bow-Tie" parks,
Tucker and Dante. This huge public space constituting the "front yard" of
Lincoln is terribly important and terribly neglected. The cultural heart of the
City has been beating in the physical context of a permanent traffic jam,
irresponsibly unresponsive to pedestrians, with no concern for any common, let
alone esthetic, sense.
Recently, Council Member Eldridge and LW!, working with a coalition of
public and private partners (aided by a city planning grant), have begun to
work on a plan to redesign Lincoln Center's "front yard" in a manner worthy of
its great significance (see
article).
The oatmeal was cold and lumpy. The Diet Coke was flat. The gladhander a
fading memory. Ronnie was off to a meeting where she could take another stab at
making government work. The whole town is a set-up.