On Demand
Governors Island Plans
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Governors Island design idea by West 8
Rob Pirani executive director of the Regional Plan Association's Governors Island Alliance, talks about the selection of the Dutch firm West 8 to design the open space on the island.
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Oh no, not another Disneyland!
Looks great. Will be impossible to replicate these pictures. I love the guy rock climbing down a slope. I am sure that will be illegal.
Looks like an otherwordly paradise... let's see how it works out.
To be fair, the West 8 rendering was not posted before my Disneyland remark. That said, let's make it a tad more nature park-like and less an attraction with Starbuckses and such nonsense. A type of oasis from the busy city. It looks like it will attract too many people and the only way out of that is to limit visitors visits thus making it even worse.
Sounds lovely and pointless.
Hills on a flat island? How tacky is that? What's the problem with making something what it is rather than an excessive hoked up artificial space? Never thought I'd live to see the day when "nature" became wholly & completely fake.
are they planning on tearing down those great old buildings??
that would be a shame
Free bicycles on a small island seems pretty feasible. I mean, how would you steal that? Where would you take it?
But getting there seems like it might be a hassle, and I couldn't see this as a place I would go regularly like other parks.
besides casinos, what else other proposals were looked at? I wanted comprehensive assisted living for the homeless, but that's just me...
What is the status of the golf course?
It's GOT to have hills. Having been there, I can vouch for the fact that the landfill portion of the island is big and flat and unwelcoming.
It will be one of THE NYC destinations, I predict. The historical structures alone....
Being a New Yorker and architect....it's so refreshing to finally see some greenery added on a substantial level to the cty rather than more commercial development, luxury housing and jut more man-made environment. People need natural to stop and really smell the roses.
the giant butterflies will scare the children
Creating a park in the harbor will be spectacular. However, I am ambivalent about the conference center and hotel. I was a member of Christie Whitman’s Ellis Island Committee, and the prospects for developing the south side of Ellis Island was overshadowed by the prospect of developing Governors Island. A conference center on Ellis was one of our suggestions to the governor for the future use of the island.
As a child, in the fifties, when it was used by the army, went there for the buffet at the Officers Open Mess on Sundays. Clear memory of huge piles of caviar. I remember the old flags hanging in the Episcopal Church. Running through the moat. Wondering at the miles thick walls that surrounded the center of the island. My son played golf with his grandfather and I have a picture of him preparing to swing - the World Trade Towers in the background.
Just another government facilitated development giving public land away, bringing New York farther away from New York ... Dismay for all those who understand this point, and congratulations for all those who could care less.
I wonder what happened to Mayer Bloomberg's vision of creating a world wide medical facility where patients and their families could be housed there while undergoing treatment. This could be such a fantastic idea for New York, easily accessible and could attract the best physicians in the world, and offer the best treatments for various afflictions....
I'm sorry to hear it might just be another commercial enterprise with a nice gift wrapped park to make it more attractive....
How about a Marina, so that boaters could take day trips to the Island, rent slips for the day and enjoy the park?
Morpho butterflies in the wild at Governor's Island? If they think that's going to happen they might as well get some ewoks and mogwai to inhabit the place as well.
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