StopTheVornadoTornado

A coalition of 13 New York City org, joined together to fight the demolition of 30 buildings in Midtown by Vornado Realty Trust.

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

Just some of the buildings to be demolished (1/8)

First up: the Historic Hotel Pennsylvania.

The ballroom at the Hotel Pennsylvania was the first music venue in New York City to allow racially integrated bands. This place is important to our city's history.

📸 David Holowka

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

This ain’t over, and we are more energized than ever to work with all of you in whatever ways we can to fight this, and insist on a plan that works for ALL New Yorkers, not just 3 billionaires.

Let’s get to work!

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

To be clear, everyone agrees Penn Station sucks, but the plan fails to address the root of its functional issues and is trying to disguise a corporate land grab as a transit solution.

It’s so inspiring to know how many of you can see right through it, and won’t stand for it.

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

Special shout-out to the HUGE showing from 30th Street’s music community 🎸and Penn South residents, who gave heartfelt and impassioned arguments against wholesale demolition of 9 city blocks in their neighborhood.

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

Last night, 425 people attended, 250 registered to testify, but (understandably) not everyone could hang in there and actually speak because it ran from 5pm to 1:30 AM.

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

Huge thanks and celebration to everyone who attended and participated in last nights public hearing on @govkathyhochul's disastrous Penn neighborhood demolition project!

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

Starting soon: the only public hearing on regarding the Empire State Development Corporations' plan to turn the neighborhood around Penn Station into a corporate welfare giveaway to the fine billionaires of Vornado.

Join and testify here: https://t.co/5aSoLsvp2u

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

Today, we urge conscientious New Yorkers to take a stand against the plan for wholesale demolition of 9 blocks of midtown South...so that Vornado can profit from building 10 supertall skyscrapers.

Sign the petition in our bio and attend the hearing at 5 pm TODAY.

[HumanscaleNYC @TribecaTrust]

"The Penn Station project is a massive public subsidy in disguise to Vornado" says John Kaehny of Reinvent Albany, see Senate hearing on Economic Development - Subsidies and Tax Incentives - YouTube https://t.co/dqGYBBxyHR

[PleasantStreetsNYC @Pleasant_St_NYC]

Here's a much better way to improve Penn Station: Watch “The ReThinkNYC Penn Station Design Approach” on #Vimeo https://t.co/l9GUhjXVjt

[John Massengale AIA CNU ���‍♀️🚶🚶‍♂️🚴‍♂️🇺🇦 @jmassengale]

All naughty, no nice. https://t.co/Jbo45F3Fxp

[John Massengale AIA CNU 🚶‍♀️🚶🚶‍♂️🚴‍♂️🇺🇦 @jmassengale]

Behold the "Pennsylvania Station Area Civic and Land Use Improvement Project," more accurately called the "Empire State Development Corporation Land Grab for the Benefit of a Billionaire Developer," or simply "Vornadoville."

[HumanscaleNYC @TribecaTrust]

"They weren't against low income housing; they were against big plans and things that looked like big plans which, bit by bit, had been destroying the fabric of the city" Jane Jacobs, Vital Little Plans, page 232.

[ReThinkNYC @RethinkNYCplan]

“Grander plans suggested by ReThink NYC have proposed using Penn Station as a through station to allow metro area transit agencies to run service on any system in the tri-state.”
https://t.co/15vxY6S9yd

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

How you can help: call Governor Hochul at [phone] to let her know that you oppose the Empire Station Complex. This is not a transit plan, but a land grab masquerading as one 👎

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

Last month @wpix covered an emergency walk held by the Empire Station Coalition highlighting the destruction, displacement, and disaster that would be unleashed if the Empire Station Complex (now Penn Station Area Project) is approved. https://t.co/Uy8zWFkRqP

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

Thank you @savingplaces for speaking out in favor of "thoughtful approaches" to improving the Penn Station neighborhood!

[Saving Places @SavingPlaces]

Read our letter in opposition to NY State’s proposed Penn Station Area Project. While no one argues that the site needs improvement, there are better, more thoughtful approaches: https://t.co/BSGPgkA1Fw

There is a public hearing about the project on 1/20: https://t.co/LOJr7hqzjE

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

Stop the Vornado Tornado over Midtown by signing the petition against the demolition: https://t.co/0IRgIaKmDe

[Gothamist @Gothamist]

A church built in 1871, the Gimbels Skybridge, a bar inside of a 19th-century rowhouse, a piece of the original Penn Station; here are historic elements of the NYC streetscape that could be lost if the Penn Station Area Redevelopment moves forward as is. https://t.co/KSbH2R35BS

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

Mad? So are we! Love New York? So do we!

Sign our petition, and register to speak out at the ONLY public hearing on this issue, on 1/20.
https://t.co/0IRgIaKmDe

(8/8)

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

Just some of the buildings to be demolished (1/8)

First up: the Historic Hotel Pennsylvania.

The ballroom at the Hotel Pennsylvania was the first music venue in New York City to allow racially integrated bands. This place is important to our city's history.

📸 David Holowka

[StopTheVornadoTornado @StopVornado]

To be demolished: the beautiful Stewart Hotel — another one of those supposedly "blighted" buildings. Built in 1929, this still-in-business-hotel is eligible for both the National Register of Historic Places and New York City landmark status.

(7/8)