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Downtown Alliance president Carl Weisbrod
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The Alliance for Downtown New York, sometimes called the Downtown Alliance, is one of the business improvement districts that serves Lower Manhattan. Founded in 1994, it is the largest BID in the city -- covering, roughly, the area below Chambers Street and the Brooklyn Bridge, from the East River to West Street.
A prominent and active organization in New York's oldest neighborhood, the Alliance seeks to maintain a high-quality environment for businesses, workers, residents and visitors. To this end, the Alliance sponsors a variety of services, including supplemental sanitation and security; economic development; marketing and tourism programs, and special events.
Lower Manhattan.info recently sat down with Carl Weisbrod, the president of the Alliance for Downtown New York and a board member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, to talk about a variety of issues. Excerpts from his remarks during the conversation follow.
Weisbrod discussed the need to link the different parts of Lower Manhattan and better connect the area to the region as a whole:
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| Rebuilding of PATH system will reconnect Lower Manhattan to New Jersey |
"Downtown business interests are very clear -- the major issue is transportation. We think it's critical to make the necessary transportation improvements to make major businesses stay and to attract new major businesses.
"A Fulton Street transit hub will enable commuters and people within Lower Manhattan to easily traverse from the World Financial Center to Fulton Street. But the major need is to make Lower Manhattan more connected with the rest of the city and region.
"[Lower Manhattan] truly has to be a center for airport access with the rest of the region. If it's not done in Lower Manhattan, it won't be done in New York City.
"We have to make Lower Manhattan more accessible to labor pools in Long Island, New Jersey and Westchester County. Long Island is the fastest growing labor pool in the region; if we're going to capture that growth, we have to improve transportation to Long Island. This is not only a Lower Manhattan issue, but a citywide and regional issue, [and] we look forward to working with the governor and the mayor to make it a reality.
"That's what Lower Manhattan businesses want. Surveys consistently show that transportation is the number-one issue. If [we don't take steps] now, we are losing a major opportunity and also sending a very bad signal to [a community] looking for assurance that improvements will be made."
On the recently announced plan for the World Trade Center site, and the future of Lower Manhattan:
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| "The sooner we repair the skyline ... the better off we'll be" |
"The two finalists were clearly the best of the designs that were submitted. Between the two, it was very close. It [the final decision] was ultimately an appropriate call for the governor and mayor to make.
"The Libeskind plan is inspiring, but equally important, it's also buildable, and provides the kind of downtown center that we want. How it evolves remains to be seen, but it's important to use underground space for efficient connections across Lower Manhattan.
"The Libeskind plan [also] provides a real symbol for the skyline. The sooner we repair the skyline, the sooner it becomes an engine for Lower Manhattan, and the better off we'll be, and the city should be.
"We're big supporters of the mayor's vision for Lower Manhattan. Many ideas for his plan we've been espousing as well. The important thing is to see that that vision is implemented. Ultimately, businesses are reasonably hardheaded. They make decisions on what they believe is going to happen, not on what they hope will happen.
"To see the plans transform into reality, that's exciting. I think we've come a lot farther in 15 months than most of us expected. I'm personally very heartened by the progress that's been made to date.
"This has clearly been an incredible process. We had like an all-star team of architects that competed for this. The results have been quite impressive and will do New York proud."
On a new means of transportation downtown:
"We expect to start an all-electric, all-free jitney service within the next few months. [A jitney is a trolley or small bus.] It will provide much greater connections between the east and wide sides of downtown as well as providing an opportunity for tourists, shoppers, residents and workers to more easily navigate Lower Manhattan. Ideally, when the World Trade Center site is rebuilt, we'll operate a jitney across Fulton Street as well."
Among the Alliance's ongoing efforts is a streetscape improvement program. Specialized maps, street signs and directional signs are already in place throughout Lower Manhattan, and the program will soon be expanded via installation of customized light fixtures and street furniture such as benches and trash baskets.
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| Map fixtures are just part of overall streetscape plan |
"We're in the midst of a major streetscape improvement on the Canyon of Heroes [the stretch of Broadway between Battery Park and City Hall]. This is one of the great historic stretches of street in the entire world. There have been more than 200 commemorative parades in 100 years, starting with the dedication of the Statue of Liberty."
Weisbrod said he is looking forward to another River to River festival, which the Alliance sponsors in conjunction with organizations such as the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Battery Park City Arts and Events, World Trade Center Arts and Events, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the Battery Park City Conservancy.
"We're going to be implementing the second River to River festival. Last year's highly successful River to River fest was the largest free arts event in New York City history…. We fully expect that to become even greater this upcoming summer."
On the Alliance's work to bolster the business community:
"We work with the city to attract and keep businesses in Lower Manhattan. Our economic development staff, along with Seedco [an organization that provides financial and technical assistance], has been in the forefront of helping small businesses downtown."
On the Alliance's work with the city:
"We have an extremely close relationship with the city. A number of alumni of the Downtown Alliance have gone to work in city government. We very much appreciate the role that Deputy Mayor [Dan] Doctoroff has played in giving Lower Manhattan priority with the mayor.
"We're both a service organization and an advocacy organization. From our perspective and the city's perspective, there are many, many close relationships…. We're all on a common mission."
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