Community Board 5’s upcoming public forum on the impact and management of the skyscrapers sprouting around Central Park is attracting such interest that the event has been relocated to a venue that can accommodate more than 500 attendees.
The so-called Town Hall on Central Park Supertowers is scheduled for Wednesday Feb. 19 at the Celeste Bartos Forum at the New York Public Library, officials told DNAinfo. Over 500 participants are expected to attend the event, which will feature developers, including Extell Development’s Gary Barnett, architects, politicians and urban planners. The event begins at 6 p.m. and admission is free, but an RSVP on the Community Board 5 website is required.
Issues such as shadows cast over Central Park and the creation of sufficient infrastructure to serve new towers such as Extell’s One57 are expected to be among the hot topics, as well as the new structures’ impact on landmarked buildings, organizers told DNAinfo.
New York Landmarks Conservancy president Peg Breen, architect and urban planner Michael Kwartler, landscape architect Judith Heintz, Municipal Art Society executive director Margaret Newman and former New York Times columnist Warren St. John are to be among the panelists, who will be introduced by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. [DNAinfo] — Julie Strickland