Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who leaves office at midnight on Dec. 31, has been urgently pushing a plan to build new commercial towers in Manhattan around Grand Central Terminal. The idea is to demolish outdated buildings and erect modern office buildings to compete with London or Singapore. New York could use more top-flight office space, but the proposal to rezone 73 blocks in East Midtown needs work.
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In our view, the City Council has two choices: refashion the proposal before it votes on it this week, or reject it and wait for the next mayor's input. Here are the main issues that need addressing:
TRANSIT BOTTLENECKS: The subway platforms converging beneath the terminal are perilously crowded even now. The Bloomberg administration has promised a $100 million bond up front to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority deal with bigger crowds, and the plan calls for new entryways and more spacious platforms.
Even so, the council must be absolutely certain that these are addressed because higher buildings will inevitably add many new commuters to an already overstressed system. The M.T.A. has estimated that $465 million is needed for basic improvements to deal with 80,000 additional people coming into the area after the completion of the new Long Island Rail Road spur.
AIR RIGHTS: Critics say the proposal greatly undervalues the air rights that smaller buildings or nonprofits like churches can sell so that developers can build taller buildings than would otherwise be permissible. The city has said that these rights should be sold at $250 a square foot. Critics say market rates negotiated in private bargaining would produce more revenue that could then be applied to public purposes, like improved mass transit.
PUBLIC SPACES: The latest proposal presented by Deputy Mayor Robert Steel is full of intriguing ideas about improving public spaces in the rezoned area where the new skyscrapers would be built — a more parklike Park Avenue, for example, and a pedestrian walkway adjacent to the terminals. These ideas, however worthy, could also need more public vetting.
PRESERVATION: Much of the existing neighborhood, while aging, is serviceable, built to human scale and containing elegant older buildings, including the Graybar Building and the Yale Club, to name only two. It is not clear at the moment exactly how they can be protected from developers eager to move skyward as quickly as possible.
Mr. Bloomberg's administrators say they are working hard to address these complaints. If they can do that, fine, but there is no need to meet an artificial deadline.
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