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Next Big Development: Governors Island
By
Garth Johnston
Published Oct 30, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Oct 30, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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So this had already been kinda mentioned, but in case you were worried what Bloomberg and Dan Doctoroff were going to focus on next now that the West Side Stadium and the Olympics are dead (and assuming Blooms wins the election) the Daily News has the answer for you: Governors Island.
Doctoroff has told the News that development proposals for the 172 acre Island, separated from Brooklyn by the buttermilk channel (you learn something new every day), will be sought in February.
Current ideas being thrown around are a CUNY campus (which we think would be a dope way to throw some prestige back into a venerable institution), an Indy race track (is the one going in on Staten not going to be enough?), and something from the Related Cos (the people who brought you the fascist architecture that is the Time Warner Center). But really nothing seems set in stone yet.
So this is where you come in. If you had the power to make the decision, what would you want to see on Governors Island? We have one friend who thinks the city should build a non-CUNY university there to bring more brains to the city (he also wants to call it Empire State University, á la Spider-Man, but that is neither here nor there) and we have another friend who thinks the entire thing should be turned into urban planners paradise in the vein of Roosevelt Island and Battery Park City (which is an interesting idea, as the views on the island are pretty dope). Also, we vaguely remember some talk a while back of putting either an amusement park or a casino there (or are we making that up, anyone remember?). Which is to say, while we personally aren't sure what should get put on Governors Island we do know that we don't want it to suck (helpful, we know). What are your thoughts?
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