Supersize My City!

For well over one hundred years, Manhattan’s vertical growth in the form of skyscrapers, helped fuel the engine of this city’s economy. More buildings with more floors meant more people, more business, more taxes … more revenue for the city’s coffers. Those concerned about the flight paths of local birds and the harm to their habitats “squawked” but in most cases were overruled. The same species of birds continue to fly overhead today, same as before. Our statues and cars clearly show proof of them on occasion.

Today, there are engineers and developers who wish to expand the borders of Manhattan; this time in a horizontal direction. In our city’s history, it’s been done numerous times before. In fact, one of the more recent success stories is the 92 acres of landfill upon which Battery Park City arose. This time however, it’s those concerned about local fish habitats that seek to kill this project as was done did years ago with the West Side Highway. Kill it dead ... before it even has a chance to get off the ground (Or is that water?), so to speak. Unfortunately, it’s yet to be proven by this lobby that any fish have been harmed by any recent landfill project. Nevertheless, this project is now at risk.

New York City became one of the great cities of the modern world with progressive thinking. We need it now to remain a vital location and destination. Let’s make sure all of the homework is done by experts (on both sides) and thoroughly checked before proceeding. Any large scale building project that may have any possible negative impact needs to be studied. Unless the opposition can present undeniable proof of irreversible harm to the citizens or wildlife around the city, I say … “let’s change the maps and make New York City a bit closer to New Jersey.”