Late last month, the the Battery Park City Authority(BCPA) voted to transfer control of the North Cove Marina, located just west of the World Financial Center Brookfield Place, from Michael Fortenbaugh, who had operated it since 1994, to Brookfield Properties (yes, same Brookfield). This pissed off members of Community Board 1, and at its full board meeting on Thursday, it passed a resolution to that effect.
There was going to be a resolution that originated in the Battery Park City committee calling for BCPA to withdraw its request for proposals (RFP) for an operator, but since a selection has already been made, that resolution was withdrawn. What did end up passing was a modified resolution that originated in the Youth and Education Committee and calls for community programming. Many fear that Brookfield will boot the sailing school and make the marina too expensive for the average boater.
The board also blasted the lack of transparency in the selection process. Apparently, while elected officials were at least kept in the loop (if not the process), the community board was not. To that end, the resolution expressed its severe disappointment with the BCPA for ignoring their recommendations, and calls on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to address "the lack of community dialogue and engagement."
—Evan Bindelglass is a local freelance journalist, photographer, cinephile, and foodie. You can e-mail him, follow him on Twitter @evabin, or check out his personal blog.
· All North Cove Marina coverage [Curbed]
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