by: Linda G. Miller
Event: Meet and Greet with Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney
Location: Center for Architecture, 03.22.10
Speaker: Carolyn Maloney — Congresswoman, 14th District
Sponsors: AIANY; AIA Queens
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.
Michael Toolan
For his first program, Jay Bond, AIANY’s new policy director, invited Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney to address her legislative agenda as it pertains to the city’s massive infrastructure projects. “That she joined us early Monday morning after the historic vote on the health care bill,” said Bond, “is a testament to her commitment to her constituents and the city she represents.” Maloney represents the 14th District, on the East Side of Manhattan and western part of Queens. Whether or not you live in her district, you are almost certainly affected by the ambitious infrastructure projects — the Second Avenue Subway, East Side Access, and the Outerboard Detour Roadway — taking place on both sides of the East River.
“We have to invest in our infrastructure and if we don’t go forward we’re going backwards,” stated Maloney. For New Yorkers, we are literally “digging our way out of the recession.” Building the Second Avenue Subway, which she called “a sad urban story,” eliciting both chuckles and sighs from the audience, has been one of her top priorities since she was first elected to Congress. Lexington Avenue subway riders commute on the most overcrowded line in the nation. The full-length subway, which will run from 125th Street to Lower Manhattan, will alleviate congestion and reach underserved East Side neighborhoods.
The East Side Access is underway and will create new tunnels and reuse existing ones to transport approximately 160,000 LIRR passengers, including 5,000 residents of western Queens, directly into Grand Central Station. A new station in Sunnyside is expected to act as a catalyst for economic development and growth in Long Island City, as well.
“We look jealously to the West Side of Manhattan,” Maloney noted. One project that could enhance the quality of life on the East Side is the Outerboard Detour Roadway (ODR). Along with a coalition of elected officials, she is urging the State Department of Environmental Conservation to extend the permits to retain the caissons in the East River, a holdover from when the FDR Drive was repaired. The development of the ODR — running roughly from the Con Ed site to the UN — will create parkland and trails for pedestrians and cyclists. She openly invited the Chapter to get involved in the planning.
Since architecture is tied to construction, one of the hardest hit sectors in today’s economy, Maloney stated she is seeing massive construction projects abroad funded by the Department of Defense. “NY sends a lot of money to the federal government,” she said, “and we need to get our share of the jobs.” NY-based architects need to become pre-qualified for these projects and Maloney invited a representative from the procurement department to come to the Center to go over the process with her.
Linda G. Miller is a NYC-based freelance writer and publicist, and a contributing editor to e-Oculus and OCULUS.