Dear NYC Council Member: On the eve of the Proposed Sunset Park Re-zoning Plan Vote...

...we beg that you take one last look at how the plan proposed by the NYC Planning Department will obscure a significant portion of the magnificent and panoramic view from Sunset Park facing WEST. Please take a few minutes to read the following words presented as testimony at last week's hearing of the Council's Zoning and Franchises Sub-Committee. We represent tens of thousands of hard working residents, business owners and visitors who over the years have given of their time and money to return Sunset Park to its rightful place as one of the best, if not the best, sited park in all of New York City. Tomorrow afternoon, we ask that you vote as if you lived in Sunset Park, ran your business from Sunset Park and/or believed that preserving the history and soul of New York is worth fighting for. We do! What we're asking are reasonable and sensible modifications to the proposed plan: <<1>> TESTIMONY PRESENTED AT THE NY CITY COUNCIL ZONING & FRANCHISES SUBCOMMITTE HEARING – SUNSET PARK RE-ZONING TUESDAY- SEPTEMBER 22, 2009 I am Corey Kulcu-Roca, a member of the Friends of Sunset Park and I reside at 521 41st Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I stand before you to enlist your help in preserving the panoramic view from Sunset Park, a view like no other, a view that shines as one of the brightest jewels in New York City’s crown. Sunset Park, the park, as well as the magnificent view it affords every New Yorker, are part of this city’s patrimony and they must be cherished and preserved not only for ourselves, but for future generations. The Lenni-Lenape American Indians who tended oyster beds on Sunset Park’s shores and raised their families on the bluff where Sunset Park is sited, knew that preserving their environment was key to their own preservation. The many waves of hard-working immigrants who over the centuries and from every corner of the globe have settled, and continue to settle in Sunset Park have always recognized that it is theirs to enjoy, but also to preserve for future generations. Once the view is blocked by buildings as tall as those being proposed along Fifth (5th) and Fourth (4th) Avenues, we would have lost another iconic part of New York City, <<2>> forever. You have the power, and, we trust, the insight and the will to preserve the view from Sunset Park, as it is! We ask that you modify the proposed plan to: • Restrict building height on 5th Avenue (36th Street-50th Street) to a maximum height of 40 feet, including bulkheads; • Restrict building height elsewhere on 5th Avenue (25th- 36th Streets and 50th-65th Streets) along the area under consideration to a maximum of 50 feet, including bulkheads; • Restrict building height all along 4th Avenue to a maximum of 60 feet, including bulkheads; • Restrict building height from 39th to 41st Street, between 4th and 6th Avenues to a maximum of 40 feet, including bulkheads; • Institute a permanent moratorium on demolition of structurally-sound buildings. Preserving the view from Sunset Park and for all New Yorkers is in your hands, ladies and gentlemen of the City Council. Every child, and hard-working woman and man in Sunset Park is counting on each and every one of you to do the right thing. Thank you. Corey Kulcu-Roca, on behalf of the Friends of Sunset Park. Telephone + Fax - 718.437.1413 friendsofsunsetpark@yahoo.com <<<>>> Open the (2nd) attachment-library 1515, below, and behold a sight that each and everyone of you has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and responsibility to preserve for our children, our children's children and the many generations to come. Once it's gone, it's gone. María Roca for Friends of Sunset Park