Make the Fulton Street Fish Market a public space: OPINION

Opponents of a residential tower and mall want to see a market or school on Pier 17

New Amsterdam Market at Pier 17
New Amsterdam Market at Pier 17

The city should preserve as a public space the old Fulton Fish Market site, where the Texas-based Howard Hughes Corporation wants to build a mall and apartment tower, write opponents of that plan in a New York Times editorial.

The area has seen too much retail consume the area’s history, according to New Amsterdam Market board members Paul Greenberg and Roland Lewis and Joan K. Davidson, chair of the Hudson Fulton Champlain Quadricentennial Commission.

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The trio would like to see the city give a permanent spot on Pier 17 to the New Amsterdam Market, a weekly gathering of small and mid-sized food and fish vendors at the historic New Market Building. The writers also suggest building a public school or a sport and commercial fishing port.

The founder of the New Amsterdam Market, Rober LaValva, recently threw in the towel. The market has clashed with Howard Hughes at least since 2012, when LaValva declined the developer’s offer to move into the Pizzeria Uno building on Pier 17. [NYT]Tom DiChristopher