Peter Slatin – Design Needed, Olympics or Not

Suddenly, it seems as if New York is gaining on Los Angeles in the Adventurous Architecture sweepstakes.

Much to its chagrin, Los Angeles has pitched in to help the Big Apple. The sprawling city – or its beachy neighbor, Santa Monica – has provided New York with Thom Mayne and Morphosis, whose ambitious, exciting plan for the Olympic Village in Long Island City was chosen in late May by NYC2012 for the still-unawarded 2012 games.

Meanwhile, the committee overseeing a huge mixed-use project along Grand Avenue just outside downtown Los Angeles has passed over two locals – Frank Gehry, who one hesitates to call a favorite son, and developer Jerry Snyder – in favor of a very short list consisting of Forest City West, with architects AC Martin, and Related of California, with David Childs.

One key question in New York will be whether developers in Long Island City will proceed with the Morphosis design even if the city’s Olympic bid fails, as seems increasingly likely. The city scored poorly against Paris and other competitors in a recent weighting of potential sites by the International Olympic Committee. Add to that the prevailing – if, perhaps, faddish – anti-U.S. sentiment among the international community, and it appears that the strong support our bid may have enjoyed in the post-Sept. 11 world has weakened considerably.

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Nonetheless, it is certainly too soon to give up, especially considering the impressive headway we’ve made and the remarkable planning that has taken place. There could be a deal on a West Side stadium for the Jets, or perhaps one in Queens, where some politicians are now pointing to as a superior site. There could be consensus – and funding – on improved mass transit to the far West Side that would help fulfill planner Alex Garvin and big guy Dan Doctoroff’s vision of an Olympic X. The conversion of the High Line elevated railroad to a pedestrian walkway tying Greenwich Village to Midtown could be completed. New Hudson and East River tunnels could be dug.

It is a great and compelling vision that encompasses our hopes and dreams for a vibrant, livable New York. It doesn’t rely on suburbanization a la Battery Park City; instead, it simply makes living here more fulfilling.

No, it’s not too late to give up. But perhaps more importantly, it’s not too early to start planning in earnest to move these plans forward no matter what the outcome in July 2005, when the final 2012 decision will be announced. Competitive games are great, and those who say they are too costly, too dangerous, too overwhelming or just too plain annoying should think hard about why they live here in the first place. But the real competition New York needs to get into is not one to host the Olympics. It’s the competition to remain a global leader as the new century reaches adolescence and achieves maturity.

There is serious competition on that score, not only from London and Paris but more pressingly from Shanghai and elsewhere in China. Los Angeles, already an industrial powerhouse, could grow in importance as a financial center as the Far East grows. Nothing will doom our future faster than a failure to move ahead of the curve in transportation infrastructure – transportation for goods and for people.

This is the time to begin to look beyond a single dream – the Olympics – toward a far more important reality: relevance and survival. The global economy is stealing up on us and will overtake us if we don’t work together to prepare for a marathon that will take us into the next century.

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