Does Manhattan Need an Airport Instead of That Park?
- Posted by: Andrew Price
- on July 24, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Sure, Central Park is nice…for some of the year, at least. But how convenient would it be to just have an airport there instead. So convenient, right?
That’s the view of The Manhattan Airport Foundation. Here’s a clip from their “project vision”:
Public dollars helped create Central Park in the 1850s. And public responsibility dictates that we transform this underutilized asset into something we so desperately need today. Manhattan Airport will prove New York City no longer allows it’s vestigial prewar cityscape to languish in irrelevance but instead reinvents these spaces with a daring and inspired bravado truly befitting one of the world’s great cities.
Sound crazy? I thought so too. Worldchanging has a post up with some more information on what it’s really about.
CLARIFICATION: The Manhattan Airport Foundation is almost certainly a provocative, Yes Men-style hoax meant to spark a conversation about the uses and value of public space. Sorry for not making that clearer. And I agree with the chorus of commenters below: replacing Central Park with an airport is a horrible idea.
DISCUSSION: 15 Comments
NOOOOO!!! nononononononononono.
Who can even muster up the ability to give a crap about this? New Yorkers love their park and it would be insane to have planes regularly flying right over a densely populated area full of skyscrapers, so it’s not going to happen in a million years. There, done.
Most folks would be all scared, like when the presidents plane flew by for a photo op, running from their buildings thinking there were more terrorists in the skies.
That is the dumbest urban project I’ve seen in ages.
Wouldn’t planes just be crashing into buildings constantly?
This is disturbingly rediculous.
hi
Please NO. Central park is a essential part of the Newyork culture. I guess anyone can propose anything that he thinks about, but it should be very well stopped at the time of making such a ridiculous proposal.
If the author and the no-name organization he touts think this is going to happen, then they must think that Manhattan has the all the clout of the outer boroughs. Some of the wealthiest people in the world live in its environs, and they are not about to deal with flight patterns over their classic sixes. Practically speaking, Central Park is nowhere near large enough to handle the multiple, miles-long runways that any international airport needs. Plus terminals and maintenance facilities. Not to mention parking and access roads. Imagine the perpetual traffic jams surrounding JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia. Now put that in the middle of Manhattan. This article clearly was written for effect. It’s too stupid for words, as is the author’s contention that Central Park is an out-of-date, waste-of-space relic that is only beautiful for part of the year. I hope he tries to go push this misbegotten “idea” in a more-public forum so that he can be treated like the laughingstock he deserves to be.
A 9/11 every day.
Its a JOKE, people!
Of course it’s a joke. Their most recent twitter update is one the funniest things I’ve ever read.. “Dedicate A Bench silent auction in Montecito today raised over $26K for Manhattan International Airport.” Genius.
Please don’t do that!
Joke? Maybe this is, but in my home town of Lisbon some brainiacs decided to petition (and they won) to turn part of a local natural park designed in the 30’s for public use (ironically by a fascist regime) into golf courses for the rich. They’re destroying natural habitats of the indigenous species, cross country tracks used by both professional and amateur athletes in training, all terrain bike tracks unavailable anywhere else this close to the city – all of this which can all be used FOR FREE – to build something only a hand full of people will have access to, and most probably never even use. I’m not even going to dwell on the negative aspects of the environmental impact this will have in the long run. So, no matter how fake this Central Park thing is, beware of crazy rich people…
who gave this a good mark? bad idea!