'Coast Guard Takes Over Governors Island'

Courtesy of The US Coast Guard, The Reservist

'It's happening now' billboard

Author's photograph

1976–2003 events at Governors Island

(Timeline)

25 March 2005–25 October 2006 events

(Timeline)

Alexander Cooper Associates 1979

(Bibliography)
Alexander Cooper Associates, Battery Park City Draft Summary Report and 1979 Masterplan, Battery Park City Authorities, New York, 1979.

Arnow 2006

(Bibliography)
Arnow, Pat, 'Making the Old Fulton Fish Market into Something New', The Gotham Gazette, February 2006, viewed 7 December 2006, http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/waterfront/20060227/18/1770

Baiter 1975

(Bibliography)
Baiter, Richard, Lower Manhattan Waterfront, Office of Lower Manhattan Development, Department of City Planning, Battery Park City Authority, New York, June 1975.

Battery Conservancy, The 2007

(Bibliography)
The Battery Conservancy, viewed 12 January 2007, http://www.thebattery.org/

Battery Maritime Building 2007

(Bibliography)
Battery Maritime Building, viewed 28 June 2009, http://www.batterymaritimebuilding.com/

Battery Park City Authority 1969

(Bibliography)
Battery Park City Authority, Master Development Plan: Battery Park City, Battery Park City Authority, New York, 1969.

Battery Park City Authority 2007

(Bibliography)
Battery Park City Authority, viewed 12 January 2007, http://www.batteryparkcity.org/

Battery Park City Parks Conservancy 2007

(Bibliography)
Battery Park City Parks Conservancy, viewed 12 January 2007, http://www.bpcparks.org

Bender 2002

(Bibliography)
Bender, Thomas, The Unfinished City: New York and the Metropolitan Idea, New Press, New York, 2002.

Bloomberg 2002

(Bibliography)
Bloomberg, Michael, New York City's Vision for Lower Manhattan, 2002, viewed 12 January 2007, http://www.lowermanhattan.info/extras/presentations/erw_low_res_present_72.pdf

Bone 2004

(Bibliography)
Bone, Kevin (ed.), The New York Waterfront: Evolution and Building Culture of the Port and Harbor, rev. edn, The Monacelli Press, New York, 2004.

Boyer 1994

(Bibliography)
Boyer, M. Christine, The City of Collective Memory: Its Historical Imagery and Architectural Entertainments, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1994.

Burrows and Wallace 1999

(Bibliography)
Burrows, Edwin G. and Wallace, Mike, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, Oxford University Press, New York, 1999.

Buttenwieser 1999

(Bibliography)
Buttenwieser, Ann, Manhattan Water-Bound: Planning and Developing Manhattan's Waterfront from the Seventeenth Century to the Present, New York University Press, New York, 1999.

Caro 1974

(Bibliography)
Caro, Robert, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, Knopf, New York, 1974.

Clancy 2006

(Bibliography)
Clancy, Michael, 'School Plan Afloat: Special Maritime High School is First Institution Invited to Move onto 172-acre Governors Island', AM New York, 14 November 2006, n.p.

Cox 1997

(Bibliography)
Cox, Kevin (ed.), Spaces of Globalization: Reasserting the Power of the Local, Guilford Press, New York, 1997.

Downtown Alliance 2006

(Bibliography)
Downtown Alliance, Fall 2006 Lower Manhattan Rebuilding Summary, 2006, viewed 14 January 2007, http://www.downtownny.com/assets/fall%2006%20rebuilding%20final.pdf

Downtown Alliance 2007

(Bibliography)
Downtown Alliance, viewed 7 January 2007, http://www.downtownny.com

Eighty South Street 2007

(Bibliography)
Eighty South Street, viewed 7 January 2007, http://www.80southstreet.net

Empire State Development Corporation 2006

(Bibliography)
Empire State Development Corporation, viewed 20 December 2006, http://www.empire.state.ny.us

Federal Register 2003

(Bibliography)
Federal Register, Presidential Proclamation 7647, Establishment of the Governors Island National Monument, 7 February 2003, viewed 12 January 2007, http://www.govisland.com/PDFs/RFEI/proclamation7647.pdf

Ferreira 2006

(Bibliography)
Ferreira, Mary, 'Governors Island Memory Park', New York Sun, 28 February 2006, viewed 12 January 2007, http://www.nysun.com/comments/203

General Growth Properties 2008

(Bibliography)
General Growth Properties, viewed 31 January 2008, http://www.ggp.com/Properties/MallDirectory.aspx?smuid=763

General Services Administration 2001

(Bibliography)
General Services Administration, 'Statement on Governors Island', 31 July 2001, viewed 12 January 2007, http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?pageTypeId=8199&channelId=-18801&P=XAE&contentId=11769&contentType=GSA_BASIC

Geographical features of Governors Island

(ImageMap)

Map courtesy of the Regional Planning Association

GIPEC

(Bibliography)
GIPEC, see Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC)

GIPEC 'About GIPEC' 2007

(Bibliography)
Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), 'About GIPEC', viewed 7 January 2007, http://www.govisland.com/About_GIPEC/default.asp

GIPEC Conceptual Options 2005

(Bibliography)
Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), Conceptual Options, September 2005, viewed 13 January 2007, http://www.govisland.com/PDFs/PresRFP/Conceptual_Options.pdf

GIPEC Development Framework 2005

(Bibliography)
Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), Governors Island, Development Framework, March 2005, Introduction, viewed January 2007, http://www.govisland.com/PDFs/Development_Framework/01Intro.pdf

GIPEC Development Framework 2006

(Bibliography)
Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), Governors Island Development Framework—Preliminary Short- and Long-Term Transportation Plan, January 2006, viewed 5 February 2006, http://www.govisland.com/PDFs/PresRFP/Appendix_O_Preliminary_Transportation_Plan.pdf

GIPEC New York's Opportunity 2005

(Bibliography)
Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), Governors Island: New York's Preservation and Development Opportunity, 2005, viewed 20 December 2006, http://www.govisland.com/PDFs/PlanningFlyer.pdf

GIPEC Next Steps 2006

(Bibliography)
Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), 13 November 2006, 'Next Steps for Governors Island's Redevelopment', viewed 20 November 2006, http://www.govisland.com/Press_Room/11-13-06vision.asp

GIPEC Planning and Development 2004

(Bibliography)
Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), 'Planning and Development', 2004, viewed 30 January 2008, http://www.govisland.com/About_GIPEC/planning_development.asp

GIPEC Request for Expressions of Interest 2005

(Bibliography)
Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), Request for Expressions of Interest, GIPEC, New York, 2005, viewed 12 January 2007, http://www.govisland.com/RFEI.asp

GIPEC Request for Proposals 2006

(Bibliography)
Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), Request for Proposals for the Preservation and Redevelopment of Governors Island, GIPEC, New York, 15 February 2006, viewed 15 January 2007, http://www.govisland.com/PDFs/PresRFP/GovIslandDevRFP.pdf

GIPEC Request for Statement 2006

(Bibliography)
Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), Request for Statement of Qualification, 23 October 2006, viewed 15 January 2007, http://www.govisland.com/PDFs/open_space_rfq/OpenSpaceRFQ_101006.pdf

Glen 2006

(Bibliography)
Glen, Susan L., Images of America: Governors Island, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, S.C., 2006.

Goldberger 1986

(Bibliography)
Goldberger, Paul, 'Battery Park City is a Triumph of Urban Design', New York Times Post, 31 August 1986, Late City Final Edition, section 2, p. 1.

Governors Island Alliance - Funding 2007

(Bibliography)
Governors Island Alliance, 'Island Funding to Date', 3 December 2007, viewed 10 January 2008, http://www.governorsislandalliance.org/newsite/2007/12/island_funding.html

Governors Island Alliance - Guidelines 2006

(Bibliography)
Governors Island Alliance, Governors Island: Guidelines for Parks and Public Spaces, July 2006, viewed 7 January 2007, http://www.governorsislandalliance.org/pdf/giparkguidelinessm.pdf

Governors Island Alliance 2007

(Bibliography)
Governors Island Alliance, viewed 7 January 2007, http://www.governorsislandalliance.org

Governors Island Alliance—About 2006

(Bibliography)
Governors Island Alliance, 'About the Governors Island Alliance', 30 December 2006, viewed 15 January 2008, http://www.governorsislandalliance.org/newsite/2006/12/about_governors_island_allianc.html

Governors Island video

(Bibliography)
Governors Island, video film on YouTube, viewed 7 January 2007, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsV6tZNkFzs

Governors Island: A brief history and visual tour

(MiniEssay)

Governors Island is so overlooked, in both senses of the word, that it may be useful to introduce it, both visually and historically. There are 225 structures on the island, including 62 historic structures.

Governors Island has appeared and disappeared throughout the city's history.

Following various changes of ownership during the colonial period, in 1800 Governors Island was ceded by the State of New York to the federal government. In 1821 the Army of the East took over Governors Island as its headquarters, but in 1878 a shift from military fort to administrative centre took place. In 1903, management formally passed to the United States Army and this phase lasted until the army's departure in 1965. The year after, control passed to the US Coast Guard, and Governors Island became its largest base.

Economics and politics have featured in Governors Island's history, in a mirror image of New York City's history:

Governors Island

Called by the Indians 'Pagganck', was purchased from two members of the Indian tribe of Manahatas named Cakapetayne and Pehiwas by Wouter Van Twiller, a Governor and Director General of New Netherland—June 16, 1637: the price paid was two axe heads, a string of beads and a handful of nails.

(Quoted from the plaque erected by the Holland Society of New York, 1951)

The island had been used intermittently by the Dutch since the 1620s, and was known as Noten Eyland, a name that may derive from 'pagganck', the Native American name meaning 'the island of many nut trees'. It passed to British ownership with the occupation of New Amsterdam in 1664, and was known as Nutten Island, thereby maintaining the reference to its crops of chestnut, hickory and oak nuts. The island was also a source of timber, and a sawmill was constructed during this period. In 1698 the British identified the island for the use of His Majesty's governors and signalled its future uses, bringing to an end the buying and selling of the land and inaugurating its new name, The Governor's Island.

Until the very recent past, the economic value of the island has rarely featured again in commentary. Governors Island has assumed a military and, occasionally, a diplomatic career since the War of Independence. In 1776 it was held for a few months by General Putnam for the Americans before Admiral Howe took it for the British, who occupied it until 1783, when they surrendered it to Governor George Clinton of New York State in 1783. Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev held a summit meeting in the Admiral's House in 1988.

Governors Island has had a 'what might have been' history, either bypassed entirely or assigned a supporting role in many major conflicts. Castle Williams, for example, held Confederate prisoners, and in common with other buildings, housed administrative operations for the military. If its important role as the headquarters of the US Coast Guard was known to at least some New Yorkers across the bay, far fewer would have been aware of the time capsule of mid-twentieth-century Americana contained on the island, including a Super 8 motel, cinema, bowling alley and Burger King, which had been built to service federal personnel and their families (Kereszi and Moore 2004).

Had New York City assumed a political, rather than primarily a commercial vocation, then arguably Governors Island might now be as well known as Ellis and Liberty islands. In one scenario, what eventually became the White House in Washington DC could conceivably have been located on Governors Island.

Harvey 1973

(Bibliography)
Harvey, David, Social Justice and the City, Edward Arnold, London, 1973.

Harvey 1990

(Bibliography)
Harvey, David, The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change, Blackwell, Oxford, 1990.

Harvey 2000

(Bibliography)
Harvey, David, Spaces of Hope, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2000.

Harvey 2006

(Bibliography)
Harvey, David, 'Social Justice and the City', Lecture in the Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice, University of Nottingham, UK, 7 December 2006.

Historic Front Street 2006

(Bibliography)
Historic Front Street, viewed 7 January 2006, http://www.historicfrontstreet.com

Hollevoet, Jones and Nye 1992

(Bibliography)
Hollevoet, Christel, Jones, Karen and Nye, Timothy, The Power of the City/The City of Power, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1992.

Homberger 1994

(Bibliography)
Homberger, Eric, The Historical Atlas of New York City: A Visual Celebration of Nearly 400 Years of New York City's History, Henry Holt, New York, 1994.

Jackson 1995

(Bibliography)
Jackson, Kenneth T. (ed.), The Encyclopedia of New York City, Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn., 1995.

Jacobs, A 2005

(Bibliography)
Jacobs, Andrew, New York Times, 11 November 2005, viewed 7 December 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/11/nyregion/11cnd-fish.html?ex=1165122000&en=eb32feff97319a02&ei=5070#

Jacobs, J 1961

(Bibliography)
Jacobs, Jane, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Random House, New York, 1961.

Jacobs, J 1969

(Bibliography)
Jacobs, Jane, The Economy of Cities, Random House, New York, 1969.

Johnson and Lightfoot 1980

(Bibliography)
Johnson, Harry and Lightfoot, Frederick S., Maritime New York in Nineteenth-Century Photographs, Dover Publications, New York, 1980.

Kereszi and Moore 2004

(Bibliography)
Kereszi, Lisa and Moore, Andrew, Governors Island: Photographs by Lisa Kereszi and Andrew Moore, ed., Anne Wehr, GIPEC & Public Art Fund, New York, 2004.

Knabb 1981

(Bibliography)
Knabb, Ken (ed. and trans.), Situationist International, Bureau of Public Secrets, Berkeley, 1981.

Krause and Petro 2003

(Bibliography)
Krause, Linda and Petro, Patrice (eds), Global Cities: Cinema, Architecture and Urbanism in a Digital Age, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 2003.

Landmarks on Governors Island

(ImageMap)

Map courtesy of the Regional Planning Association;
Author's photographs

Lehrer 2007

(Bibliography)
Lehrer, Brian, 'Governors Island Plans', Interview with Rob Pirani, WNYC, 20 December 2007, viewed 10 January 2008, http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2007/12/20

Let's Just Do It

(MiniEssay)

newyorkbusiness.com was harsh in its predictive headline of 13 September 2006: 'Governors Island Proposals to be Trashed' (Michaud 2006).

The costs of the proposals were thought to be too high, and this cut across GIPEC's aim to reconcile civic and commercial impulses.

In the maelstrom of New York City development politics GIPEC is an easy target for media wit and the public's comments. Curbed poked fun at the park and waterfront renderings in an article the day after the 13 November GIPEC board meeting: 'New Fake Plans for Governors Island Unveiled!':

What's in and out in the latest Governors thinking? A Curbed primer:

IN: The New York Harbor School, which will occupy a 'small part' of the island (lucky bastards)

IN: Amazingly, The Gondola, still (presumably to be scuttled once its hype purposes are exhausted)

OUT: A children's theme park plan from Nickelodeon (damn!)

OUT: Any hope a master developer will be selected 'for quite a while'

OUT: Our general patience with anything Governors Island-related

... Ahead: three more renderings of things that will never actually exist!' (Lockhart 14 November 2006).

Curbed readers had seen the signs early. In the 13 September 2006 edition, comments ranged from:

How to make this work: CASINO. No new yorker in their right mind is going to go for any other reason.

By Anonymous at September 13, 2006.

to

Without a vision, the people perish. Like Ground Zero, Atlantic Yards, the West Side and any other development, NY can do little more than navel gaze. Thank you Pataki and Bloomberg. This island should be home to thousands of people. A few glorious towers could welcome people into NY Harbor. Why not the world's tallest on this site?

By GrandPa at September 13, 2006.

via

Why not just build a Walmart or a park only for members of the New York Health and Racquet Club. Yay! Progress!

By Nolte at September 13, 2006.

(Lockhart 13 September 2006)

An idea that had been around since 1946—to locate the United Nations on Governors Island—resurfaced, but in tandem with an overt challenge to what is perceived as an anti-free-market GIPEC bias. The New York Post had this to say on 18 November 2006:

The Governors Island Preservation and Education Corp.—a city–state entity—should again revisit an idea that was first suggested nearly 60 years ago: Move the United Nations onto the island.

Such an outcome would:

• Satisfy New York's Rule One on the conversion of public land to other purposes: First and last, nobody must ever make an honest dollar on the deal.

  Governors Island is perfect for luxury housing. Properly configured, such a use could generate hundreds of millions of dollars dedicated to a worthy public purpose—say, school construction.

  Fat chance of that, though: It would generate profits for the private (that is, the taxpaying) sector. (See Rule One.)

• Open prime East Side real estate for development. The same public-purpose linkage could work here, too—much as Battery Park City has spun off hundreds of millions to underwrite low-income housing elsewhere in the city.
• Put all U.N. personnel in one spot, instead of leaving them spread all over Manhattan, as is now the case. This would make it easier to keep an eye on the spies and the Oil-for-Food grafters; diplomats with unpaid parking tickets could be kept off the ferry to Manhattan.
• Make moot the U.N.'s current land grab—it's been trying to take over Robert Moses Park as part of an expansion scheme.

So.

What's not to like about putting the United Nations on Governors Island?

In a word: Nothing.

Let's just do it
(New York Post 2006).

Location of Governors Island

(ImageMap)

Map courtesy of Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation; photograph courtesy of Tom Clinard, Governors Island History and Tour. Photograph by Christina M. Wilkinson