MUSEUM WIN
It’s ‘Natural’ selection as judge OKs expansion
This project won’t go the way of the dinosaurs.
Plans to expand the footprint of the American Museum of Natural History can proceed after a judge ruled Monday against a neighborhood group opposed to the project.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Lynn Kotler ruled that the $383 million expansion slated for a portion of Theodore Roosevelt Park could go ahead because the 1877 lease between the city Parks Department and museum allows for such construction.
The decision comes two months after Kotler issued a temporary restraining order that put the brakes on construction of the five-story Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation.
The plaintiffs in the case, Community United to Protect Theodore Roosevelt Park, were not pleased with the decision.
Cary Goodman, who lives nearby on W. 86th St. and helped lead the effort to stop construction, described it as “pretty disappointing for the community.”
“The museum has been a very bad neighbor and used its power and prestige to steamroll this through,” he said. “There’s never been a hearing in which the public and officials were in the same room together.”
He noted that his group of more than 40 neighbors gathered about 5,000 signatures during the last two years to express their opposition.
“It’s a collapse of the whole process,” he said, “They’re getting rid of 22 trees at a time of global climate crisis. It just feels bad,” he said.
The museum, meanwhile, applauded the move.
“The expansion will significantly enhance museum education programs, visitors’ experience, and scientific work,” said museum spokesman Scott Rohan. “We have also made a significant contribution to the ongoing maintenance and care of the park and will of course work closely with our partners to minimize any disruption throughout the construction project.”