Early Criticism for Gov. Cuomo's Penn Station Plans

Dana Rubinstein reports on the initial reviews of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposal to remake Penn Station by adding terminals for Amtrak and the Long Island Rail Road at the James A. Farley Post Office Building across the street.

"On Monday afternoon, the city’s two most venerable planning organizations — the Regional Plan Association and the Municipal Art Society — said in a joint statement that Cuomo’s plans 'won’t go far enough,'" according to Rubinstein.

New York Times Architecture Critic Michael Kimmelman also wrote a big opinion piece that sought out Vishaan Chakrabarti, founder of the New York-based architecture firm Practice for Architecture and Urbanism, with a challenge to go even further than Coumo's plan.

The RPA, MAS, and Chakrabarti agree on a recommendation to incorporate the eventual relocation of Madison Square Garden into the redevelopment of Penn Station.

In a separate article, Rubinstein also reports that the disagreement over the Penn Station proposal has already caused tension between the RPA and Scott Rechler, the RPA's incoming chairman, a Cuomo appointee to the board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and chairman and CEO of real estate company RXR.