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Proposers and Supporters
Roxanne Warren, AIA, Chair of vision42, is an architect and author. As principal of her own firm in Manhattan, she has designed projects for both private and public clients, including two large projects for NYC Transit. Her work includes a book, The Urban Oasis: Guideways and Greenways in the Human Environment (McGraw-Hill, 1997), in addition to a number of articles published in professional journals. She is a member of the Transportation & Infrastructure, and Planning & Urban Design Committees of the American Institute of Architects; a member of the Major Activity Center Circulation Systems Committee of the Transportation Research Board; a member of the board of the Advanced Transit Association; and a Fellow of the Institute for Urban Design and Forum for Urban Design. Ms. Warren has been active over three decades in research and writing on transportation/land use issues, and has been a speaker and moderator at conference seminars on the subject in the U.S. and Europe.
George Haikalis, ASCE, Co-Chair of vision42, is a civil engineer and transportation planner. He is President of the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility, Inc., (IRUM), a not-for-profit research entity focusing on market-based strategies to reduce motor vehicle traffic congestion in New York. Mr. Haikalis was with the Tri-State Regional Planning Commission for nineteen years, serving as its Director of Research. At Tri-State he prepared the region's first comprehensive transportation plan, participated in numerous studies of rail and highway projects, and developed plans for improved pedestrian access in the region's core. Mr. Haikalis served for two years as NYC Transit's Director of Revenue Budget and Fare Analysis, where he established the methodology that eventually led to the MTA's successful MetroCard program. More recently he has served as a transportation consultant to a number of civic and environmental organizations.
Advisory Committee
The vision42 initiative was launched in July 1999 under the auspices of the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility, Inc. Presentations of the plan to 310 of the City's decision makers and constituencies have received largely positive responses and led to formation of an Advisory Committee of 36 distinguished individuals:
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Jean-Claude Baker, Owner, Chez Josephine |
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Dan Biederman, President, Bryant Park Restoration Corporation |
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Jonathan Bowles, Research Director, Center for an Urban Future |
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Foster Burnett, General Manager, Hilton Times Square Hotel |
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Carter Craft, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance |
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Janine DiGioacchino, General Mngr, NYC, Mme Tussaud’s Wax Museum |
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Douglas Durst, Co-President, The Durst Organization |
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Alfred E. Fazio, Former President & CEO, 21st Century Rail Corporation |
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Jessica Flagg, Director, New York Climate Rescue |
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Robert F. Fox, Jr., Partner, Cook + Fox Architects, LLP |
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Tom Fox, President & CEO, New York Water Taxi |
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Alexander Garvin, President & CEO, Alex Garvin & Associates |
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Ashok Gupta, Sr. Energy Economist, Natural Resources Defense Council |
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Jeff Gural, Chairman & CEO, Newmark & Co. Real Estate, Inc. |
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Tony Hiss, Urbanist, author |
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Arthur Imperatore, Jr., President, NY Waterway |
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Georges Jacquemart, PE, AICP |
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John Johnston, Former President & CEO 21st Century Rail Corporation |
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Fred Kent, President, Project for Public Spaces |
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Theodore W. Kheel, Chairman, Nurture New York's Nature |
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Charles Komanoff, Right of Way |
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Dr. Floyd Lapp, FAICP |
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Rocco Landesman, President, Jujamcyn Theaters |
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Pamela Lippe, Executive Director, Earth Day New York |
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Russell Menkes, Fmr. General Manager, Hilton Times Square Hotel |
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Howard Milstein, Chairman, Milstein Brothers Capital Partners |
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Maura Moynihan, Senior Fellow, Regional Plan Association |
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Dick Netzer, PhD, Dean Emeritus, NYU Wagner School |
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Lucius J. Riccio, PhD, PE, Former Commissioner, NYC DOT |
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Elliot Sander, Senior Vice President, DMJM + Harris |
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Mildred F. Schmertz, FAIA |
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Sam Schwartz, PE, Cooper Union |
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Michael Sorkin, Director, Urban Design Program, CCNY |
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Joseph G. Tucker, Senior Vice President, Disney CORE Services |
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Vukan R. Vuchic, PhD, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Dept. of Transportation |
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Paul Steely White, Executive Director, Transportation Alternatives |
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Foundation and Other Support
In 2004, 2006, and 2007 substantial grants have been received from the New York Community Trust, which have enabled the vision42 team to commission two rounds of interrelated technical studies of the plan by highly regarded independent firms: 1) its economic implications, 2) a traffic analysis, 3) a detailed cost estimate, 4) an analysis of construction phasing, and a study of financing mechanisms. The first round of studies was completed and posted on this website in mid-April 2005. The second round of studies was released in October 2006. An update of the cost estimate and a financing study were undertaken in July and September 2007, respectively.
Additional financial support for the advocacy of vision42 has been received from some of 42nd Street's major real estate developers and managers. MTA/NYC Transit Capital Program officials have said that they would be fully prepared to construct the light rail line, should the MTA Board give its approval. Letters have been sent by seven of NYC's elected officials to the MTA Chairman and to the City’s Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding, urging that the proposal and its implications be seriously considered in their plans for the development of Far West Midtown.
The Transportation Committee of Community Board Five sent a formal resolution to the Mayor and Governor in December 2003, requesting that they and other appropriate officials authorize the coordination and integration of the environmental impact studies of the three major developments planned along the 42nd Street corridor — currently three discreet studies being performed by separate agencies — "into a comprehensive review of a wide range of cross-town surface transit options along the full length of 42nd Street, including surface light rail and bus rapid transit coupled with a variety of pedestrian enhancements."
Additional Acknowledgments
The officers of IRUM, William Guild and Jeffrey Gold, and a working group of talented volunteers have contributed many pro bono hours of much appreciated time to the vision42 advocacy effort. They include Adam Horwitch, Alessandro Fargnoli, Gabrielle Breslow, Ian Sacs, Jeffrey Gerlach, Maria Teresa Facchinetti and Mathieu Delorme (both of whose computer images of vision42 appear on this website), Carolyn Hodge, Shana Lev, Jeff Gold, David Lowe, Stéphane LeBlanc, Alexis Goldman, Laura Stockstill, Alan Ginsberg, Paul Rivey, Alan Fox, John West, Paul DiMaria, Zack Barowitz, Pablo DeGiosa, Alan Ginsberg, Chris Davis, Amy Larkin, and Michael Penney.
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