Sandy can't halt Ferris wheel plan
Source: Agencies |
January 3, 2013, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
NEW York City is pressing ahead with plans for the world's largest Ferris wheel on its shoreline, despite the challenges from the deadly superstorm Sandy two months ago.
Flooding led to some changes to the nearly US$500 million project on Staten Island, which includes a mall and hotel, but developers haven't slowed it or scaled it back, even though parts of it are in a flood zone.
There have been questions about whether it makes sense to push ahead with the attraction, which will be 190 meters tall.
"It was in poor taste to be discussing a Ferris wheel and all this glamor - it was very hard to embrace this when you knew that your colleagues and their family members were devastated, and there were people who don't have heat or electricity or homes," said Nancy Rooney, a nurse who lives and works on the island.
The storm gave wheel developer Richard Marin "momentary pause," he said. But he quickly decided to keep going.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg envisions the attraction becoming one of the city's premier draws, offering vistas of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty to up to 30,000 riders a day by 2015.
Since the storm, the developers have been making sure the buildings can withstand flooding, Marin said, and electrical and mechanical equipment will be 9 meters above sea level. The wheel itself will be designed to withstand sustained winds up to 207 kph, far stronger than Sandy's.
Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro said Sandy's blow was no reason to step back from what he sees as a transformative project. "We have to show the community, and we have to show the world, we're coming back," he said.
Flooding led to some changes to the nearly US$500 million project on Staten Island, which includes a mall and hotel, but developers haven't slowed it or scaled it back, even though parts of it are in a flood zone.
There have been questions about whether it makes sense to push ahead with the attraction, which will be 190 meters tall.
"It was in poor taste to be discussing a Ferris wheel and all this glamor - it was very hard to embrace this when you knew that your colleagues and their family members were devastated, and there were people who don't have heat or electricity or homes," said Nancy Rooney, a nurse who lives and works on the island.
The storm gave wheel developer Richard Marin "momentary pause," he said. But he quickly decided to keep going.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg envisions the attraction becoming one of the city's premier draws, offering vistas of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty to up to 30,000 riders a day by 2015.
Since the storm, the developers have been making sure the buildings can withstand flooding, Marin said, and electrical and mechanical equipment will be 9 meters above sea level. The wheel itself will be designed to withstand sustained winds up to 207 kph, far stronger than Sandy's.
Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro said Sandy's blow was no reason to step back from what he sees as a transformative project. "We have to show the community, and we have to show the world, we're coming back," he said.
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