Jimmy Stewart's Senator Smith Would Have Opposed the Louis Kahn/FDR Memorial

Is the fight to make Roosevelt Island's Southpoint Park a true waterfront park with clear, unobstructed East River and Manhattan/Queens skyline views as well developing as much green parkland as the location permits a "lost cause" like that described by Jimmy Stewart in Frank Capra's classic movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Is the fix in for the crypt like, concrete mausoleum designed by Louis Kahn as a memorial for FDR but which everyone knows is in reality a memorial for the famous architect by his supporters?

Maybe not! The public is starting to assert itself in opposition to the Louis Kahn structure that some seek to impose at the site of Roosevelt Island's future waterfront Southpoint Park. The president of the Roosevelt Island Resident's Association sent a letter to those elected officials currently supporting the project (Council Member Lappin, Assembly Member Kellner, Congresswomen Maloney, Borough President Stringer) expressing his personal opposition, and in my opinion the views of most Roosevelt Island residents, to the Kahn project. Excerpts of the letter were posted as comments (#75) to this article from the NY Times City Room blog and posted here in full.

These comments were sent to our elected officials and are reprinted from the Roosevelt Island newspaper of record, The Main Street WIRE:
There was a press event on October 26 at which several of our elected officials, including Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Council Member Jessica Lappin, Assembly Member Micah Kellner, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and others endorsed the Louis Kahn-designed memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I was invited but declined, and I’d like to tell you why, taking excerpts from a letter I sent to our representatives:
• RIRA has not voted in favor or against the Kahn Memorial.
• I have been opposed to this use of the southernmost three acres of Southpoint Park for the better part of a decade. My neighbors have clearly indicated that they want the greenest, least formal park that can be built; these three acres combine “pollarded” linden trees, a manicured lawn, and a concrete and stone “mausoleum” at the southern tip of the Island that is 180° opposite of this goal. No variations in the Kahn plan may be permitted and it is not at all clear that Louis Kahn, who died thirty-three years ago, would still approve this plan for the twenty-first century.
• The survey taken by the Trust for Public Land and made public in October 2004 found that most users of the park favored the least “built up” of the three conceptual plans, the Wild Gardens/Green Rooms plan, and specifically that, “The Roosevelt Memorial had some supporters but mostly detractors; people saw it as too much concrete.” The only design item that was more highly repudiated was a “commercial crescent” to be imposed on the park. While this survey has been criticized as being flawed (not enough park users queried), it is the only survey commissioned by RIOC so far, and for elected officials to support this project without the endorsement of the “end users” of the park seems premature.
• RIOC has stated that, if FERI (Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute) has not raised the $40 million required for the project (and for which they have had 33 years to raise the funds) by the end of this year the project would be scrapped. My last report was that just over $5 million has been raised. Whether RIOC will stand by their self-imposed deadline remains to be seen.
• When I spoke to NYC Parks Commissioner, Adrian Benape, at the commissioning of the Manhattan Tram Plaza, his take on the project was that the architectural community would show up for the ribbon cutting and never be seen again. Parks should be built for the people who will use them.
Some proponents of the Kahn Memorial believe that its construction will prevent anything else (residential? commercial?) from being built on this land and this is certainly a cause for concern. I believe that the powers that be—RIOC, DHCR, City Council, State legislature—by raising $12.9 million have insured that these thirteen acres will be park land and nothing but park land. The decisions we make now will be preserved at Southpoint for 50 years, 100 years, and we should build what we think is best not what is most expedient. YES, we should build a memorial to FDR, but not a memorial to architect Louis Kahn and not this memorial. If the TPL survey is not credible then RIOC should commission another to take the temperature of this community and of other users of Southpoint Park. But to endorse the Kahn Memorial (and it is Kahn, not Roosevelt who is being memorialized by this design plan) without the support of those who will use this park, regardless of what money has been raised thus far, is irresponsible.

You Tube video link from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is here.