The Battery Park City Homeowners Coalition (BPCHC) meets again to extend the deal that was negotiated in 2011. The 2011 deal saved 11 condominiums in Battery Park City (BPC) from spending $804 million over the next three decades on inflating ground rent. The reduction that they received was approximately 35% in savings, and a ground rent payment of $525 over the next 30 years. 

It’s been more than a decade since the attack on the World Trade Center. The towers collapsed into nothing. Smoke billowed up and covered neighboring buildings in the Financial District with dust. Chaos ensued within the neighborhood. Families huddled in nearby apartments, shaken by events going outside their dirtied windows. Those on the streets were tarnished with ashes from above. The future of FiDi seemed bleak as it faded beneath ominous clouds of debris. Moving forward seemed inconceivable.

Imagine you’re standing somewhere along the ribbon of green that stretches along the southwest tip of Manhattan, looking out to the Statue of Liberty. Now go back to this same spot some 50 years earlier. You are now enjoying the same view while floating in the Hudson. This makes Battery Park City a fascinating example of a planned community with an enduring environmental mission.

From Atlas holding the world on his back in Rockefeller center, to the Charging Bull on Wall Street, New York is not shy about displaying public works of art. Even a district like Battery Park City, a relatively small community, has over 20 pieces of public artwork displayed in its parks. The following five pieces are the most thought-provoking pieces the district has to offer.