WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Elected officials are holding a town hall meeting this week to brief the community on the status of the George Washington Bridge Terminal — but it was not immediately clear whether the developers planned to attend.
A town hall to discuss the long-delayed redevelopment of the bridge was scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 9, but there was no confirmation that George Washington Bridge Redevelopment Venture LLC — a private development company overseeing the project — or the Port Authority plans to attend the meeting.
Officials have not addressed the public on the project since 2014. A meeting on the terminal scheduled for December was canceled at the last minute.
Developers and the Port authority did not respond to requests for comment on whether they planned to attend.
The Town Hall will take place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Holyrood Episcopal Church at 715 W. 179th St. and Fort Washington Avenue, and was organized by Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, State Sen. Marisol Alcantara, State Assemblywoman Carmen De La Rosa and Community Board 12.
CB12 Chairman Shah Ally said that a Town Hall meeting with the public and elected officials "makes much more sense" than waiting for developers to address the public, after developers repeatedly postponed public appearances.
“It [took] tremendous amount of work to get the GWB developers and parties to ‘come back to the table',” Ally said, after being unable to find a time for a public meeting that worked for the developers.
“I think a Town Hall meeting makes much more sense… The Town Hall offers much more interaction by the public.”
Rodriguez sent out a press release inviting the public to "come to find out and ask questions about where the project stands and how it will benefit the community."
His office did not immediately respond to calls for further comment.
The long-delayed renovations, which has been in the works since 2008, was slated to be completed in mid-May 2015, and was then delayed until December 2016. That date was again pushed back recently to April 2017, a spokesman for the project said.
