Some wishes at the new year

Winter is upon us, 2007 is almost over, and so once again we turn our thoughts to New Year’s wishes of the community kind.

As in recent years, development and park projects figure prominently on our wish list. Development is a constant factor and force in the city, with the power to totally reshape our communities, for better or for worse. Park projects also have potential to overhaul our landscape.

On the St. Vincent’s Hospital/Rudin project, we welcome St. Vincent’s bold and far-sighted project to revitalize itself to provide world-class healthcare to our community well into this new century. But we think Rudin’s planned “bookend” Seventh Ave. residential building is too big and that there is room for negotiation on its height and bulk.

On the proposed three-district Department of Sanitation garage on Spring St., we hope the city realizes this would be, by definition, a “regional facility” under fair-share guidelines, requiring extra review. The precedent was the Lower East Side’s Pier 36, where Assemblymember Sheldon Silver successfully sued the city in 1993, arguing the pier was a “de facto dumping ground” for city operations.

Also on the subject of garbage, we wish for the city to seriously consider alternative sites to Gansevoort Peninsula — a key part of Hudson River Park — for a marine waste transfer station, such as Pier 76 at W. 36th St.

Additionally, on the Hudson River Park, we emphatically hope the Hudson River Park Trust’s board of directors reject Related Companies’ Cirque du Soleil Pier 40 plan at their Jan. 31 vote. We hope the Trust seriously considers the new Pier 40 Partnership’s ideas, about which we will be commenting more soon. Furthermore, we think outgoing Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, known for his cozy relations with developers and Related, in particular — should step down from the Trust’s board and be replaced by Amanda Burden, City Planning commissioner, who has shown community sensitivity, such as in the East Village/Lower East Side rezoning. Pier 40, the park in general, and the whole Lower West Side need intelligent planning.

On another park issue, a no-brainer: The High Line’s northern end must be saved.

The city must also keep cracking down on illegal hotels and tenant harassment in 2008. The city must also review and learn from its flawed decision to approve the totally inappropriate and noncontextual 45-story Trump Soho condo-hotel in relatively low-rise Hudson Square.

We hope the mayor’s congestion-pricing plan wins approval, reducing traffic and increasing mass-transit revenue. Tolling the East River bridges should remain in strong consideration.

Finally, with New York’s presidential primaries just a month away, we are concerned that as the Democratic race tightens, attacks are reaching new lows. We hope the candidates stick to the issues and don’t drag the campaign into the mud, damaging each other — and Democrats’ chances of retaking the White House — in the process.