A City Council meeting on Pier 17 and its surroundings, which include the footprint of the vendor-based New Amsterdam Market, was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. this morning, but plans changed when more than 100 activists and market supporters showed up — April Bloomfield among them — and the meeting had to relocate to Council Chambers at City Hall. (Where, apparently, they were still “packed like sardines.”) During his testimony, market founder Robert LaValva explained that the market was seeking to disallow leaseholder Howard Hughes Corporation the option of demolishing or developing commercial properties in either of the old Fulton Fish Market buildings. While the corporation will replace the existing mall at Pier 17 with a new structure, plans for other structures nearby are unclear, and a growing number of activists have argued the fish market buildings should remain public property. [April Bloomfield/Twitter, DNAinfo, Earlier]
