Pols wary, locals loco over 14th plan
BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
Following last Thursday’s surprise
announcement that the city plans
to do an experimental program on
14th St. to prioritize buses and trucks,
and force cars to veer off the major
crosstown street after just one block,
some of the area’s politicians voiced
concerns about the plan’s potential impacts
on the community — and stressed
that this must truly be treated as a pilot
program.
Issuing the joint statement were Congressmember
Jerrold Nadler, City Council
Speaker Corey Johnson, state Senator
Brad Hoylman and Assemblymembers
Richard Gottfried and Deborah Glick.
“The decision by the New York City
Department of Transportation and
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
to pilot a Transit/Truck Priority
lanes on 14th St. raises many concerning
issues for our constituents who
reside on the blocks to the immediate
north and south of 14th St.,” the politicians
said.
“Our constituents have serious concerns,
which we share, about the impacts
of this plan on our neighborhoods,
including how rerouted traffi c could
impact local side streets. The Department
of Transportation must develop a
comprehensive plan that truly mitigates
traffi c impacts on side streets, in addition
to ensuring that trucks are routed
onto 14th St.
“The Department of Transportation
has characterized this as a pilot program,”
the politicians’ statement continued,
“and we strongly believe that it
must be a true pilot, informed by data
and with regularly scheduled, ongoing
input by local residents, businesses,
commuters, community boards and
elected offi cials. The department must
clearly defi ne the metrics by which it
will evaluate this program. We expect
changes to be made as circumstances
dictate.
“The impacted neighborhoods also
must have a comprehensive and robust
traffi c enforcement agent presence to
ensure that both 14th St. and the local
streets to the north and south have
consistent enforcement to move traffi c
safely and to protect pedestrians and
cyclists.
“We will monitor this situation,” the
pols declared, “and we will be vigilant
in fi ghting for what’s best for residents,
businesses, mass transit users, pedestrians
and cyclists.”
The so-called Transit/Truck Priority
lanes program is slated to start in June
on 14th St., between Third and Ninth
Aves., and would run for at least around
a year and a half. It would be daily and
the hours being considered are reportedly
5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
A scheme for a car-free “busway”
seemed to have been dropped when,
earlier this year, Governor Cuomo
PHOTO
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
Crosstown buses clog 14th St.
near Fifth Ave.
scrapped the full L-train shutdown plan
in favor of a “slowdown,” which will see
repair work on the line’s East River tunnels
done on nights and weekends, but
with trains always running in one tube.
The L-train “slowdown” started Fri.,
April 26.
The 14th St. Coalition, a broad
group of Village and Chelsea block associations,
last year sued to stop the Lshutdown
plan and the city’s proposed
transportation mitigation measures, including
the busway and new protected
crosstown bike lanes on 12th and 13th
Sts. Since the shutdown became a “slowdown,”
the coalition has been watching
warily to see what the city would try to
do with 14th St.
Judy Pesin, a member of the coalition’s
steering committee, slammed this latest
plan as little more than “a retooled busway,”
and said local politicians should
not just be monitoring the scheme’s
implementation — but must get out in
front of it and critically assess it.
“We are angry” about the new plan,
Pesin said, speaking on the coalition’s
behalf. “It’s a retooled busway that was
said to support the 84,000 daily aboveground
commuters resulting from the
L-train closure. With the closure canceled
and the hordes not arriving, the
M.T.A./D.O.T. are continuing with this
drastic plan with no reason except to
speed up the buses — all while the L
train is up and running.
“The experiment with a single lane of
traffi c in each direction and a 17-hour,
seven-day vehicle ban doesn’t solve any
problems on 14th St. How will buses
speed up sharing a single lane with
trucks and drop-offs and pickups? It
will create problems on all neighbor-
ing streets by diverting cars and trucks
— whose drivers don’t want the no-leftturn
restrictions — over to our fragile
side streets. And how will an emergency
vehicle get through the single lanes?
This plan puts us all at risk.”
Pesin continued, “According to the
mayor, ‘This is an experiment that, if
successful, could provide us another
tool to move buses faster and save
people valuable time for the things that
matter.’ The mayor is saying that helping
a commuter save 15 minutes travel
time is more important than the safety
and quality of life issues of those of us
who live here.
“We are looking for our electeds to
stand up for us and ask these questions
before — not after — this pilot starts.”
Pesin noted that after the L-shutdown
was scrapped, the M.T.A. and D.O.T.
proposed two alternatives for 14th St.,
including one that allowed for four
travel lanes, including two bus-priority
lanes and two travel lanes.
“That plan has disappeared,” she said,
of so-called “Option No. 2.” “Perhaps it
was a sham all along. At least that design
comes closer to addressing the real
needs of both sides.”
Meanwhile, D.O.T. and Transit Authority
offi cials were set to present
updates on plans for M14 Select Bus
Service and the 14th St. Truck/Transit
Priority lanes pilot project to the Community
Board 2 Traffi c and Transportation
Committee on Thurs., May 2. D.O.T.
was also to make presentations on the
12th and 13th Sts. bike lanes, along
with the new University Place “shared
street,” at the meeting. The committee
meets at Meyer Hall / N.Y.U. Center for
Neural Sciences, 4 Washington Place
(west of Broadway), Room 102.
Supermarket slated
for 6th and Waverly
BY GABE HERMAN
A supermarket is set to fi ll the
vacant space at the northeast
corner of Sixth Ave. and Waverly
Place, according to an announcement
by owner Lee & Associates, a
Brooklyn-based gourmet grocer.
The store, at 378 Sixth Ave., will
be called Greenwich Gourmet Market,
and is expected to open in June
of next year. The retail space has sat
empty for the past three years after
its most recent tenant, Duane Reade,
vacated it.
The lease is for 8,200 square feet,
and will be divided between 4,000
square feet on the ground fl oor and
4,200 square feet on the lower level.
The lease is for 21 years. Asking rent
was $200 per square foot, according
to Lee & Associates.
“Located right off Washington
Square Park and in close proximity
to the many residents of the Village,
Greenwich Gourmet Market couldn’t
be better positioned to succeed,”
said Mark Kapnick, executive vice
president and Principal at Lee & Associates.
“The store will offer a wide
variety of gourmet prepared foods, in
addition to more traditional grocery
items.”
The company currently owns four
stores in Brooklyn, each with a different
name, including Tashkent Supermarket
in Brighton Beach. The
company said it has future plans to
expand into underserved residential
areas in Manhattan, as well.
This area of the Village has been
dealing with a high retail vacancy
rate. On the same block, at Sixth Ave.
and Eighth St., the former Barnes
& Noble bookstore has been vacant
fi ve-plus years. But this paper recently
reported the Blue Note jazz club
may want to open a live-music venue
there. However, the Blue Note has
repeatedly “laid over” going before
Community Board 2’s monthly State
Liquor Authority Committee meeting
on its application for a liquor license
for the space.
Schneps Media TVG May 2, 2019 3