HELP SAVE CITY HALL PARK'S NORTHERN SPACE---
Move the new Bike Lane to Chambers Street
The recently re-opened area with the benches and chess tables by Warren Street, between the Tweed Courthouse and City Hall, now doesn't require bike riders to dismount. It is being turned into a new "Robert Moses Bicycle Expressway".
As of December 22, 2008
From Skip Blumberg:
We are joining a multi community movement urging DOT to be more responsive to community opinion in lower Manhattan.
The demonstration on Saturday at the Worth Street DOT HQ was vocal and loud due to a portable sound system and the frigid weather. There was a healthy crowd lead by Margaret Chin and Sean Sweeney with several other representatives of community organizations speaking. I compared the rally to the citizens of "The Emperor's New Clothes." Several electeds sent reps and CM Alan Gerson attended and spoke. He and a few others were interviewed by channels 9 and 1 with Downtown Express also there. Probably Tribeca Trib. Plus 4 Chinese newspapers. I don't know if they included my mention that although Mike Bloomberg isn't naked as in the parable (in fact, he's a good dresser), the Mayor IS acting like an emperor.
There will be another rally in support of the requested City Council hearing whenever it's scheduled.
Please let me know if you can print out and post the attached FCHP edit of a citizen's petition in your building (including my building) and then send it to Margaret Chin by Jan 10.
It sez:
To: Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, NYC Department of Transportation (DOT)
Council Member John Liu, Chair of City Council Transportation Committee
We strongly support the list of demands below, request a City Council Oversight Committee Hearing with DOT and lower Manhattan community leaders, and urge Mayor Bloomberg to direct Commissioner Sadik Khan to work us to implement our demands !!!
•REMOVE BIKEWAY THROUGH CITY HALL PARK - RETURN TO POLICY OF WALK YOUR BIKE.
•INSTALL TRAFFIC LIGHT AT DUANE & GREENWICH ST, IN FRONT OF WASHINGTON MARKET PARK.
•REMOVE BUS BULBS ALONG BROADWAY.
•SLOW DOWN TRAFFIC COMING OFF THE MANHATTAN BRIDGE.
•INSTRUCT TRAFFIC AGENTS TO ASSIST PEDESTRIANS AND NOT JUST MOVE TRAFFIC.
•REPAIR BROKEN CROSSWALKS AND SIDEWALKS.
•REMOVE GRAND STREET BIKE LANE; INSTALL MORE APPROPRIATE BIKE LANE.
•STOP CHATHAM SQUARE RECONFIGURATION WORK IMMEDIATELY.
•WORK WITH THE COMMUNITY TO IMPROVE PEDESTRIAN SAFETY AND TRAFFIC FLOW.
******Please return this citizens petition by January 10 to Margaret Chin 215 Park Row Suite 2, New York, NY 10038*******
NAME ADDRESS SIGNATURE
As of September 8, 2008
This week there were several groups using the Park which totally prevented anyone from riding their bike through the Park.
As of August 31, 2008
Today the City had to place barricades out on the path severly restricting the amount of space for the bench sitters, pedestrians and bike riders (who were going in both direction). The last picture is a total view showing the entire barricade.
Earlier this week I took a picture at lunchtime of a typical scene of people watching a chess match also leaving very little room for a bike path.
As of August 23, 2008
OBSERVATIONS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF A 20 HOUR ONE MONTH RANDOM COUNT OF THE BICYCLE USAGE OF THE NORTHERN PART OF THE PARK
OBSERVATIONS
- Most bicycle riders were still using the local streets, especially Chambers Street to transverse from an east to west direction.
- Unless a PEP officer is present, cyclists will ride across the Park in the wrong direction (East to West)at a frequency of almost 50% of those going in the intended direction. At times there are more people going in the wrong direction than the intended direction, especially in the morning hours. It is not possible to enforce these regulations.
- Park users (pedestrians and those seated)have a decreased sense of peace and enjoyment because they must watch out for cyclists going in either east-west or west-east directions.
- Cyclists get frustrated when they must slow to a near stop when there are people walking on "their bike lane" and have yelled at people to get out of their way.
- Cyclists go faster when there are fewer pedestrians and Park users in sight, especially as it gets darker.
- All of the bicycle signage reduces the quality of this landmarked Park.
CONCLUSIONS
- Over a twenty hour random period study, 160 cyclists rode in the intended direction with 70 cyclists riding in the wrong direction. The PEP officer was sighted 4 out of 20 times and at those times the "wrong way" cyclists were told to dismount, otherwise they just rode on. Many cyclists turned north and used Chambers Street instead of crossing the sidewalk into the Park.
- It is quite foreseeable that this combination of pedestrians, seated park users and bike riders makes for a dangerous condition, and that the many near misses may become more serious especially when darkness comes earlier and bike riders falsely assume that their "bike lane" is free of people or animals.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Move the bike path to Chambers Street.
- Restore the Park to the previous condition where cyclists had to dismount if they wanted to cross the Park. Remove all of the "bike path" signage and move them to Chambers Street.
- Ask the DOT for an explanation as to why these sidewalks and this portion of the Park was chosen for what is considered illegal anywhere else, namely being able to ride across a sidewalk or Park without dismounting.
- Review the use of the northern side of Chambers Street for parked cars, including DOT parked cars.
CLICK HERE to view our detailed SURVEY LOG of "Wrong-Way Riders", Speeders, "Right-Way Riders, and PEP Officer sightings... This webpage also contains the wording of the Administrative Code concerning the illegality of bike riders riding on City sidewalks.
The Greenway signs makes it legal to ride on the sidewalk.
As of August 3, 2008
The African Burial Historic District is sure getting too many signs to clutter up the beauty of the Park. This is now what you see as you come up Warren Street to enter the Park. This is in addition to the other new red "Wrong Way" signs that were installed this week and the other signs that were installed on the lampposts and on the ground. These new signs are needed to make it legal for bike riders to cross the sidewalk without having to dismount, according to the Administrative Law. Who knew that Times Square was the look that they were after? Photo to the right.
As of August 1, 2008
Today the City is installing red"Wrong Way" signs because so many cyclists are riding from the east to the west. Many cyclist go straight off the Brooklyn Bridge and up the new ramp to cut across the Park to go south on Broadway.
We have surveyed over 9 hours of random times during the day of cyclists riding through the Park and we are seeking more people to help out. Just go to Our Survey Page to see how we are doing the survey and feel free to sit and enjoy the Park while counting bike riders. Then email the results to the site. Thanks.
As of July 16, 2008
MEETING BETWEEN THE DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND FRIENDS OF CITY HALL PARK TO DISCUSS THE FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FEBRUARY 2007 WRITTEN AGREEMENT AND OUR REQUEST FOR MORE BENCHES AND LANDSCAPING WAS SUCCESSFUL.
Thanks to the persistent work of Skip Blumberg and all of the elected officials (Glick, Connor) we had a successful meeting with the Department of Parks. In attendance was Parks: Castro, Vellonakis, Simon, and Anthony Crowell (and his assistant Sami) from the Mayor's Office, and Noah and Catherine from CB#1 and Skip, Steve, Rick, BiBi, Suellen, Desmond, Arthur, Jeff, and Derek Adler, Esq. from Friends of City Hall Park.
All of the February 2007 Agreement will be completed including artificial turf and sod for the North East playground area where the Academy students play during weekdays and Saturday morning. There will be 9 additional benches placed in this area along with more plantings and some low rise fences.
The north-south gates will remain open at all times, except when the school is in session. New benches will be located in these north-south paths.
Two sets of 10 tables with 40 chairs will be places on the NE Plaza (near the new Bike Path) which are moveable and will have umbrellas for shade.
Several new benches will also go in that area, but they will be moved each night and locked inside the Park after 1 am.
Planters are not encouraged due to security reasons.
I also asked them to think of a good location for a flower vase to install as a memorial for those who may be injured accidentally by cyclists. An appropriate location should be found since this is in a historic district.
Links to other sources of information concerning this fiasco:
Commuter Outrage
Tribeca Trib
You Tube
New York Times
Village Voice
Downtown Express
This is from the presentation that was given showing the new turf, benches and landscaping for the space currently used by the Academy during school days.
As of July 15, 2008
MEETING WITH COMMISSIONER AT THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION ON TUESDAY JULY 15, 2008- NOT SO SUCCESSFUL. WE NEED TO SET AND WAIT A MONTH TO SEE HOW MANY INJURIES OCCUR.
Friends of City Hall Park (Skip Blumberg, Rick Landman, Jean Grillo and Laura Braddock, and Steve Rathe) and Catherine McVay Hughes from CB#1 and elected officials and their staff (BP Scott Stringer, Senator Martin Connor, Assemblymember Deborah Glick, City Councilmember Alan Gerson) met with the Commissioner and her staff and Bill Castro of the Department of Parks to discuss the City Hall Bike Path Issue.
Certain things were not to be discussed at all at this meeting, namely any other alternative routes (north on Chambers Street or south of the City Hall Parking lot).
The outcome was as follows:
- The DOT is conducting a 30 day trial period (starting today) where they will monitor how many people are bruised, maimed or killed; and will monitor any "loss of park enjoyment" (not defined). Of course, the conditions will change as the sun sets earlier in the fall and cyclist speed up when they perceive the space is emptier.
- During this time no benches, or tables, etc. will be removed.
- The City will monitor crashes or bumps and aggressive cycling (failure to yield to pedestrians) and wrong-way cycling going towards the west.
- During this time PEP patrols will enforce the rules, but cyclists do not have to dismount either as they cross the sidewalk at Broadway, or through the Park or when they cross the NE plaza on their way to the Brooklyn Bridge.
All requests for immediate "Dismount Signs" were not accepted by the DOT.
The Commissioner felt that the pedestrians and cyclists use the space "during different windows of time". But no discussion of where cyclists should go during the busy hours were able to be discussed at this meeting.
No real concern for safety was felt for hours when the sun sets early and cyclists may feel that the Park area is just a bike path and ride faster.
IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT THE PLACARD PARKED CARS ON THE NORTH SIDE OF CHAMBERS STREET ARE DESIGNATED FOR DOT USE ONLY, as you can see by the photo below.
It is also interesting to note that Community Board #1 voted on their Resolution on June 24, 2008 when the brochure already printed and distributed by the City for the Waterfalls Exhibit shows that the bike path already goes through City Hall Park and the exhibit is from June 26, 2008. So the brochures were printed months before Community Board #1 was even told about this new bike path.
WHY IS THIS PARK SPACE DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER PARK SPACES?
- In all other Parks you must dismount from your bicycles and not interfere with the quiet enjoyment of the Park, but here the cyclists will have the space called a bike path;
- In all other Parks you cannot ride your bicycle on the sidewalk, but here you can ride perpendicular to the sidewalk and surprise pedestrians who don't expect cyclists riding on the sidewalk or across the Plaza;
- In all other Parks, the mixed uses are separated and they do not try to have cyclists and benches and pedestrians walking through all in the same narrow twisting space, and here they are all thrown together;
- In all other Parks they try to remove foreseeable dangers before people get hurt, and here we will wait 30 days to monitor how many people are hurt or killed.
As of July 13, 2008
The City painted over the white bike path logo on the eastern side of the Park this week.
Shows a rider leaving the Brooklyn Bridge and entering up the newly installed ramp on to the plaza and then going across the plaza in a westerly direction.
After entering up the newly installed ramp, these riders continue in the wrong direction into the Park and....
Ride towards the west in the opposite direction that was intended by DOT.
The sign authorizing NYP cars to stand (or park) along the curb which used to be a bike path.
Shows that all of the white bike path logos have been painted over with black paint.
WED. July 9 Sane Bike Rules Rally---POSTPONED Pursuant to City Meetings
12:30 RALLY will meet at PARK ROW entrance to NORTH CITY HALL PARK, near SUBWAY STATION/IN FRONT OF THE FENCE. This will be good place to gather with our bikes, etc. We will have some comments for the press, then
12:45-12:55 We will WALK the length of the NORTH CITY HALL PARK, exiting at BROADWAY entrrance and walk down to City Hall where we will park our bikes at City Hall parking area (cobble stones) and then proceed to
1PM. Press conference on CITY HALL steps. Elected officials should bring copies of their remarks, etc. for distribution to Press.
Skip is preparing Official Press Announcement which you will get later today.
Following have agreed to attend: State Sen. Marty Connor, State Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick, City Councilemember Alan J. Gerson, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Community Board Chair Julie Menin, DID District Leader/Tribeca Jean B. Grillo, Friends of City Hall Park Founder Skip Blumberg, Rick Landman, and many more.
Back-story: A DOT bikeway through City Hall Park is a slap in the face of the nearby community and Community Board 1, which only a few days before unanimously passed a resolution halting proposed plans, DOT went ahead last week and placed signs on lamp posts and imbedded in the blue stone pavement promoting pedaling through the park. This is on top of the unfulfilled agreement made 16 months ago to re-open the northern section that had been closed since 9/11.
FCHP Proposes:
- Bikes must be dismounted and walked.
- Remove all DOT signs in the park.
- Remove vehicles parked on already existing bike lanes around the park.
- Design and install a plan for on-street protected bike lanes around the perimeter of the park, with FCHP and CB1 participation.
- Fulfill February, 2007 DPR agreement with FCHP and CB1 to re-open the northern section, add greenery to the NE Plaza, add additional benches, and seek potential green spaces to develop nearby.
Contact: Skip Blumberg Friends of City Hall Park
212 431 8480 646 298 0902 cityhallpark@earthlink.net
People sitting on the lawn in the Park thanks to the new opening of the gate and the new sign.
Notice that that bikers are riding in the wrong direction. Notice the subway kiosk in the rear of the picture.
As of July 1, 2008- Status Update
Today the first sign was installed on the granite ground showing the new bike path directional logo.
This is also a picture taken today showing the tight squeeze between a baby stroller and a man with a walker trying to pass.
June 30, 2008 - Status Update
As of today the Bike Path Signs were installed. So much for grass roots democracy or the Community Board looking for alternatives, or people dismounting from their bikes.
June 24, 2008
Thanks to all those people who showed up and spoke we got the Community Board to reverse the Seaport Committee's resolution and support our Substitute Resolution that was AGAINST the Bike Path. Their final statement was:
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT: Community Board #1 disapproves of the proposal to create a Bike Path in between the Tweed Courthouse and City Hall until the Department of Transportation and the Department of Parks and Recreation return to CB#1 with a plan that satisfies the conditions and recommendations set forth above.
Now we need to make sure that the local politicians work with the Community Board to find a new route (such as Chambers Street without parked cars) for the bike lane.
The meeting was on Tuesday, June 24, 2008
at 6:30 pm at at Pace University
Don't pit pedestrians against the bike riders.
Let's explore removing the parked cars and let the bike riders use the street or any other suggestion. See photos below.
Pedestrians entering western Side by Warren Street.
Pedestrians existing narrow eastern side.
Parked placard cars on eastern side of Broadway between Warren and Chambers Streets. The proposed bikeway crossing of Broadway at Warren Street is DANGEROUS.
Cars, taxis and trucks often speed up to try to beat the traffic lights on this and the next corners,
acting as if it's a crosstown highway with little regard for safety.
Parked cars on northern side of Chambers Street, this is also where movie trailers are usually located for Law & Order.
Another photo of parked cars as traffic goes by.
Parked cars on existing Bike Path on the eastern side of City Hall Park near the Brooklyn Bridge.
Close up
Pedestrians trying to cross the street to enter the Brooklyn Bridge approach along with the existing bike path.
- The Department of Transportation and the Department of Parks are proposing the concept of changing the recently re-opened northern section of City Hall Park, into a Bike Path to connect the Brooklyn Bridge to the West Side Highway. This concept will destroy the quiet setting of the park while creating the most foreseeable location for pedestrian/bicycle accidents in the City.
- While almost everyone is in favor of having a bike path connection, very few people think that placing it in the narrow twisting path of benches between the Tweed Courthouse and City Hall is a logical location.
- Even Senator Chuck Schumer, who rode by on his bicyle agreed that alternative locations must make more sense and that the community should be involved in studying this issue.
- The Seaport/Civic Center Committee of CB#1 reviewed the proposal and gave it an approval with many conditions. We are requesting that they pass a SUBSTITUTE RESOLUTION rejecting this combined use proposal until the alternative routes are discussed and agreed upon. Enforcement is currently lacking for parked cars on the existing bike path, so how can they approve a vague idea?
- We hope that the full Board on June 24, 2008 will vote to disapprove the proposal until the solutions are found and prior commitments are met. Please come to the meeting at 6:30 pm at at Pace University , 1 Pace Plaza between Gold Street and Park Row if you care about this issue.
- The following photos taken on June 16, 2008 show the problem of adding a bike lane to the narrow twisting heavily used path as it now is used. It doesn't take much to imagine a small child running after a squirrel and bumping into a bike rider.
- One logical path to explore would be to have a dedicated bike lane go from Warren Street and ride to the eastern side of Broadway and then ride north to the sourthern side of Chambers Street eastward to connect to the existing bike path at the corner and then ride south to the Brooklyn Bridge entrance. But this path is always covered with parked placard cars, or movie trailers. That seems to be where the real solution lies. At one time the City also explored making Chambers Street one way. We should look at all possibilities before destroying the quiet safe sitting area and pedestrian path in the Park.
- The previous City Agreement has still not been fulfilled. We need to increase the amount of trees, benches and sitting areas, and not lose them for a bike path that should be on the street. We need to focus on the northeastern side of the Park and follow up on the "playground" area as well.
For more information about alternative ways you can help the Friends of City Hall Park campaign click here