Upper Green Side

Senator Liz Krueger Against A Safer Times Square?

Yesterday, much to our delight, the Mayor announced that the pilot project at Times Square, opening a street to pedestrians instead of cars, would be made permanent. However, there are a few people that felt left out of the process and ducked the issue of stating what their opinions were of the safer, more pedestrian friendly Times Square. State Senator Liz Krueger was quoted in the NY Times this morning saying:

“I find it disturbing that nobody outside of the mayor’s office got to take a look at the data or the report before the decision was made,” said State Senator Liz Krueger, who represents the Times Square area. “It leaves one with the suspicion that they didn’t want the public to have time to take a serious look.”

But what do you think of the new Times Square Sen. Krueger? If you had seen the report, would you be against keeping acres of pedestrian space that tamed a dangerous intersection for motorists and pedestrians? Would you be against similar public spaces in your residential areas? What do you think of the play street on 91st Street between Second & Third Aveunes?

Mayor Bloomberg should be commended on his bold leadership in the face of petty arguments over process. We hope that other public officials learn the lessons that putting pedestrians first is a winning strategy.

Update: Sen. Krueger’s Communication Director wrote back to us today:

CB8 Environmental Committe Recap: Water Tunnel #3, Future Air Quality Forum Discussed

Last night Community Board 8 held its monthly meeting of the Environmental and Sanitation Committee. The Committee originally intended to discuss plans for the former DSNY garage property on the East River between 73rd and 74th Streets (now home to some eerily cool looking ruins), but mother nature had other plans. Sanitation was given a free pass in order to contend with the impending snowpocalypse, or is it snowmaggedon now? Either or, they had a good excuse. No word yet as to when interim plans for the site will be discussed.

Also on the agenda last night was a presentation by the City’s Department of Environmental Protection on upcoming work for City Water Tunnel #3 in the district. Newly minted, and somewhat controversial, DEP Commissioner Cas Holloway was in attendance to express his commitment to the project and to no doubt allay some of the neighborhood’s concerns. For those who don’t know, City Water Tunnel #3 is possibly the City’s most important infrastructure project, ever. The City’s first two water tunnels were built in the early part of the 20th century and have never been shut down for inspection. Sandhogs have been toiling deep underground (sometimes at depths of over 800 feet) on-and-off since 1970: a testament to the gigantic scale of the project. Heck, the History Channel even gave them their own TV show! Read more about the City’s water supply system here and here.

In order to bring all that new water to the neighborhood DEP must construct a series of connecting mains, pipes, and valves. Last night DEP presented plans to install a 40 foot water main along 59th Street from 3rd to 1st Avenue. DEP acknowledged that the neighborhood would feel some impacts during the 3 years of construction, including noise, traffic disruption, and vermin relocation (those critters have got to go somewhere!). Most of the construction will be centered around the intersection of 59th Street and 1st Avenue where 14 Honey Locust Park used to be (the site is now surrounded by construction fencing and in no way resembles a park). Concerned about the possibility of having a vacant eye-sore after construction is completed (like some other sites around the City), the Board pressed DEP to ensure that 14 Honey Locust park is eventually restored.

Though construction in the neighborhood will no doubt bring some unwanted disruptions, the importance of City Water Tunnel #3 cannot be understated. The third water tunnel will allow the City to safely deliver clean drinking water for years to come – a central concept that allows great cities to thrive (thank you Romans).

In other news, CB8 is also discussed the possibility of holding an air quality forum based on the shocking results of the City’s recent Community Air Study. The Board hopes to engage residents to learn about the health and environmental dangers of dirty heating oil and the  economic incentives available to buildings who switch to cleaner fuels and make energy efficiency improvements. The Board is currently planning for the forum to take place sometime in the late Spring.

Upper Green Side Volunteer Receives Our Town Otty Award

Last night Manhattan Media, the group behind the East Side’s local paper Our Town held its annual Otty Awards honoring the people who make a difference in our local community. And just like any award show, the stars were out in full force. In attendance last night were Councilwoman Jessica Lappin, Councilman Dan Garodnick, Borough President Scott Stringer, and former Governor of New York state Mario Cuomo, just to name a few.

Our very own Sarah Gallagher, Upper Green Side’s Vice President and all-star volunteer, was honored with the Community Builder Otty. Councilwoman Jessica Lappin introduced Sarah and gave a truly wonderful speech about Sarah and the good work that she does for Upper Green Side.

Sarah herself seemed quite shocked to win the award but its no surprise to us! She has worked tirelessly on Greenmarket campaigns and electronic waste issues in the community since Upper Green Side was founded 4 years ago. Thank you Sarah for all that you do and congratulations on your honor – much deserved!

Has Bloomberg Lost his Eco-Transpo Mojo?

Bloomberg Announces PlaNYC

Early in his second term as Mayor, Mike Bloomberg seemed to suddenly “get-it” on sustainable transportation and livable streets issues. Even under former Commissioner Iris Weinshall in 2006, a Renaissance seemed to be taking place. Then came his appointment of Janette Sadik-Khan as Transportation Commissioner in the spring of 2007 whose been nothing less than an inspiration.  On Earth Day of that same year, Mayor Bloomberg laid out his bold vision for a sustainable New York City, with congestion pricing as the central piece of the sustainability puzzle for NYC streets.

Even on the campaign trail last year his rival former Comptroller Bill Thompson struggled to differentiate himself against Bloomberg, and was forced into the awkward position of actually advocating against Bus Rapid Transit, bike lanes, and many of the public plazas that the revived DOT has rolled out.

But the latest plans that the DOT have proposed this month for Select Bus Service (NYC’s not quite version of BRT) are much less than inspiring. An incremental step forward yes, but nothing transportation advocates get very excited about. In fact, aside from a few disconnected protected bike lane segments that lack critical connectivity to become a real anchor of the bike network, there’s not much to get passionate about. When the reactionaries start complaining of the changes occurring on the street, it’s not clear who will be that inspired to turn-out at Community Board meetings to explain the benefits aside from city bureaucrats that residents already distrust.

We hope that the DOT is listening to the many criticisms of the plan for it’s lack of boldness. Boldness would be bus lanes that have real protection against encroachment from private passenger automobiles & taxis. Boldness would be a full length protected bike lane that includes critical links in east Midtown, currently one of the most dangerous spots for cyclists. And Boldness needs to come from the Mayor himself (as we suspect that he gave the OK for this watered down version).

For those in Community Board 8, there’s still a public meeting on February 25th at the NY Blood Center Auditorium, 310 East 67th Street (between First & Second Avenues). Please express yourself and we’ll keep you updated on future oppurtunities to give your input on this.

Lappin Proposes Office of Road Safety

In Jessica Lappin’s community newsletter today she announced an interesting new proposal that she’s rolling out with Transportation Alternatives next week: A separate Office of Road Safety.

Every year, approximately 200 New Yorkers are killed on New York City’s roads. Despite this, the NYPD is more interested in the smooth flow of traffic than in keeping pedestrians and bikers safe.

The city should rethink how we manage and design our streets. I will be introducing legislation on February 11 to create an Office of Road Safety within the Department of Transportation. This office would coordinate across multiple city agencies to reduce the incidence of traffic violations, crashes, injuries, and fatalities. It would be made up of representatives from the Department of Transportation, the NYPD, the Department of Health, and the District Attorneys’ offices and would detect and improve problem areas in the city.

In support of this bill, I will be co-hosting a press conference with the group Transportation Alternatives on Wednesday, February 10 at noon on the steps of City Hall. Come stand with me in support of safer streets for all New Yorkers. It’s time to make safety a priority on our roads.

This is a very positive development. The proposal is a straight attack on the NYPD’s poor record in enforcing basic road safety laws. Perhaps this will get Commissioner Ray Kelly’s attention. It’s also another step in getting the Mayor’s office to rethink how it thinks about streetspace. And it suggests that the City Council wants to get more aggressive in pushing a safe streets agenda. All positive signs in our opinion.

New East Side CSA

a CSA pick up (photo via Just Food)

A new Community Supported Agriculture program is coming to the East Side. Located just south of Upper East Side proper, the new Turtle Bay CSA will distribute out of the Vanderbilt YMCA on 47th between 2nd and 3rd Avenues starting this June. Turtle Bay CSA is still in start-up mode but they will be meeting with their prospective farmer soon and are looking to recruit interested share-members. Check out http://turtlebaycsa.wordpress.com/ for more info!

Also be sure to check out our round up of local CSA’s to find one in your neighborhood.

The Upper East Side Ruins

Not quite the Renwick Ruins, but ruins nonetheless

Head east on 73rd Street until you nearly hit the river and you’ll find the ruins of the former DSNY Sanitation garage, presently collecting dust and growing weeds. The site is probably one of the last develop-able lots on the entire Upper East Side, a testament to how popular (and overcrowded) the neighborhood has become. The DSNY demolished the old garage (and its famed smokestack) a few years ago and had planned to replace it with a new state-of-the-art facility. The onslaught of the Great Recession and City budget cuts have shelved the new garage (for now at least) and the site sits as a quiet monument to the bursting of the Great Real Estate Bubble. UESiders are not immune to battles over garbage trucks. See here, and here. But thankfully, the UES hasn’t needed the services of Tony Soprano and his merry band of celebrities, yet. But that might be changing real soon…

Next week the Environment & Sanitation Committee of Community Board 8 will hold a discussion (with a DSNY representative present) to discuss current safety issues at the site, as well as possible interim uses. Some ideas Upper Green Side would like to see include temporary park usage or even a community garden (currently none exist on the Upper East Side). A dock for the giant Con Ed steam powerplant also sits just across the FDR at 74th Street. It is currently under consideration to be reused as a new ferry landing. With completion of the Second Avenue Subway years away, a new ferry landing would help facilitate a “blue highway” on the East River, giving UES residents a more scenic option over the always crowded Lexington Line. Access to the ferry (as well as to the East River Greenway) could also be included in a temporary park design.

But let’s not jump to conclusions. We’ll learn more at next week’s Community Board meeting and will report back on what we find.

More pictures…

Cap & Trade on the Rocks In Senate

Upper Green Side doesn’t wade into national politics too much, preferring to focus on local issues that we can make a difference on. But Global Warming is an issue that transcends local, state and national boundaries.

There are many ideas on how to control carbon emission. The one that had gained the most consensus at the national level was called Cap & Trade: Place an overall ceiling on the amount of carbon and other greenhouse gases emitted while allowing large emitters to buy & sell emission permits. This would create a market for lowering emissions and financially reward those companies that could reduce emissions faster and most cost effectively.

Today, President Obama, who ran on a platform that included a Cap & Trade proposal, which passed the US House of Representatives told a crowd in New Hampshire that there might not be enough votes in the Senate:

The most controversial aspects of the energy debate that we’ve been having: The House passed an energy bill, and people complained about, well, there’s this cap and trade thing, and you just mentioned, you know, let’s do the fun stuff before we do the hard stuff

Incentivizing clean energy is great and we hope the Senate does pass that, but without a mechanism in place to put a ceiling on overall emissions, there’s no real way to guarantee that overall emissions would reduce in the short or long term.

We encourage folks to start making more noise about this and start reaching out to their representatives about the importance of putting a real ceiling on greenhouse gas emissions

100 Green To Do’s

Yesterday, the NYC Green Codes Task Force submitted over 100 recommendations to Mayor Bloomberg and Council Speaker Quinn on how to green the City’s building codes, focusing on ways to reap energy savings from construction and renovation work.

In New York City, buildings have long been the number one contributor to green house gas emissions, estimated to represent about 75% of all emissions. If NYC is going to get serious about reducing its impact on the environment, the focus must start with what we have an abundance of in this City: our ubiquitous buildings.

One of the more timely recommendations would impose higher efficiency standards for heating systems and ban inefficient boilers in the city’s largest buildings. The recommendation comes not long after the release of the new Community Air Study (PDF) that clearly shows  how polluted NYC’s air really is.

Another simple proposal: increase stair access in buildings so that more people will choose the stairs over the elevator. Improvements such as more visible signange and transparant glass to draw people to stairwells could help influence people’s vertical decisions. In fact, taking the stairs could become NYC’s new weight-loss program: research shows that taking the stairs on a regular basis could prevent 18% of the City’s average annual weight gain or a total of 550,000 pounds per year.

NYC DOT Making the Rounds for Select Bus Service

image via: Livable Streets Campaign Streets Wiki

From the East River Greenway Initiative:

This month NYC DOT will be making the rounds to the various East Side Community Boards to present their plans for bus and bicycle infrastructure improvements along 1st and 2nd Avenues from Houston to 125th Street. Check out the schedule below:

Community Board 6 –February 1, 2010 (TONIGHT!), 7 pm
NYU Medical Center 550 First Avenue at 33rd Street, Classroom B – Ground Level

Community Board 11 – February 2, 2010, 6 pm
1664 Park Avenue (between E 117th and E 118th Streets)

Community Board 3 – February 10, 2010, 6:30 pm
University Settlement, Speyer Hall – 184 Eldridge Street (between Rivington & Delancey Streets)

*Community Board 8 – February 25, 2010, 6:30 pm (UES!)
NY Blood Center Auditorium, 310 East 67th Street (between First & Second Avenues)

Community boards are the best way for local residents and stakeholders to get involved and make a difference. These meetings are free and open to all.

Currently, DOT is NOT planning to include a protected bus lane for the  SBS corridor nor or they planning to include a protected cycle lane in Midtown (as ERGI touched on earlier).

Strong progressive transportation voices will be needed at these presentations to ensure that DOT implements and adopts the best design improvements possible for the East Side. Be there to tell representatives from the Community Board and DOT that you want world-class bus and bike improvements along 1st and 2nd avenues that will make our streets more livable by prioritizing buses, creating pedestrian traffic islands, and providing safe bicycling infrastructure.

Not sure what Community Board district you live in? Find out here.