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MAKING TRACKS - Vol. 3, No. 2 - Spring 1997
Entire contents of MAKING TRACKS is copyright © 1997 by Village Crosstown Trolley Coalition,
but may be reproduced either in whole or in part with a clear acknowledgment of the source.
Please report any errors to us at VCTC. Thanks.
Inside this Issue
Sidewalk Widening Plan Stirs Hopes and Fears
Transit Component Would Enhance Village Alliance Plan
Trolley Topics
Ad for Astor Place Festival
Letter from the Editor
By Michael Goodman
At a February 10, 1997 meeting of Manhattan Community Board #2's Sidewalks & Public Access Committee, Honi Klein, Executive Director of the Village Alliance Business Improvement District, presented the BID's plan to widen the sidewalks along 8th St. between Sixth Avenue and Broadway. Intended to attract shoppers and other visitors by enhancing pedestrian amenities, the plan was challenged by representatives of some residents' groups who fear it would lead to increased congestion.
Ms. Klein opened the discussion by making the case for the sidewalk widening, citing extensive research on the plan by Cooper Union engineering students. Among their findings were that current pedestrian volumes greatly exceed vehicular volumes at most times of the day and that walking traffic is even greater on weekends. Most passers-by whom they surveyed favored more pedestrian space because it would make 8th St. a more desirable place to shop and visit.
Many residents raised strong concerns about the BID's plan. Floyd Gallaway, co-chair of the 8th St. Block Association, and Arlene Koenig, chair of the East 8th and 9th St. Block Association, both worried about traffic congestion resulting from a narrower roadway. Residents also predicted that businesses along 8th St. would take advantage of wider sidewalks to display merchandise and perhaps even set up sidewalk cafés adding to congestion. Underlying the expressed concerns was a "fear of public space" that seemed to permeate much of the discussion.
Other voices, however, were raised in support of the plan. Among them was Ms. Vicki Weiner, Director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. She challenged the assumption that 8th St. must accommodate high levels of vehicular traffic and noted that more pedestrian space would greatly improve the amenity of the street. Your editor, representing VCTC, also supported the plan, observing that increased lane capacity generally leads to more, rather than less, motor vehicle congestionþand vice versa.
Some residents complained that the BID had provided inadequate notice and little opportunity for neighborhood input on its sidewalk widening proposal. Ms. Klein countered that key spokespersons were invited to a community forum on November 25, 1996 where the project was discussed in detail and extensive documentary material describing the plan was distributed. Actually, conflicts between BIDs and community groups are quite common in NYC. The BIDs are essentially associations of property owners who assess themselves extra taxes to fund improvements such as enhanced security and better sanitation services. Residents and visitors benefit from these actions, but do not have a formal role in BID affairs.
A decision on widening sidewalks will ultimately be made by NYC's Department of Transportation. The Community Board does play a key role, however. It holds hearings and eventually determines whether a formal feasibility study should be done. If it is, the Board then holds further hearings and votes the plan up or down. While their vote is only advisory, city officials have been reluctant in the past to override community wishes on issues such as this.
At the Feb. 10th committee meeting, Ms. Klein proposed widening the extremely narrow ten foot sidewalks by only three feet each, reducing the 8th St. roadway from 40 to 34 feet from 6th Avenue to Broadway. Yet at the earlier community forum sponsored by the BID, Village architect Guy Lindsay Kohn had proposed 15 foot wide sidewalks and a thirty foot roadway. These dimensions would conform to the segment of 8th St. east of Broadway and to the entire length of St. Marks Place. The BID's more modest new proposal would still eliminate just one parking lane, with parking and loading areas along the south side of the street and two lanes remaining for moving traffic. The $2 million project would take 4 to 5 months to complete.
VCTC salutes Honi Klein for beginning a discussion on modifying the allocation of 8th St. between pedestrians and motor vehicles. VCTC also welcomes the opportunity to participate in a feasibility study of this issue, but believes that its proposal for a light rail line in an auto-free street should be included as one of the options to be examined. Since transit improvement and enhancement of the pedestrian environment are closely interrelated, the public transit component of 8th St. should not be ignored. Legitimate concerns raised by residents must also be considered in a feasibility study. Specific measures to enhance security, reduce noise and regulate sidewalk use must be devised.
Designing a street for all of its users--residents, shoppers and visitors--is a challenge. Eliminating all but essential motor vehicle traffic, while at the same time creating an attractive transit service, will open the way for creative reuse of this most valuable of all publicly-owned real estate--our city streets. The next step in the process will be a public hearing on the plan, to be held on April 1, 1997. Stay tuned!
By William K. Guild
The Village Alliance plan, calling for wider sidewalks on 8th Street from 6th Avenue to Broadway, would provide better pedestrian flow and circulation in the heart of the Business Improvement District (BID). Most residents agree with the BID that sidewalk widening, brighter lighting and other pedestrian amenities are the most desirable and important measures which can be undertaken to enhance this historic shopping area.
Under the able leadership of Honi Klein, the BID has already made a remarkable impact along its entire length, which includes St. Marks Place to 2nd Avenue, the Astor Place Triangle, and 6th Avenue from West 4th to 8th Street. Sidewalks and streets are clean, signage has vastly improved and the caliber of retail establishments is constantly being upgraded.
VCTC applauds the Village Alliance for both its achievements to date and its further plans to enhance the walking environment in this pedestrian-oriented corridor. Widened sidewalks and related amenities will consolidate the gains already made and continue the upward spiral. Since these plans involve major changes in street configuration and, perhaps, in sub-surface facilities "catch basins, sewers, utilities, water mains" feasibility and other studies of the project are called for. These studies should also examine transportation needs of the 8th Street corridor. We urge the Village Alliance, and any agencies reviewing the project, to take a hard look at present and future transportation requirements, and to improve upon an excellent plan by adding a transit component.
The April 1995 issue of MAKING TRACKS described the efforts of a number of cities and towns to reclaim business from suburban shopping malls by duplicating those malls in formerly-busy downtown retail districts. Where these projects simply diverted motor vehicles from newly-created "pedestrian" streets into parking lots on the fringes, they were often unsuccessful and many fell before mounting demands to restore "traffic."
When planned or integrated with public transit, however, pedestrian-friendly downtown shopping areas have proven popular and successful. The Fulton Mall in Brooklyn and the 165th Street Mall in Jamaica, while significantly different in character from each otherþand very different from the Villageþ are good examples. Both were created within existing business districts and are readily accessible by transit. Like the Village Crosstown corridor, the Fulton Mall is served by all major subway lines. Closed to other vehicular traffic, it is also traversed by several NYC Transit bus lines which then fan out to other parts of Brooklyn.
We previously reported on the Mid-America Mall in Memphis, Tennessee, a case study of the crucial importance of transit to a downtown pedestrian zone. Rather than giving up on their project after two disappointing decades, local groups pressed for the "people mover" originally planned and, in 1993, a 2.2 mile double track "vintage" trolley line was opened through the Mall.
This transit innovation has proven so popular that, in May, service will be extended along a parallel "Riverfront Loop" overlooking the Mississippi. With route mileage doubled, boosters will next explore a 1½ mile eastward extension to the U of T Medical Center.
In Denver, the 16th Street transit mall linking two suburban bus terminals (and intersecting the RTD light rail line) distributes commuters throughout the business district and carries shoppers, tourists and other visitors between hotels, stores, restaurants and attractions on its mile-long route from the Civic Center to Union Station and Coors Field. The pleasant tree-shaded street, with its broad sidewalks and numerous strollers, is a vital element in Denver's strategy to eliminate cars and heavy diesel buses from the downtown area. Because the transitway was designed to serve several constituencies, its low floor minibuses operating on one minute headways are well-patronized throughout the day.
Further west, the K Street Mall, two blocks from the California state capitol building, is the focal point of the 18-mile Sacramento light rail system. Currently carrying 27,000 daily passengers--32% more than pre-opening estimates--the system serves state and private sector employees and a large number of shoppers and tourists. This observer was pleasantly surprised to find the auto-free K Street Mall, and adjacent Downtown Center and "Old Sacramento," quite crowded well into Sunday evening during a visit last July.
Although Europe offers many examples of transit integrated into pedestrian-oriented streets, such as the ultra-modern LRV (light rail vehicle) in ancient Strasbourg shown on the cover of MAKING TRACKS for July 1995, Sacramento may have done the best job in this country to date of blending modern light rail into an urban setting on an auto-free street. All too often misguided planners draw attention to transit with overly large and oppressive structures. Even in Brooklyn massive shelters and other "street furniture" are now being removed from the Fulton Mall. Surface transit can and should be unobtrusive, especially in pedestrian-oriented urban spaces.
As our coast-to-coast spot-check of transit in urban pedestrian spaces demonstrates, no single mode is ideal for all situations. Mini or conventional buses may work in some settings, while light rail is the answer elsewhere. In two other west coast cities, San Jose and Portland, weekend tourists may ride restored (or old-style) trolley cars in downtown areas while modern LRVs do the heavy commuter hauling to the suburbs. Many examples of what works, as well as what doesn't work, are available for study in the context of improving mobility on the 8th Street corridor.
The Village Alliance area, together with its eastern and western extensions, has been a retail center for many decades. It can no more be converted into a purely residential neighborhood than restored as the bucolic setting of farms and meadows which once existed here. The question is not whether but how this district will evolve--maintaining and building upon its existing upscale retail base, or deteriorating into a hodgepodge of bazaars and flea markets.
The BID already is well served by existing north-south transit lines, including subways and even PATH. Ironically, it can be reached more easily from other parts of the city (and New Jersey) than from the eastern end of the Village Crosstown Corridor. Once in the district, however, visitors are faced with a very long walk if they wish to explore St. Marks Place or Christopher Street, linear extensions of the central retail district. Convenient and reliable crosstown surface transit would greatly enhance the proposed ped- estrian amenities, while easing the commute of many area residents.
The opportunity for a major street reconstruction does not come along very often in New York and, when it does, should not be squandered on a narrowly-focused goal. Wider sidewalks and improved pedestrian amenities will enhance the 8th Street shopping area, but a feasibility study should also look at the broader needs of the community, particularly for transportation.
MAKING TRACKS cannot claim impartiality when it comes to the best transit mode for the Village Crosstown Corridor. Indeed, VCTC was founded to reverse the misguided decision made six decades ago to replace streetcars with motor buses, a decision which slashed ridership by 90% and deprived thousands of viable transit. Nevertheless, we recognize that a convincing case must be made for the superiority of light rail over competing modes in this setting and we are prepared to assist in making that case.
In addition to the usual traffic counts and demographic analyses, studies must determine the location of existing subsurface facilities, some of which may need to be moved or replaced. The trackways of the former crosstown streetcar line--double-tracked from Astor Place to 6th Avenue--should also be located and evaluated. The original 1873 line was completely rebuilt for electric conduit operation at the turn of the century and, even if the running rails are no longer serviceable, recycling the massive yokes and foundation structures will save enormously on the capital costs of a new light rail line.
VCTC congratulates the Village Alliance BID on its initiatives for widened sidewalks and other pedestrian amenities. These proposals deserve support from all elements of the Village community and we hope they will move promptly through the evaluation process. We also hope that the project's scope will be broadened to include the transportation needs of the district and that VCTC's own proposal for a Village Crosstown Trolley will receive a full and fair hearing.
is proud, for the 2nd year, to sponsor the
Astor Place Festival
Astor Place between Broadway and
Lafayette St. in Greenwich Village
Saturday, May 10, 1997 - 11am to 6pm
Please stop by our booth at the festival to learn more
about light rail transit and our proposal for 8th St.
Subway - #6 to Astor Pl. station, N or R to 8th St. station
Bus - #1, #2, #3, #5, #6, #101, #102, #103 and #8 (crosstown)
all stop within a block of Astor Place
A planned mile-long branch of the Newark, NJ "City Subway" light rail line was hailed at public hearings held by NJ Transit last month. The new line, mostly on city streets, would link Penn Station and the office development around it with the Broad St. Station of the Morristown Line at the northern edge of the business district, passing the new NJ Performing Arts Center en route. The existing three-mile City Subway is the closest operating light rail line to the Village Crosstown routeþonly a short ride by PATH from the Christopher Street station to Newark's Penn Station. Ride Newark's City Subway and see why we're so excited about LRT!
Letter From the Editor
In this issue of MAKING TRACKS we continue to inform residents and businesses about the advantages of light rail transit (LRT). The sidewalk widening plan for 8th St. put forward by the Village Alliance Business Improvement District (BID) continues to make news. One of our cover stories discusses the need for a transit component if the plan is to realize the full potential of the entire 8th St. corridor. Our other cover story describes reaction to the BID's plan at a recent presentation to Community Board #2. Read all about it inside and let us know what you think!
Michael Goodman, Editor
NY Today
TimeOut New York
CitySearch New York
