People who live and work in Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen hard at work identifying where they'd like to see bike-share stations. Photo: Noah Kazis

Residents of Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea packed into a room last night to discuss the more than 50 bike-share stations planned to open in their neighborhoods this summer. No one was there to complain — this crowd was there to roll up their sleeves and get to work.

I sat in with a table of nine, where participants uniformly supported bike-share and overwhelmingly believed that the stations should go in parking spaces rather than on crowded Midtown sidewalks. With little disagreement over those broader questions, they dove right into a table-sized map of the area, picking out sites that would and wouldn’t work well for stations.

The workshop, sponsored by Community Board 4, local elected officials and NYC DOT, kicked off with brief overviews from DOT staff of how bike-share works. Streetsblog has already covered most of that, but there were a few new tidbits of information. The Bronx, Queens and Staten Island will each have a small, satellite bike-share system, for example, opening a bit later than the core service area in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Annual members, who would mostly be residents, might also get to take the bikes out longer without paying a surcharge than the tourists purchasing daily or weekly passes.

Everyone at the table I observed was excited to see bike-share come to their neighborhood, so long as the stations are mainly placed in the street. Photo: Noah Kazis

After a Q&A period, the conversation turned to station placement. Each group first discussed what kinds of trips they’d like to see bike-share used for, then whether they’d prefer the bike kiosks to be primarily located on the streets or the sidewalks, and then moved on to individual station locations.

My group was enthusiastic about a wide variety of trips — everyone was asking questions, jotting down notes and snapping pictures with their cell phones — but no one wanted to stations placed on the sidewalk. “It would be physically impossible to do it” given the intense pedestrian volumes in the area, said Christine Berthet, the co-founder of the Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen Pedestrian Safety Coalition. Agreed a resident named Jeremy, “The sidewalks are just too tight.”

While everyone could name specific locations where there was enough room on the sidewalk — in front of a deeply set-back building or on a rarely-traveled block — as a rule, they agreed that the bikes should go on the street. “Just as long as it doesn’t take away a bike lane,” joked Rick Bell, the executive director of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

When asked to formally vote on whether bike-share stations ought to go on the street in general, the group voted 8 to 1 in favor. The only dissenter, David Dartley (a Streetsblog reader and frequent commenter), said he didn’t care about losing parking spaces personally, but worried about a political backlash.

CB 4 Chair Corey Johnson agreed with the siting consensus, according to Transportation Nation’s Kate Hinds. “[Bike share stations] may eliminate a parking space or two on a residential block, but it’s not going to eliminate sidewalk space for pedestrians,” Johnson said.

At that point, DOT unveiled a map of the district. On display were potential station locations that had come through online submissions, the community board, business owners and BIDs, and by DOT itself. The icons were differentiated by color to note who had suggested the station and by shape to show whether the station would be on the sidewalk, street, or in another location. Each had been vetted by DOT to make sure they met the technical requirements. There were about four or five times as many options as there will be stations.

Green arrows show support for certain bike-share stations and the black arrows show the demand for more locations along the waterfront. Photo: Noah Kazis

Participants got to work labeling the stations they liked with green arrows, those they didn’t with red arrows, and pointing black arrows at places they’d like to add as a new suggestion. The recommendations showed off the cumulative local knowledge in the room.

One person added a black arrow at a new entrance to John Jay College, guessing that students would be heavy bike-share users. Red arrows accumulated at one intersection near the Port Authority Bus Terminal where residents said buses make particularly dangerous turns; green arrows circled the area with preferred alternatives. Only a few stations had been suggested for the Hudson River waterfront; participants strewed the riverside with new suggested locations, especially near tourist destinations like the Intrepid or Circle Line.

Workshops like this will be held in every community district where bike-share is planned. DOT will take the public input from these workshops and put it side-by-side with comments from public officials, local stakeholders, and the operational needs of the system. They’ll likely come back to community boards once a draft of the station placement is available, though the exact schedule of future outreach will depend on the particular requests of each board.

Most of the Javits Center site is devoted to a single superblock that divides Hell's Kitchen from the waterfront. Image: Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association

After Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State address last week, Streetsblog looked a little closer at the governor’s plan to build the nation’s largest convention center at the Aqueduct racino in Ozone Park, Queens. Counting on a huge convention center near JFK airport to deliver economic development seemed like a dubious proposition, but the other side of the plan — converting the Javits Center site on the West Side of Manhattan into a mixed-use neighborhood — has a lot to recommend it.

The Javits Center, built in the 1980s, controls 18 acres on the far West Side, from 33rd Street to 40th Street. Most of the site is an enormous superblock occupied by the main convention center building. The only cross street that provides access to the waterfront and Hudson River Park is 34th Street. (39th Street, while not part of the main building, is barricaded off to serve the facility’s needs.)

The Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association proposes an integrated street grid with housing, parks, and a mix of other uses at the Javits Center site.

“You look down the street and all you see is a black wall,” said Meta Brunzema, an architect and professor at the Pratt Institute who chairs the planning committee of the Hell’s Kitchen Neighborhood Association. “It’s very difficult for the community to have waterfront access.” Meanwhile, the area around Javits never caught on as a retail environment, said Brunzema, because the convention center is empty 100 days out of the year.

Cuomo’s plan to redevelop the Javits site using “the Battery Park City model” — presumably by offering long-term leases piece-by-piece to different developers, working from a set of planning guidelines — could create a cohesive district on the western edge of the neighborhood and finally reconnect city streets to the waterfront. “It’s really important that the Javits site be an extension of urban fabric, with a critical mass of residences, commercial uses, cultural facilities, and parks,” said Brunzema, noting that Hell’s Kitchen is also divided by bulky, traffic-choked approaches to the Lincoln Tunnel. “The neighborhood is completely fragmented.”

The Javits site sits next to the larger Hudson Yards special district, which the city rezoned in 2005 and will eventually be served by the extension of the 7 train to 34th Street and Eleventh Avenue. One important detail to keep an eye on is that the hard cap on parking spaces in the Hudson Yards district does not apply to the Javits Center site.

Selling the Javits site would also provide a windfall for the state. Speaking to the New York Times last week, Regional Plan Association President Bob Yaro pegged the value of the site at $4 billion. Proceeds from the sale or lease of land could be funneled into the MTA capital program, the construction of a 7 train station at 41st Street and 10th Avenue, or the development of Moynihan Station — the long-envisioned project to renovate Penn Station and build a new train hall inside the Farley Post Office building.

One project Brunzema would like to see funded is the construction of a garage to house the increasing number of commuter buses that park curbside and idle on West Side streets near the Port Authority Bus Terminal, which can’t handle any more buses.

The bus facility is part of a plan for the Javits site that HKNA put forward in 2007, which proposes to reintroduce the street grid and add a mix of uses to where the convention center now stands. Brunzema said HKNA is in touch with State Senator Tom Duane and Assembly Member Richard Gottfried about what’s next for the site.

Under a proposal from NYC DOT, a crosswalk will be extended across a Lincoln Tunnel entrance at Ninth and 36th. The angled NYPD parking on 36th will be converted into green space. Image: NYC DOT.

The Department of Transportation presented the findings [PDF] of its five-year study of transportation in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood at a packed public meeting last night. The massive transportation analysis included many critical projects that have already been announced, such as the 34th Street Select Bus Service route and extensions of the protected bike lanes along Eighth and Ninth Avenue, as well as a full slate of new improvements for the neighborhood, from signal retimings meant to improve pedestrian safety to new plaza space and a continuous sidewalk by the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel.

The neighborhood study emerged from a pedestrian safety campaign conducted under the banner of the Ninth Avenue Renaissance, which started in 2006. DOT received federal funding for a study, solicited hundreds of public comments, walked through the neighborhood five times, built a powerful traffic model for the complicated Midtown area and analyzed 86 separate intersections.

Certain improvements were implemented as DOT studied the neighborhood. Leading pedestrian intervals, which give pedestrians time to establish their presence in a crosswalk before traffic gets the green light, were installed at six dangerous intersections, while pedestrian signal times were extended to provide for slower walkers.

Some of the biggest changes within the study area, which runs from 29th Street to 55th Street between Eighth Avenue and the Hudson River, are projects that have already been announced. Select Bus Service along 34th Street will speed bus trips, add new loading space and shorten pedestrian crossing distances with new bus bulbs. The extension of Eighth and Ninth Avenues, by far the two most dangerous corridors for cyclists and pedestrians, according to DOT, is expected to significantly improve safety for all users.

Other improvements, though, will be brand new. Pedestrians will again be able to walk down the west side of Ninth Avenue past the Lincoln Tunnel under DOT’s recommendation. Currently, the sidewalk is interrupted at 36th Street by an unsignalized tunnel entrance. “We would provide a crosswalk and a stop light for the traffic,” said Andrew Lenton, the project manager for the transportation study.

Another sidewalk will be restored around the corner on 36th Street. “Right now, it’s occupied by NYPD vehicles parking on the sidewalk such that you can’t even walk,” said Lenton. Under DOT’s proposal, the sidewalk and parking lane would be turned into green space.

At Ninth Avenue, the two sides of 41st Street don’t quite line up, forcing drivers to maneuver to the right and slowing traffic. By installing what they called a “mini-plaza,” DOT can smooth traffic flow while shortening crossing distances for pedestrians and creating new public space.

There was some conflict, however, over the possibility of creating additional pedestrian space on Dyer Avenue between 34th Street and 35th Street. DOT proposed closing the northbound lane of that block to traffic during the afternoon rush. When the northbound lanes were closed due to construction in 2009, the Port Authority noticed improved flow into the tunnel during peak hours. Many community members called for making the lane closure permanent and DOT said it supported the idea. “We agree. What’s the point of banning it for PM only if the advantage is you get that extra space that you can take away from roadbed and give to pedestrians?” asked DOT engineer Greg Haas. But, said Haas, the Port Authority didn’t want to see a permanent closure in case it decided it wanted the lane reopened. “They want it to be there, just in case,” he said.

The plan also includes some small but important improvements for buses heading to the Lincoln Tunnel. During the afternoon peak period, the existing southbound contraflow bus lane on Dyer Avenue will be extended by one block, from 41st Street to 42nd Street. Currently, 60 buses an hour zigzag from 42nd Street onto Ninth, then 41st, and then Dyer. Extending the bus lane would allow buses to make a single turn instead of three. Similarly, making the right turn from Ninth Avenue to 41st Street bus-only all day long, instead of only during the afternoon rush, will prioritize bus access to the tunnel.

In general, the city’s proposals were met with enthusiasm. “We are pretty excited,” said Christine Berthet, the co-founder of the Clinton Hell’s Kitchen Coalition for Pedestrian Safety. However, Berthet and many pedestrian safety advocates were disappointed to see DOT opt to use leading pedestrian intervals at five dangerous intersections rather than split phases. LPIs give pedestrians a head start into the crosswalk while split phases mark off separate periods for pedestrians and turning vehicles to move. “In theory, it sounds good,” Haas said of split phases, “but they’re not as good as they’re cracked up to be. There’s a lot of non-compliance.” He argued that on the East Side, where split phases are in use, pedestrians see the light for crossing traffic turn red and step out into the crosswalk just as a green arrow sends turning cars in their direction.

DOT agreed to install a split phase at 43rd and Ninth, however, and monitor its effects. If it’s successful, it could be expanded to other intersections, said Haas. Berthet said she would continue to push for split phases. “We’ve been clamoring for split phases,” she said. “They’re the only way to protect the turning movement.”

Many were also concerned about DOT’s lack of a timeline for implementation. While Borough Commissioner Margaret Forgione said that easy changes like signal retiming would be put into place shortly, there is no construction schedule for changes like the 36th Street green space or new Ninth Avenue sidewalk.

Additional safety improvements could be added on top of the study’s recommendations in the near future, however. Under DOT’s Safe Streets for Seniors program, the area between Broadway and Ninth Avenue is slated for additional safety upgrades, which Forgione said will be put together over the next couple of months. Where the transportation study included pedestrian refuge islands along the new bike lane, for example, the senior safety program might install a neckdown on the other side of the street to narrow crossing distances.

Bike traffic on the Eighth Avenue protected bike lane. Photo: BicyclesOnly/Flickr

By a vote of 26 to 10 Wednesday night, Manhattan Community Board 4 endorsed DOT plans to extend the protected bike lanes on Eighth and Ninth Avenue from 34th Street to 59th Street. The bike lanes will improve safety for all users on some of Midtown’s most chaotic streets, which pass by Penn Station, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, and the Lincoln Tunnel entrance.

Though there were objections from a couple of businesses when the CB 4 transportation committee discussed the project last month, last night only one person testified about the lanes.”I’m just someone who got injured and started biking to heal the injury,” said Detta Ahl. “I found it was a good way to get around the city. I want to get around the city safely.”

Ahl also pointed out that the redesigned streets will improve safety for pedestrians and motorists as well as cyclists; further south on Eighth Avenue, a similar redesign reduced traffic injuries for all street users by 35 percent.

On the community board, opponents of the bike lane focused on what they saw as bad behavior by cyclists. Calls for additional education and enforcement of traffic laws earned loud applause.

Construction will take place in two phases next year. The lanes will be extended to 42nd Street in the spring and to 59th Street in the fall.

As Noah reported in September, the lanes will offer a much safer route for commuters, delineating protected space on wide avenues sorely in need of taming, particularly near Penn Station, the Port Authority, and the Lincoln Tunnel (though two blocks of Eighth in front of the Port Authority will not be protected). According to DOT, eight pedestrians and one motorist were killed in traffic crashes on this stretch of Eighth Avenue since 2005, while six pedestrians were killed on Ninth. Similar safety improvements on a stretch of Eighth Avenue further downtown precipitated a 35 percent drop in injuries for all street users.

The lanes got the go-ahead from the CB 4 transportation committee last month, but true to form the anti-bike minority got the headlines. As always, the more friendly voices heard on this vital measure for safer cycling and walking, the better.

Wednesday’s meeting will be held at Roosevelt Hospital, 1000 Tenth Ave., at 6:30 p.m. The full agenda is here.

Bike traffic on the Eighth Avenue protected bike lane. Photo: BicyclesOnly/Flickr

The redesign will make cycling a more attractive option to access the city’s biggest employment center and the theater district, and it will bring badly needed safety changes to the wide and chaotic west side avenues where they pass by Penn Station, the Port Authority, and the Lincoln Tunnel. Since 2005, eight pedestrians and one motorist were killed in traffic crashes on this stretch of Eighth Avenue, according to DOT; six pedestrians were killed on Ninth. Similar safety improvements caused traffic injuries for all street users to drop by 35 percent on a stretch of Eighth Avenue further downtown.

On each avenue, the space for the protected bike lane and pedestrian refuge islands will come from narrowing the existing travel lanes by two feet each, not removing a travel lane, DOT officials said. With the addition of left-turn space in the form of mixing zones — where bike traffic and turning cars overlap — and signalized turn bays at major intersections, traffic capacity will in fact increase on Eighth and Ninth Avenues. “If anything, speed should actually improve,” said DOT Borough Commissioner Margaret Forgione.

Construction would occur in two phases. The lanes would be built south of 42nd Street in the spring of next year with the northern sections completed that fall. The full board of CB 4 will meet to vote on the proposal next month.

Unlike the bike lanes on the east side, DOT’s plans do not call for the lanes to run without protection for any significant distance. Between 40th and 41st Streets on Eighth Avenue, however, the protected lane will become a buffered lane running to the right of the Port Authority cab stand. The plastic bollards currently in place there will remain to the right of the bike lane, however, providing some protection at that location. On the following block, cyclists would share the second lane from the left with motor vehicles turning left.

The need for this design stems from the double left-turn lanes onto 42nd Street, said DOT bike and pedestrian direct Josh Benson. “If the bike lane was between those two left lanes and the curb,” he said, “it would be very difficult to go straight on your bike.”

Many cyclists and community board members urged DOT to find some solution that protected cyclists as they passed through those two dangerous blocks. Jay Marcus, the committee co-chair, told DOT that perhaps they should totally reimagine the corner of Eighth and 42nd, “similar to what you did in Times Square.” In the committee’s resolution, they asked that DOT try to improve the design of those two blocks.

The committee also requested that DOT widen the sidewalks on Eighth Avenue in order to ensure that the bike lanes don’t get filled with pedestrians overflowing off the curb. “You’ll have all those commuters walking to the Port Authority,” worried Lourdes Calderon. Benson said that it was possible that something could be worked out for the areas above 42nd Street, where DOT would have some extra time to develop a plan.

Reactions to the plan from the public were generally positive, but a significant number of west side residents worried that law-breaking cyclists were endangering pedestrians. Many of them cited news reports about the Hunter study of bike-on-pedestrian injuries to make their case. A pair of local business owners, who got some outsized attention in this DNAinfo report, also claimed that the bike lane would make parking and loading impossible at their establishments. The committee accepted DOT’s word that the agency would add adequate loading zones and work with the NYPD on increasing law enforcement, and asked for progress reports on those issues.

Michael Pilecki (center) promised to strengthen traffic enforcement and focus on pedestrian safety at a community board meeting last night. Photo: Adams/Daily News.

Top NYPD brass expressed surprise at West Side residents’ unhappiness with the department’s traffic enforcement policies and vowed to do better at a meeting of Manhattan CB 4′s transportation committee last night. They also announced a new citywide “pedestrians first” policy for the department.

Four officers attended the CB 4 meeting, according to committee co-chair Christine Berthet, including Michael Pilecki and Scott Hanover, the commanding officer and executive officer of the NYPD’s traffic enforcement division. “It was fabulous,” said Berthet. “They took copious notes on everything.”

Berthet said that committee members had a wide array of complaints with NYPD’s current traffic enforcement practices in the area and pushed for more aggressive enforcement focused on pedestrian safety. “They were surprised how strong the message was from the community,” said Berthet. “We want fewer agents [who can only issue tickets for very limited violations like parking] and more tickets, summonses and towaways.”

Certain NYPD practices earned specific criticism from the West Siders. Police wave cars through red lights even when there isn’t any threat of gridlock, they said, or wave turning vehicles right into crossing pedestrians. “They said they had heard that, but needed to reinforce that message,” reported Berthet.

The officers also agreed to enforce anti-idling laws against buses and vans as well as automobiles.

To ensure that the police follow through on their commitments, said Berthet, she’ll hold another meeting of the transportation committee in three months to gather community feedback. “If there was no visible change,” she said, “we’ll re-invite them.”

Pilecki and Hanover also told the community board that the police had made a new citywide commitment to “pedestrians first” enforcement. “This is their new priority,” said Berthet. The campaign will include retraining traffic officers and stressing the “pedestrians first” mantra inside the department with visual reminders like stickers. A Streetsblog request to the NYPD press office for more information on the “pedestrians first” commitment was not returned.

City Planning will decide whether to let this 44th Street parking garage buck the Clean Air Act and store 90 more cars than currently allowed by law. Image: Google Street View.

With two days until the City Planning Commission votes on the parking-heavy Riverside Center mega-project, the commissioners had a chance yesterday to ask any final questions about the project before the vote. As it happened, they didn’t bring up parking at that section of the meeting, but parking was a hot topic elsewhere on the commission’s agenda, including a pair of requests for special permits to build more parking below 60th Street.

First up, though, was an example of more enlightened planning: Courtlandt Crescent, slated to be the next development in the South Bronx’s much-heralded Melrose Commons revitalization project. This 217-apartment project, which will also house a 10,000 square foot child-care center, will include 29 spaces for cars, according to Department of City Planning staffer Vineeta Mathur. Courtlandt Crescent will also have parking for 110 bicycles.

When planning commission member Angela Battaglia wondered why there was so little car parking included, chair Amanda Burden responded, “It’s expensive. As you know, it would affect the affordability.” Battaglia then agreed that the affordability levels were indeed admirable.

Next was a request for a special permit to build a 42-space garage on the ground floor of a downtown office building. The building, located at the corner of Water and Broad Streets, is going to be the new home of the New York Daily News, and the News is requesting the garage so that its reporters and photographers can quickly get in a car and drive off to cover a story, according to DCP’s Grace Han. The garage would convert an existing loading bay and an under-used mailroom.

The desire to use ground floor space for a parking garage stands in sharp contrast to the Downtown Alliance’s new vision for Water Street, which calls for remaking the entire length of the corridor to put pedestrians first and revitalize street life. That vision has started to take shape with a DOT pedestrian plaza at Water and Whitehall Streets [PDF].

The final item was another special permit for a parking garage, this time a public garage on West 44th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. The garage currently is allowed to hold 260 cars but often stores more and has been cited for doing so by the Department of Buildings, according to DCP’s Erike Sellke. The garage, which exits onto 43rd Street across the street from an elementary school, is applying for permission to hold up to 350 cars.

Both Manhattan lots require a special permit because no new off-street parking is allowed in Manhattan south of 60th Street without one, in order for the city to comply with the federal Clean Air Act. But special permits are nearly always granted, weakening the effectiveness of the regulation. Things got so bad that a lawsuit recently forced the city to crack down on special permits and put a hard cap on the number of off-street spaces in the Hudson Yards area on Manhattan’s Far West Side. As part of the settlement, the City Planning Commission stated in city law that limiting the amount of off-street parking is an important component of “creating an area with a transit-and pedestrian-oriented neighborhood character.”

The West 44th Street lot is just one block away from the Hudson Yards area. Will the same logic apply?

In addition to the features already found on New York's Select Bus Service, the 34th Street plan adds full separation from traffic, with two-way bus service operating on one side of the street. General traffic would travel one-way toward the Hudson River west of Sixth Avenue, and toward the East River east of Fifth Avenue. Between Fifth and Sixth, a new pedestrian plaza would be constructed in place of traffic lanes -- a configuration that Streetsblog readers may recall from a presentation in 2008.

All told, DOT projects that bus speeds will improve 35 percent, cutting river-to-river travel time to 20 minutes. Currently, buses on 34th Street are in motion only 40 percent of the time.

The placement of the transitway was selected specifically to enable pedestrian improvements. Running bus service in both directions along one side of the street allows for wider sidewalks and pedestrian refuge islands, according to an analysis of different options for the corridor [PDF]. Compatibility with loading and deliveries was also a make-or-break factor -- the configuration maintains curbside access to one side of the street along the entire route.

Image: NYCDOT

The new transitway would connect four subway stations, the busiest rail station in the nation, and the 34th Street ferry terminal. The M34 and M16 bus routes, which both run on 34th Street, carried more than 14,000 passengers per day in 2008. Several other bus routes use a portion of 34th Street.

In coming years, the corridor will get busier. The ARC tunnel will bring more New Jersey commuters into Penn Station. The 7 train will extend to 34th and Eleventh Avenue, and the development of Hudson Yards will bring thousands more residents to the west side. On the east side, the transitway would link up with Select Bus Service on First and Second Avenues.

The planning process is still in the early stages, and nothing is set in stone. Still to come: more detailed design, environmental review, gathering public input (which you can currently submit via the DOT website), and an analysis of necessary changes to the truck network. Planners hope to attract federal funding for the project. We have a request in with DOT for more information about what's next.

Image: NYCDOT

Image: NYCDOT

Seth Kahn, pictured here with late TV pitchman Billy Mays. Photo via Facebook

Inevitably, some media reports portray Kahn, who was in the crosswalk, as trying to beat the light, while making less of the fact that the bus driver, turning left from 53rd, must have also rushed into the intersection. The driver was not charged.

Despite the constant presence of pedestrians, Ninth Avenue is a notoriously dangerous place for people to walk. The quotes have been removed from the story now, but a local resident told NY1 (via Gothamist): "That particular corner always has some accidents. All the cars travel very fast and there's too many buses using 53rd Street and they don't even look for pedestrians."

Kahn was the fourth known pedestrian to die in the city in less than a week. On Tuesday a corrections officer with a suspended license hit Dorothea Wallace of Prospect Heights as she walked to work. Luis Rivera of the Bronx was struck and killed by a city bus driver on Halloween after he reportedly threw something at the bus' windshield. And last Friday, off-duty NYPD detective Kevin Spellman ran down 67-year-old Drana Nikac as she crossed a street in Kingsbridge.

On Saturday, over 50 people, including several local electeds and candidates, joined bereaved family members for a memorial march in honor of pedestrians killed on Ninth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen.

In recent years, drivers have struck and killed six people on Ninth between 36th and 45th Streets. The victims were eulogized this weekend, with the circumstances of their deaths -- some of which received little or no mention in local media -- recounted. The march was sponsored by the Clinton Hell's Kitchen Coalition for Pedestrian Safety (CHEKPEDS), the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association and Transportation Alternatives.

Impatient motorists lay on their horns as the procession, with TA's Shin-pei Tsay bearing a memorial plaque, crosses 40th.

A New Orleans brass band played hymns along the route.

Anahi Vargas, sister of Fabiola Grande Coyotl, speaks. Coyotl was seven months pregnant when she was hit by a truck at 38th Street in November of 2008. Her death didn't make the news.

Berthet railed at the local press for ignoring the carnage on city streets, where on average a pedestrian is killed every 36 hours. The Daily News was the only paper to cover Saturday's march.

TA's Paul Steely White called for safer street conditions and prosecutions of deadly drivers.

Tsay and TA's Julia De Martini Day install a plaque at Ninth and 37th.

Photos: Brad Aaron

CHEKPEDS, the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association and Transportation Alternatives will hold a march tomorrow in honor of pedestrians killed on Ninth Avenue. The march will begin at 2:00 p.m. on the west side of Ninth at 45th Street and will proceed to 36th Street. Along the way, commemorative plaques will be installed for six pedestrians killed by cars in recent years: Randolph Walker, Nina Petrov, Douglas Dibble, Fabiola Grande-Coyotl, Sabina Paradi, and most recent victim Susanne M. Schnitzer.

Sabina Paradi, killed on Ninth Avenue in 2007

Reads a TA media release:

Ninth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen, with its many accesses to the Lincoln Tunnel, remains one of New York City's most dangerous streets for pedestrians. The community was once festering with crime, but in a recent survey 70% of the residents said they fear for their lives when they cross the street, while only 5% are scared of crime.

It is very encouraging that a potential future Manhattan DA is taking part in events like this, and we'd feel a lot better about Liu's involvement if he'd stop badmouthing measures to make pedestrians safer.

Expect calls tomorrow for passage of the Hayley Ng and Diego Martinez Law, which would mandate safety training and community service for New York State drivers who seriously injure or kill a pedestrian or cyclist. According to TA, the driver who killed Susanne Schnitzer left the scene. Though he was later located, he has not been charged for taking her life. In such cases, the Ng-Martinez bill would give DAs more options to pursue charges, adding a modicum of muscle to the state's weak laws against deadly driving.

Average weekday eastbound trips, 2008. Source: TSTC/Port Authority of NY & NJ.

The Lincoln Tunnel XBL was established all the way back in 1971. In the last 38 years, bus ridership crossing the Hudson has boomed, especially this decade, but capacity for buses hasn't kept pace. Unless provisions are made to accommodate more bus travel -- and soon -- riders will face slower trips, the ridership gains of recent years will flatten out, and traffic troubles will deepen as more commuters choose to drive.

The good news is that it doesn't take all that much time or money to deliver some significant enhancements for bus riders. In a new report, "Express Route to Better Bus Service" [PDF], Tri-State lays out a strategy to expand on the success of the Lincoln Tunnel XBL and make bus travel more attractive for all trips across the Hudson. It's a wake-up call for the Port Authority to get moving on some long-overdue improvements.

"A population nearly the size of Cincinnati travels by bus across the Hudson River every weekday, but plans to enhance service for these riders are stalled," said Tri-State's Veronica Vanterpool, co-author of the report. "With bus travel anticipated to grow, we need to stop treating bus riders like second-class citizens and provide them with faster commutes and better access to information."

Tri-State recommends creating a westbound Lincoln Tunnel XBL during the evening rush and moving full-speed ahead with plans for a new high occupancy/toll lane for the morning commute (which has been stuck in the study phase for way too long). The report also touches on strategies to speed bus service across other Hudson River crossings, organize on-street loading for the city's growing volume of private bus operators, and make it easier for riders to plan their trips.

Follow the jump for the full slate of Tri-State's major recommendations.

Key Recommendations 

Short Term

1. Expedite the completion of the Lincoln Tunnel High Occupancy Toll Lanes study and implement the recommendations immediately.
2. Establish a westbound XBL in the Lincoln Tunnel during the evening rush hour.
3. Create an online portal for regional bus riders, with maps, route schedules and carrier information.
4. Improve communications technology for buses and update signage.
5. NYC should develop, with community input, strategies for formalizing bus loading/unloading and bus parking areas in neighborhoods across the city.
6. Coordinate with MTA and Westchester County’s Bee-Line to create and/or expand existing bus service between Westchester County and George Washington Bridge Bus Station.

Long Term

1. Study the potential for High Occupancy Tolling on the Holland Tunnel and GW Bridge.
2. Move forward plans to renovate and add capacity to the Port Authority Bus Terminal with community input, and to construct a bus garage on the West Side.

Photo: hotdogger13/Flickr

At issue was a rezoning provision that would have dramatically increased parking inventory for new Hudson Yards development by establishing parking minimum requirements. HKNA claimed the parking plan -- adopted in 2005 as part of the failed bid to build a far West Side football stadium -- violated a 1982 agreement to limit parking below 60th Street in order to keep the city in compliance with the Clean Air Act. 

The 2005 zoning, according to HKNA, would have permitted the construction of up to 17,500 new parking spots (estimates cited by neighborhood media pegged the number at closer to 20,000). Under the terms of the settlement, says an HKNA statement, "new development in the Hudson Yards will be limited to no more than 6,100 parking spaces" -- a number that, all things considered, "is expected to be approximately the same as would have been constructed under the 1982 zoning rules."

And for the first time, special permits for additional parking spaces will not be approved unless there is an actual shortage of parking in the Hudson Yards area. Currently there is no limit on special permits. The Departments of City Planning, Consumer Affairs, and Buildings will collaborate to keep an up-to-date inventory of parking spaces in the area and publish it on a web site.

The city has also abandoned plans for a 950-space underground garage originally intended for use by the stadium.

Needless to say, for a neighborhood already overrun with traffic congestion and parking garages, with attendant high levels of asthma to prove it, the settlement is welcome news. Here's hoping it might inspire the Bloomberg admin to reconsider its pro-parking push in other areas of the city.

Photo: Getty via Daily Intel

Among the outcomes so far: The conversion of 15 percent of the taxi fleet to clean-fuel vehicles, the construction of 79 new playgrounds, $100 million a year to increase the energy efficiency of government buildings, 20 pilot projects to clean up city waterways, hundreds of miles of new bike lanes. Ninety-three percent of the 127 initiatives are under way, Mr. Doctoroff said.

"The biggest achievement of them all," he said, is a greenhouse-gas inventory showing a 2.5 percent reduction in citywide carbon emissions, "at a time when greenhouse gases in cities around the nation continue to increase."

There is little doubt that PlaNYC is an ambitious and noble undertaking, despite the failure of congestion pricing -- which Doctoroff rightly cites as a direct cause of the current MTA funding crisis. But it seems a little specious to brag about reductions in greenhouse gas emissions when the Bloomberg administration has continued to vigorously promote VMT-inducing suburban-style parking, a contradiction not lost on City Room commenters like Chris, who writes:

What’s most frustrating is how Bloomberg and his advisors fail to make some very basic connections between their policies, for example working for modest transit improvements while promoting development that is very parking-intensive. Bronx Terminal Market is a prime example of this. Big box development with considerable parking availability which will do exactly what it is designed for- bring more cars, congestion, and pollution into the city.

So give credit where credit is due, but so many people wish Bloomberg would connect the dots.

Indeed. Even as he lobbied for PlaNYC and congestion pricing, Doctoroff himself was a prime mover behind the Yankee Stadium parking deal and greenhouse gas catastrophes like the Gateway Center. There's the legal battle waged by the administration to bring some 20,000 parking spots to Hell's Kitchen. And just last week Bloomberg celebrated the opening of driving-intensive commercial development at the Gateway project -- one day after announcing a new "green" buildings initiative. In fact, when asked point blank by Streetsblog about the connection between more parking and more driving, the mayor either didn't understand the question or chose not to address it.

Chris believes there's something "far more complex than just ignorance" at work here. We agree. The question is, will the Bloomberg administration safeguard the progress of PlaNYC by reversing its disastrous parking policies?

At last night’s Manhattan Community Board 4 meeting the full board voted overwhelmingly in support of the DOT’s proposed extension of the Eighth Avenue bike lane from 14th to 23rd Streets. Only two board members voted against this plan. Zero community members attended the meeting to speak out against the bike lane. Eight community members attended to speak in favor. Because of the noticeable amount of support in the crowd, the chair, J.D. Noland, actually moved Eighth Avenue up from item 27 to item number two on the agenda, knowing so many people were in the room waiting to hear the verdict.

When it came time for the board to vote, at least two board members who had formerly been leading opponents of Eighth Avenue went on record as now supporting the plan and thanking the CB4 Transportation Committee for holding such a thoughtful and comprehensive public forum on the topic in November.

It is important to remember why Eighth Avenue is now being supported by CB4.

1. The board did a thorough job of working with the community and addressing all of their concerns in their resolution, as well as structuring a forum to help alleviate misinformed concerns. The DOT responded to CB4’s desire for meaningful community outreach and has also responded to these concerns, or in some cases indicated the city will work with the board in the future.

2. Supporters SHOWED UP and SPOKE at these public meetings in numbers far outnumbering opponents, making it undeniable that public input matters tremendously in this process.

3. No opponent could argue with the facts: 280 pedestrians and bicyclists were struck on Eighth Avenue between 14th and 23rd Streets from 1995 to 2005 (our most recent crash data) -- that’s a very high crash rate. In the year since its installation, a comparable project on Ninth Avenue has achieved dramatic reductions in crashes. Data collected by the NYC Department of Transportation shows the impact of that project, and the results we can expect to see on Eighth Avenue:

• 57 percent increase in cycling
• 36 percent decrease in pedestrian-related injuries
• 50 percent decrease in injuries from all crashes
• 41 percent decrease in the number of crashes
• Sidewalk cycling reduced from 5 percent to 1 percent

People continue to bring up scofflaw cyclists. Transportation Alternatives will be working on outreach along Eighth Avenue. To keep things in perspective, in the last 10 years roughly 2,000 pedestrians have been hit and killed by cars in NYC. This compares to an estimated 4 to 6 pedestrians hit and killed by bikes during that same time, citywide. Every death is one too many, but it is good to have in mind the real source of death and injury on our streets when safety comes up with an intent to incite anti-bike lane sentiment. We all have a role to play in making our streets safer, and this process has demonstrated the need for cyclists to ride with consideration of the laws and other street users in order to shape public opinion favorably toward cycling and future bike lane projects.

Just last week a woman, seven months pregnant, was hit and killed on 38th and Ninth Avenue, in CB4. Pedestrian safety is a huge concern for this community board, and the existing protected bike lane and pedestrian safety improvements on Ninth Avenue point to the undeniable improvements that will stem from a similar design on Eighth.

Thanks to all who turned out and vocalized their support for one of NYC’s premier bike lanes and a beacon for the livable streets of our future.

Pedestrian refuges mean cyclists aren't the only beneficiaries of cycle tracks. Photo: wrkng/Flickr

The board's transportation committee signed off on the lane last month. Still, about a dozen speakers turned out to oppose the project, which has community advocates, including CHEKPEDS, calling for a strong showing tonight by all who support a safer Eighth Avenue.

WHAT: Manhattan Community Board 4 General Meeting

WHEN: Wednesday, December 3, 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Roosevelt Hospital, 10th Avenue between 58th and 59th St.

Last night, the transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 4 voted 8-2 in support of extending the protected bike lane on Eighth Avenue, now under construction below W. 14th Street, north to 23rd. Wiley Norvell of Transportation Alternatives sends this account.

The meeting turnout was high, with roughly 40 people speaking 2-1 in favor of the proposed protected bike lane. There were a lot of cyclists, most of them Chelsea residents. Joshua David of Friends of the Highline, Mike Epstein representing Google, as well as Ian Dutton and Shirley Secunda from CB2 all helped set a good, supportive tone early on. The issue of gay (or-anti) gay street design, which got some mention in the press last month, was dismissed early one by one speaker as a "lavender herring" and never came up again.

Of the 10-15 people speaking against the project, about five spoke as if this was a referendum on cycling, railing against bikers as public enemy #1 (thank you Hunter College). There were a few speaking on process, and criticizing the DOT for inadequate public outreach in drafting the design. And several spoke about specific needs, like loading zones on particular blocks and banning left turns on some west-bound streets to preserve metered parking for businesses.

The overall tone of the meeting was respectful and upbeat, and hopefully it carries over to the full board meeting, where we'll need everyone who spoke last night (and more) to come out again and speak for the project.

The recommendation came with conditions, including education and outreach to cyclists and businesses and consideration for commercial parking and loading zone needs. The committee also wants all signals to be accessible to street users with physical impairments.

The plan will go to the full board -- where the project was previously rejected, based, at least in part, on the anti-gay argument -- on December 3. 

Image: NYC DOT 

The Eighth Ave cycle track is under construction from Bank St. to 14th

WHAT: Community Board 4 Transportation Planning Committee meeting

WHERE: Fulton Center Auditorium, 119 Ninth Ave. (between 17th and 18th Streets)

WHEN: 6:00 p.m.

If you can't make it to the meeting, you can e-mail comments to CB4 Assistant District Manager Renee Schoonbeek.

Photo: Clarence Eckerson 

The transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 4 will host a public meeting Wednesday night regarding DOT plans for a protected bike lane on Eighth Avenue from W. 14th to W. 23rd Street.

Phase one of the project [PDF], from Bank Street to 14th, is currently underway, and plans are to extend the lane north next spring. Though the city is not bound by community board recommendations, it is important that supporters of the lane turn out to counter what has been vocal opposition -- particularly given the success of the cycle track on Ninth Avenue, which in its first year has seen:

• a 50 percent decline in injuries (from all crashes)
  
• a 41 percent decline in total crashes (36% decline in reportable crashes)
  
• a 36 percent decline in crashes involving pedestrians
  
• a drop in sidewalk riding
  
• a 57 percent increase in cyclists

The meeting will be held at the Fulton Center Auditorium, 119 Ninth Avenue (between 17th and 18th Streets), at 6 p.m. A DOT presentation will be followed by questions on the proposal, starting at 6:20. Public comments are to begin at about 6:45. Comments should be limited to two minutes.

Image: DOT