Streetsblog New York City

Children growing up in Manhattan’s low-income communities are at significantly higher risk of being seriously injured or killed in traffic than their neighbors in wealthier districts, a new study from Transportation Alternatives finds [PDF]. Intersections near public housing appear to be particularly dangerous for children trying to cross the street.

In East Harlem and on the Lower East Side, the number of children younger than 18 who are killed or seriously injured while walking or riding their bikes is significantly higher than on the Upper East Side or in Gramercy and East Midtown, even though there are more total crashes with pedestrians in those wealthier neighborhoods.

The most dangerous intersection for kids on the East Side is Lexington and 125th, where 34 children were injured and one killed between 1995 and 2009.

The disparity can’t be explained by differences in population. In fact, the Upper East Side has the greatest share of residents under the age of 18 of the four areas studied. Rather, children are more at risk of getting hit by a car than adults in the low-income neighborhoods, while they are at lower risk in the high-income areas.

Transportation Alternatives hasn’t pinned down a cause, but they theorize that the design of public housing projects could be the culprit. Nine of the ten most dangerous East Side intersections for children were near public housing. The creation of large superblocks at many public housing developments could be encouraging children to cross mid-block, for example.

Twelve-year-old Dashane Santana, a resident of the East Village’s Jacob Riis Houses, was hit and killed last Friday while crossing Delancey at Clinton Street, across from NYCHA’s Seward Park Extension at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge.

Leaders from East Harlem and the Lower East Side have decried the unsafe conditions their children face. “My district contains the greatest concentration of public housing in the city and is located in an area of Manhattan where traffic can be quite heavy. That means the children of my district are at risk,” said City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito. “We need immediate action to address dangerous driving habits and must improve traffic patterns in high risk areas. Bike lanes in East Harlem are certainly one part of the solution, but more can be done.”

“This map shows us an injustice, pure and simple,” said Damaris Reyes, the executive director of the neighborhood organization Good Old Lower East Side. “Our kids living in public housing on the Lower East Side, including my own children, deserve safe streets just as much as any other child in the city. The NYPD needs to get its priorities straight and crack down on dangerous driving.”

After a misinformation campaign by two local business owners, East Harlem’s Community Board 11 rescinded its vote in support of plans for protected bike lanes along First and Second Avenue Tuesday night. The board will soon vote again on the project, which has the backing of local Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito.

Community Board 11 has already voiced its support for the protected bike lanes twice. In 2010, the community board expressed outrage over being first promised a protected lane, then having the Bloomberg administration recant. Then, this September they voted 47-3 to support the construction of the protected lanes, setting the stage for construction as soon as the spring.

But, as DNAinfo first reported, after restaurant owners Frank Brija and Erik Mayor organized against the project, the board voted to take back its most recent endorsement. The community board will vote again on the bike lanes after considering the businessmen’s arguments and hearing a new presentation from the Department of Transportation.

“They’re ready to do Occupy Milk Burger.”

Community leaders, including Mark-Viverito and CB 11 chair Matthew Washington, support the bike lanes and promised to ensure that the board has accurate information about the project.

Brija and Mayor, the owners of Patsy’s Pizza and Milk Burger, respectively, gathered signatures from 61 business owners in East Harlem. Mayor claimed that the businesses had not been contacted about the project, though DNAinfo’s Jeff Mays reports that DOT Borough Commissioner Margaret Forgione said her office contacted every business along First and Second Avenues, as did the board’s district manager and transportation committee chair.

The East Side project would bring protected bike lanes and new pedestrian refuges to a neighborhood with some of the most dangerous streets and severe asthma problems in the city. Mayor and Brija threw the kitchen sink at the proposal. In addition to arguing that the lanes would remove parking spaces and be underused, Mayor and Brija claimed that the bike lanes would increase congestion and actually worsen asthma rates in the neighborhood.

“There was a lot of confusion and misinformation provided that night,” Mark-Viverito said of Tuesday’s vote. She added that she’d personally be working with the board leadership to make sure that CB members get the best information possible about the effect of bike lanes.

“I don’t see this as any sort of slowing down of the process to get the protected bike lanes we want and need in East Harlem,” she said. “The vote was not to say no to the bike lanes.”

Read more…

Joined by East Harlem seniors, advocates and City Council members, transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today kicked off a program to provide new and improved sidewalk seating.

CityBench, a product of PlaNYC 2.0, will bring 1,000 shiny steel benches to locations across the five boroughs. The first two were installed outside the Leonard Covello Senior Center on E. 109th Street, where Sadik-Khan said the primary aim of the initiative is to make streets and sidewalks more accommodating to seniors and the mobility-impaired.

“CityBench brings a new design standard that elevates our streetscapes and simply makes it easier and more enjoyable for New Yorkers of every age to walk and take transit,” said Sadik-Khan. The benches will be sited strategically near bus stops, commercial districts and areas with large populations of seniors and the physically disabled. Members of the public may also recommend locations via 311.

“Not only will these benches allow seniors and other residents to sit down and rest, they will also enable them to chat with their neighbors about their day, their families, and the overall state of the community,” said Mark-Viverito, who was lauded by Sadik-Khan for her work in bringing separated bike lanes to First and Second Avenues. Council Member Jessica Lappin and Deputy Mayor Linda Gibbs were also on hand.

The lion’s share of funding — 80 percent — for the $3 million CityBench program comes from the Federal Transit Administration, with New York State DOT covering another 10 percent.

After the crowd from the presser had for the most part dispersed, I spoke with bench designer Ignacio Ciocchini, who is director of design for Chelsea Improvement Company. Ciocchini said every facet of the bench was developed with the city in mind, from the powder-coated steel, designed to dissipate heat and shed snow, to the 26-inch seats, allowing for what Ciocchini described as “proper social space” and intended to leave room for whatever a pedestrian might be carrying, from a shopping bag to a small child.

“It fits all sizes,” said Covello Center executive director Suleika Cabrera. “It’s fantastic.”

Read more…

The full board of Community Board 11 voted to approve protected bike lanes on First and Second Avenues last night. The news was first reported by Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson over Twitter this morning.

When complete, the bike lanes and pedestrian refuge islands will run from 96th Street to 125th Street on both avenues. Construction will start on Second Avenue, where there is currently no bike infrastructure, and will not cover Second Avenue south of 100th Street until Second Avenue Subway construction is complete.

CB 11′s transportation committee approved the plans by a vote of 5-1-2 earlier this month. East Harlem residents and elected officials had been promised the lanes last year, but when revised plans had construction limited to below 34th Street, they fought hard to get the lanes built in their neighborhood.

Wolfson thanked City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito for her support of the lanes. “Yeah!” she responded. “Protected bike lanes benefit all in our community.”

We’ll update this post with more information on last night’s vote as it becomes available.

Could complete streets finally be coming to East Harlem?

The neighborhood has been calling out for the city to keep its promise and build protected bike lanes along First and Second Avenues, bringing safer cycling and traffic calming to an area badly in need of both. Even at the peak of the bikelash last year, City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito and State Senator José Serrano rallied for the completion of the lanes while community board members pressed DOT’s representatives to put their neighborhood first for a change.

Now, it seems that the city could bring safer designs to First and Second Avenue in East Harlem next year. Mark-Viverito tweeted out the news this morning in response to a conversation between frequent Streetsblog commenter BicyclesOnly and Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson about transportation equity and bike planning.

Wrote Mark-Viverito: “Ext. of 1st/2nd Ave. #bikenyc paths 2 #EastHarlem are well on their way as confirmed by DOT. Very excited!”

Mark-Viverito may have broken the news ahead of schedule. A DOT spokesperson would say only: “We continue to discuss this with the community but no determination has been made at this time.” Mark-Viverito’s office did not respond to a Streetsblog request for more information.

Is there any neighborhood in New York City that has asked for more and received less, in terms of safe street improvements, than East Harlem?

In 2010, days after it was announced that the First and Second Avenue protected bike lanes were on hold between 34th Street and 125th Street, Community Board 11 members blasted DOT for seeming to put a low priority on their neighborhood.

A few months later, East Harlem residents wrote to Mayor Bloomberg, asking him to ensure that they’d be able to ride safely.

And in November, City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito and Sen. José Serrano stood on the steps of City Hall demanding that the city make good on its promises and finish the East Side bike lanes in 2011.

It’s no wonder why the neighborhood feels strongly. East Harlem boasts more cyclists than any neighborhood outside Lower Manhattan and northwestern Brooklyn, even though it hasn’t received any new bike infrastructure in years. That means its cyclists — like Marcus Ewing, who was fatally doored last October — are in particular danger, while its would-be cyclists don’t ride. With the highest rate of childhood asthma hospitalizations in the city, the community is also clamoring for more safe and accessible ways to get exercise.

After it was announced last night that DOT would only be installing bike lanes on First and Second up to 57th Street this year — suggesting that it may be years before improvements come to East Harlem — representatives again called for their neighbors to get a fair share of the safety-enhancing infrastructure being built further downtown.

Said Mark-Viverito:

I am very disappointed to learn that protected bike lanes on First and Second Avenues are not being extended to my community in El Barrio/East Harlem. We should be encouraging greener and healthier modes of transit in all parts of our city, particularly in a community like mine that suffers from disproportionate rates of asthma and obesity. I urge DOT to re-consider its decision and to afford the residents of my community the same opportunities for safe bike travel that are being offered to other neighborhoods on the East Side.

And Serrano:

I am extremely disappointed that, once again, the next phase of the Select Bus Service plan will not extend protected bike lanes Uptown to East Harlem and Yorkville. Last night at the SBS Advisory Committee meeting, the project team announced that that transit signals will also be installed starting at the south end of the corridor, moving northbound to Houston. I understand that this is due to the street network in that area. However, Uptown residents always seem to get shortchanged when it comes to these large scale transit projects. It’s time to break this pattern, and ensure that upgrades begin on 125th Street and work their way down, so that the residents of East Harlem and Yorkville are not the last to benefit from transit improvements.

After rallying on the steps of City Hall this afternoon, Transportation Alternatives delivered 2,500 handwritten letters urging Mayor Bloomberg to complete the protected bike lanes on First and Second Avenues. Joined by elected officials and more than forty supporters, T.A. called on Bloomberg to fulfill the promise of safe walking and cycling on Manhattan’s East Side and to complete the bike and pedestrian improvements up to 125th Street.

T.A. Executive Director Paul Steely White said he’s urging the city to complete the corridor by the end of next year. To meet that goal, he said, an announcement from the city needs to come in the next six weeks or so.

A completed corridor has received strong support from the East Side. Before designs for First and Second were announced, 19 electeds signed a letter calling for protected bike and bus lanes for the length of the route. After the plan was first released with protected lanes from Houston to 125th, every community board along the corridor supported the design, said White.

The fight to complete the unfinished lanes has earned the endorsement of 39 organizations, including transportation and planning groups, environmental advocates, and public health organizations like the New York Academy of Medicine and the East Harlem Aging Improvement District.

Today, elected officials continued to press for safer cycling and walking. Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh said he was “calling on the city to finish what they started.” The city had already budgeted funds for the full corridor’s construction and received community approval for the full plans, said Kavanagh. “We don’t want bike lanes to nowhere,” he argued.

State Senator José Serrano argued that shifting street space from the automobile to biking and walking would improve health in his neighborhoods. “If we reduce carbon emissions along these stretches of First and Second,” he said, “we can reduce asthma in East Harlem.”

Read more…

Last week a group of 12 City Council members announced that they're forming a new bloc, called the progressive caucus, "dedicated to creating a more just and equal New York City." The Times notes that the caucus signifies an unusual development, in that the members came together around shared ideology, not racial or sexual identity.

Streetsblog readers will notice that the caucus is led by two members who've been enthusiastic supporters of sustainable transportation initiatives that promise to improve life for New York's transit-dependent majority, many of whom cannot afford to own a car. Melissa Mark-Viverito and Brad Lander have both taken vocal stands in favor of congestion pricing and Bus Rapid Transit, citing the numerous benefits of better transit for poor and middle class New Yorkers.

It remains to be seen how the bloc as a whole, which includes members from all five boroughs, will address transportation. The caucus is still working out the details of its policy agenda. "I certainly anticipate that in the weeks and months to come they’ll be forming subcommittees related to specific issues," said Rachel Goodman, Lander's chief of staff.

For now, there is a broadly worded plank in the caucus's statement of principles [PDF] that links transportation to sustainability and environmental justice. It calls for "a more sustainable and environmentally just city, that takes the lead in preserving the environment for generations to come, improving the health of current residents, insuring a sound transportation system, and working toward a more equitable distribution of burdens and benefits." Viverito also told the Times that the caucus thinks Mayor Bloomberg has performed well on environmental initiatives.

The other ten members of the caucus are Margaret Chin, Daniel Dromm, Julissa Ferreras, Letitia James, Rosie Mendez, Annabel Palma, Ydanis Rodriguez, Deborah Rose, Jimmy Van Bramer, and Jumaane Williams. All together they control nearly a quarter of the 51 votes on the council.

With transit funding and better bus service on the line in Albany these days, it will be interesting to see whether the caucus takes positions on issues that play out at the state level. "I’m sure there will be situations where they choose to weigh in," Goodman told Streetsblog. "That said, I think they’ll be pretty focused on the legislative matters before the city."

Several representatives in the City Council and state legislature, as well as Borough President Scott Stringer, have signed on in support of protected bike lanes for Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.

Last fall, Manhattan CB 7 passed a resolution asking DOT to prepare a proposal for protected lanes in the district, which stretches from 110th Street to 59th Street. In a letter addressed to DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan earlier this week, eight electeds signaled their support for the resolution.

The letter [PDF] commends "DOT's ongoing effort to encourage safe, environmentally friendly and healthy modes of transportation" and offers to help the agency consult with local groups prior to implementing bike lanes on the West Side. In addition to Stringer, the signatories are State Senators Tom Duane, Bill Perkins, and Eric Schneiderman; Assembly members Linda Rosenthal and Dick Gottfried; and Council members Melissa Mark-Viverito and Gale Brewer.

DOT says it will work with West Side stakeholders as the agency develops proposals for the area.

Elected officials gave plans for redesigning First and Second Avenues positive reviews today, tempered by the desire to improve the initial outline presented by the MTA and NYCDOT. They were faced with a complex project that defies easy categorizations. The proposal unveiled last night would constitute a historic re-purposing of New York City's streets -- but stop short of creating an urban corridor where pedestrians, cyclists, and transit take precedence over the automobile.

After two years of breaking new ground and raising expectations for sustainable street design -- with the city's first Select Bus Service route on Fordham Road, its first protected bikeways, and the complete transformation of Times Square -- DOT now faces pressure from elected officials who want to see an even better outcome for the majority of their constituents who walk, bike, and ride the bus.

Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh, who called the presentation "a good beginning," was skeptical of the agencies' claim that the package of bus improvements in the plan -- which did not include physically separated lanes -- would deliver 20 to 25 percent reductions in travel time.

"We want to see a rigorous analysis of the tradeoffs they're making between transit improvements and maintaining traffic flow," he said. "I think that 20 percent is optimistic... Even if we were to achieve 20 percent, I think that there may be opportunities to improve bus service even further."

The Assembly member took issue with the contention of the MTA's Ted Orosz, who postulated that illegally parked trucks would disrupt bus service in separated lanes. "Other cities, and certainly New York, can figure out how to prevent a Snapple truck from parking in a bus lane," he said. "There are certainly ways to configure this that would reduce the chance that traffic's going to block it."

City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito, who represents East Harlem and parts of the Bronx, called the plan "a great start" in an email to Streetsblog, while also calling on the MTA and NYCDOT to "move forward with an even better plan."

"I am particularly encouraged by the proposed creation of protected bike lanes, which will go a long way to promote the use of bicycles," she said. "However, I urge the MTA and NYCDOT to consider including separated bus lanes into their plan for the East Side. Many of my constituents depend on the First and Second Avenue buses to get around, and separated bus lanes will make their everyday trips both quicker and safer."

Read more...