[Updated] The Villager calls for change atop Community Board 3

In an unprecedented move, The Villager has published an endorsement for the chair of Community Board 3 (CB3).

This is unusual given that CB3 members vote for the chair — it's not any kind of general election for residents. (By the way, the vote is tomorrow night.)

However, The Villager feels strongly that change is needed at the top. Gigi Li, who has served two one-year terms as chairperson, is running for re-election to a third term. Chad Marlow, a CB3 board member for two years, is opposing her.

There is a lot at stake, namely, the future direction of the board and, thus, of the neighborhood.

The newspaper lays out recent incidents, such as Li's decision to suspend the LES Dwellers from meetings, that have marred CB3's reputation. In addition, another board member said that Li failed to appoint any Black or Latino members as the chair of a committee, subcommittee or task force.

CB3 is clearly in disarray, and there is a growing sense of disconnect with the community that it is supposed to serve.

There is a strong sentiment for change, both within the community and on CB3.

And!

CB3 has fallen into a rut, and the community has lost trust that their voices are being heard. And, in the case of the LES Dwellers, their voice was actually silenced by the board for a period of time. This is not community democracy the way it’s supposed to work.

And so The Villager is strongly supporting Marlow as the new CB3 chair — "For the good of the community board and of the neighborhood."

While we have never personally met Marlow, he has been a frequent and credible source of information to us through the years. (He is one of the few CB3 members who doesn't seem to adopt a bunker mentality with the press, as The Villager noted.)

Among Marlow's accomplishments: Successfully spearheading the Alphabet City-Tompkins Square Slow Zone ... and forming the Tompkins Square Park & Playgrounds Parents’ Association to help curb the rat population in the Park.

And last year, Marlow launched the crowdfunding campaign that raised nearly $19,000 for the family of gravely injured East Village Farm and Grocery worker Akkas Ali.

Back to The Villager:

[W]e’re impressed by his record of accomplishment, and we feel, were he elected, he simply would — get things done, and that he would get the right things, positive things done. In short, he is more activist and energetic than Li, and that’s what we need.

Updated 6-24
Li won the election. Read more about it here.

Alphabet City-Tompkins Square Slow Zone to take effect in August

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The Alphabet City-Tompkins Square Slow Zone is on its way.

Department of Transportation reps provided Community Board 3 (CB3) committee members with an update last Thursday night about the incoming (officially named) Alphabet City-Tompkins Square Slow Zone, the community-based program that reduces the speed limit within designated zones from 30 mph to 20 mph. (Read the background about all this here.)

For starters, the zone is expected to go into effect in August, according to CB3 member Chad Marlow, who helped put the plan in motion for the East Village early last year.

The above map shows the designated Slow Zone — First Avenue east to the FDR, and from East Second Street north to East 14th Street.

In addition to the 20 mph speed limit, a Slow Zone area receives speed humps (21 for East Village) and new striping and signage to slow drivers. (You can find a PDF of the DOT's presentation here.)

This is a particularly personal issue for Marlow. In 1995, a drunken driver struck Marlow's father on Harlem River Drive, an accident that left him with quadriplegia and a severe brain injury. His father died 13 years after the accident.

"I actually almost started crying when I got the DOT plan printout," Marlow told us. "This is a very emotional issue for me. I feel great and grateful."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Call for an East Village 'slow zone' (34 comments)

More about the timing of the Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone

More about the timing of the Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone

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On Friday, CB3 member Chad Marlow learned that the Department of Transportation (DOT) has approved the Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone. (Read the background about all this here.)

Here's an update. According to StreetsBlog, there were 74 applications for slow zones citywide. In total, the DOT selected 15 of the zones to be rolled out over the course of the next three years. Turns out the Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone is in the highest priority group, and is set for implementation next year. Other neighborhoods receiving a slow zone next year are Norwood in the Bronx, Clinton Hill/Bedford Stuyvesant and Brownsville in Brooklyn, and Jackson Heights, Queens.

The DOT says the applications were evaluated on criteria including crash history, community support, and proximity of schools and senior or daycare centers, as StreetsBlog reported. Slow Zones will include signage, a 20-mph speed limit and speed humps.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Call for an East Village 'slow zone' (34 comments)

City approves Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone

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Back in April, CB3 member Chad Marlow, and the group that he founded in 2011, the Tompkins Square Park & Playground Parents’ Association (TSP3A), kicked off a neighborhood safety initiative.

The group applied to the Department of Transportation (DOT) to have them create what the group is calling the "Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone" (TSACSZ).

The TSACSZ, in short, is an effort to improve pedestrian safety for children and all others who live/work/play in the proposed 0.38 square-mile zone by reducing motor vehicle speeds. Per Marlow, the slow zone program takes a well-defined, relatively compact area, and reduces its speed limit from 30 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour, with further reductions to 15 miles per hour near schools.

Now that I've buried the lead Marlow just learned today that the DOT has approved the Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone. Per a DOT letter to Marlow, the implementation will take place some time in 2014.

In an op-ed in The Villager last spring, Marlow also revealed a personal reason behind this proposal. In 1995, a drunken driver struck Marlow's father, an accident that left him with quadriplegia and a severe brain injury. His father died 13 years after the accident. (Read the entire op-ed here.)

We asked Marlow via email for his reaction to the DOT's decision:

"I am beyond grateful to the Department of Transportation for approving the Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone. I am equally filled with gratitude for all of the community groups, elected officials and members of Community Board 3, whose support for the proposal was instrumental in making it a reality. Most of all, I find myself thinking of my father, Richard Marlow, and how something positive has finally come out of the years of terrible pain and suffering he endured after being hit by a speeding, drunk driver in 1995. I dedicate this effort to his memory."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Call for an East Village 'slow zone' (34 comments)

Call for an East Village 'slow zone'

[Click image to enlarge]

Catching up with an op-ed that appears in this week's issue of The Villager. Here, CB3 member Chad Marlow, and the group that he founded in 2011, the Tompkins Square Park & Playground Parents’ Association (TSP3A), are kicking off a major neighborhood safety initiative.

It involves applying to the Department of Transportation to have them create what the group is calling the "Tompkins Square/Alphabet City Slow Zone" (TSACSZ).

The TSACSZ, in short, is an effort to improve pedestrian safety for children and all others who live/work/play in the proposed 0.38 square-mile zone by reducing motor vehicle speeds. As Marlow writes, the slow zone program "takes a well-defined, relatively compact area, and reduces its speed limit from 30 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour, with further reductions to 15 miles per hour near schools."

The above map previews the proposal, using crash data demonstrating how dangerous the area is. Per the op-ed:

According to Transportation Alternatives, from 2005 to 2009 (the five most recent years for which State Department of Motor Vehicles data is available), there were 143 pedestrian injuries and 70 cyclist injuries in the proposed TSACSZ. There were also two pedestrian fatalities. That means the proposed TSACSZ averages 42.6 injuries and 0.4 deaths annually. By way of comparison, only one existing slow zone — Elmhurst, with an average of 44.6 annual injuries — is even in the same ballpark as the proposed TSACSZ.

The group believes that the proposed TSACSZ will benefit the neighborhood's residents, visitors and businesses by creating a safer, cleaner neighborhood with less traffic noise, among other things.

Aside from other NYC neighborhoods, Marlow points to the successful implementation of such zones in several international cities, including Berlin, Zurich, Dublin, London and Helsinki.

Finally, Marlow reveals a personal reason behind this proposal. In 1995, a drunken driver struck Marlow's father, an accident that left him with quadriplegia and a severe brain injury. His father died 13 years after the accident.

Read the entire op-ed here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A proposal to help curb the East Village crusty population

Parents group upset about number of rats in Tompkins Square Park