There were several reader reports last night about a car striking a pedestrian last evening on Second Avenue and Ninth Street.
According to the Daily News, a 69-year-old man was crossing west on Second Avenue when a Honda Accord making a left turn from Ninth Street struck the pedestrian around 8 p.m.
Per the News:
A bicyclist riding down Second Ave. said the driver had the green light but was turning too fast to stop for the victim who was in the crosswalk.
The victim was taken to Bellevue and is reportedly in critical condition.
No charges were immediately filed against the 35-year-old motorist, according to the News.
Work continues at 79 Second Ave. between Fourth Street and Fifth Street, where the new location of Brick Lane Curry House will be opening later this fall.
The new awning just arrived, looking as hot as its phaal dish. As Eater noted, the British-style curry is made with tomato, ginger and at least 10-12 ground whole chillies. (Eat it and get into the Phaal Hall of Fame.)
East Village Vintage Collective officially turned three last month, though they waited until tomorrow (Saturday!) to celebrate the occasion over at 545 E. 12th St. between Avenue A and Avenue B.
From 7-11 p.m., there will be a vintage fashion show, Sweetface Snoballs, tarot card readings by Gayle Stacher, prizes, video screenings and more.
Or you can look around their selection of vintage clothing for women, men and children ... as well as vinyl, housewares and various tchotchkes.
The Marshalls signage is now (mostly) visible over at 197 E. Houston between Ludlow and Orchard...
As noted on Monday, this location of the off-price department store chain opens on Oct. 4 at 8 a.m. in the retail space directly next to Katz's. Marshalls joins Equinox as the two retail tenants in the base of Ben Shaoul's condoplex built partly with gold-dusted bricks imported from Cadaqués.
Join #OurPowerPRnyc, organizers, grassroots leaders, artists and others actively engaged in a people to people #justrecovery for Puerto Rico, demanding justice and asking "Where Are We Now?"
In late August, Puerto Rico’s official death toll from Hurricane Maria was raised from 64, a number widely discounted as far too low as Reuters reported, to nearly 3,000.
Maria caused property damage estimated at $90 billion and left much of the island without electricity for months. The recovery there remains agonizingly slow for many people.
U.S. Representative Nydia Velazquez, a native of Puerto Rico, has said that "the federal response to the hurricane was disastrously inadequate, and as a result, thousands of our fellow American citizens lost their lives."
She was among the assembled elected officials to speak out about the relief efforts during a press conference at City Hall this morning.
An EVG reader who lives on 12th Street shared the above flyer... found slipped inside the front door of her building yesterday.
The flyer provides information about protected bike lanes that will be implemented starting this month on 12th Street and 13th Street (as well as Horatio Street and Greenwich Avenue) ahead of the April 2019 L-train shutdown.
Back in June, the DOT made public its bike-lane plans... scrapping its original idea for a single, two-way bike lane on 13th Street in favor of two separate, one-way lanes for 12th and 13th streets.
The flyer provides the first details on the timing of the work — starting with this month. The city will install bike lanes on the north curb of 12th Street from Seventh Avenue to Avenue C, and the south curb of 13th Street from Greenwich Avenue to Avenue B separated from traffic with a painted buffer and flexible delineators.
The DOT shared this info in a tweet on Tuesday as well...
In preparation for the April 2019 L tunnel reconstruction DOT will implement safety improvements on 12th St, 13th St, Horatio St, Greenwich Ave from Ave C to Hudson St in Manhattan:
🚲Install protected #bikenyc lanes
🚶Increase safety
🚗Organize & calm traffic
🚶Shorten crossings pic.twitter.com/LFU1oa5v1I
This month DOT & @MTA will begin bus & road safety improvements on 14th St from 1st Ave to 9th Ave in Manhattan, in preparation for the L tunnel reconstruction:
🚗Maintains local access
🚌 Improve bus reliability
🚚Improve curb access for deliveries
🚶Improve pedestrian safety pic.twitter.com/Jfh7fSd7eo
Ahead of this work on 14th Street ... EVG regular Pinch noted the other day that the city removed the flexible stanchions that helped divide 14th Street at First Avenue...
... now...
You can find the city's full transporation plan during the L-train closure at this link.
Elzer and company hope that the sauce here will set them apart from other pizzerias. Here's more from a Sauce rep on what to expect in the 22-seat space:
At this counter-service, pizza parlor, guests are encouraged to put sauce on everything and are given sides of sauce like (Grandmother's Gravy, Mantecato, Filleto, and Bolognese) with every order to enhance their meal, perfect for dipping crusts or adding an unexpected twist to salads.
Adam has been perfecting his dough recipe for the last five years, narrowing in on thin crust pies. Their coveted Pizza Master oven achieves overall consistency and ideal leopard spotting on each pie. The use of a homemade sourdough starter, Central Milling Beehive organic malted flour, fresh sauces, and a unique cheese blend creates their signature flavor profile. Pie highlights include:
• Upside Down Cheese Pie: constructed by reversing the order the ingredients are put on the pie with mozzarella, pecorino, tomato sauce, wild sicilian oregano, and breadcrumbs
• Heritage Sausage Pie: housemade pork sausage, red onion, shaved garlic, and breadcrumbs
• Vodka Pie: spicy mantecato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and basil
Additional menu items include:
• Fried Polenta Sticks
• Garlic Knots with fresh garlic & garlic oil
• Chocolate & Vanilla Van Leeuwen Soft Serve (the only venue in nyc to offer VL soft serve)
• Van Leeuwen Soft Serve Floats with Boylan's Soda (Black Cherry, Root Beer, Cola, Orange, etc.)
And an image via the rep...
Sauce is giving away free slices tomorrow (Friday!) from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
After the public hearing on Monday, the City Council Zoning Sub-Committee and the Land Use Committee will vote on the developer's application today to build an 8-story hotel next door to the Merchant's House Museum on Fourth Street between the Bowery and Lafayette.
The developers, Kalodop II Park, are seeking a spot rezoning to build the structure that high. The public review process, the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), began in the spring.
As noted in previous posts, preservationists, not to mention the leadership of Merchant's House, the circa-1832 building, are concerned that the construction could permanently damage the structure, one of only six residences in NYC that is both an exterior and an interior landmark.
Sen. Brad Hoylman testified in front of the City Council's Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchising on Monday in opposition to the construction of the proposed hotel.
Following Monday's hearing, his office released the following statement:
Hoylman joins Borough President Gale Brewer, Assemblymember Deborah Glick, Manhattan Community Board 2, preservationists, and residents in opposition to the current application.
Senator Hoylman said: “The approval of this building would result in potentially irrevocable harm to the Merchant's House. Furthermore, our city’s zoning laws should not be changed at the behest of a single developer, especially when the survival of a 186-year old building like the Merchant's House is at stake.
It’s a miracle that the Merchant's House has survived intact both inside and out for so many years. It’s our responsibility to ensure the future generations of New Yorkers are able to experience the rich history of the Merchant's House. I urge the City Council to reject this application.”
Today's vote is expected at 10:30 a.m. at City Hall (250 Broadway), Committee Room (2nd floor).
The full City Council will weigh in next.
Updated 1:30 p.m.
The committees voted no on the rezoning...the full City Council votes next week, though it is believed they will follow the lead of the committees...
Niall Grant, the owner of Tuck Shop on First Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue, told me last evening that he is closing the business here at the end of service next Tuesday, Sept. 25 after 13 years selling Australian meat and vegetable pies on the block.
The other two Tuck Shop locations, in Chelsea Market and Urbanspace, will shut down by the end of the month.
Here's part of an email that Grant shared:
All the usual reasons can be cited but rising costs in general are behind this difficult decision. After 13 years in business I am tired of the struggle to keep a small business afloat in NYC.
My chief concern is finding jobs for my excellent kitchen team who have been with me for many many years including our head chef Pedro who has been with Tuck Shop since the very start, sous chef Juan (9 years) and prep cook Andras (7 years). They're a wonderful team so if anybody out there has a job for any of them please email tuckshopfirststreet@gmail.com.
I'd also like to thank all the folks who have worked for Tuck Shop over the years. I've made some lifelong friends and had lots of laughs with the staff. I wish you all well in your endeavors.
Finally I'd like to thank all the customers and regulars who supported Tuck Shop since 2005. I really appreciate what you've all done for me and my staff. You've allowed us to prosper, fed our families and paid our rents. We really appreciate it. Please come by the stores and say goodbye as we will miss you all greatly.
Thanks again,
Niall and the whole Tuck Shop family!
I love this street. After 11 years here, I know everybody’s face. There are still a lot of the same old faces. All these guys hang out in front of the place. Some have been here for maybe 30 years. You see people grow up. It’s great to be part of a community like that. It’s nice seeing the whole family grow up upstairs.
Thanks to EVG friend Walter Wlodarczyk for bringing this exhibition to my attention... mh PROJECT nyc, the viewing space at 140 Second Ave., is currently presenting "Mottel_Mottel: The Image is a Seed," in which Matthew Mottel is presenting his father Syeus Mottel's entire archive of 35mm color slides — 3,000 strong shot between 1967 and 1975 — with performances by artists connected to their work.
The elder Mottel, who died in 2014 at age 83, was a theater director and photographer, notable for his documentation of Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio, Buckminster Fuller and CHARAS.
Syeus defined his photography as “diaristic”: he shot the people he encountered including John Cage, Ornette Coleman, Thelonious Monk, Martin Luther King Jr., William S. Burroughs, Abbie Hoffman, Miles Davis, Patti Smith, Vito Acconci, Robert Rauschenberg and Diane Arbus.
The exhibition got underway last Thursday with a performance by composer and multi-instrumentalist David Amram ...
[Matt Mottel]
Here are the remaining performances, which take place from 8-10 p.m.:
9/19 Jeff Preiss, Filmmaker
9/20 Brian O’Mahoney Performance artist and theatre maker
9/21 Cooper-Moore, Jazz pianist, composer and instrument builder/designer
9/22 Steve Dalachinsky, Poet & Daniel Carter, Saxophone player
9/23 Lary7, Artist, filmmaker and musician & Bradley Eros , Artist
9/26 Art Jones, Filmmaker
9/27 Will Cameron, Artist
9/28 Jean Carla Rodea, Interdisciplinary artist
9/29 Cat Tyc, Writer and artist
9/30 Gil Arno, Visual artist
The space is also open for viewing Saturdays and Sundays from 1 - 6 p.m. and by appointment.
You can find mh PROJECT nyc at 140 Second Ave., between St. Mark's Place and Ninth Street, No. 306.
The doors open at 6 p.m. ... and the movies start at 7 p.m. Food and beverages will be available for purchase to stay or to go.
The 17-year-old family-owned and operated catering company is also open for Soup Night every Tuesday evening from 5 to 10. Hit this link for more info.
The L-train stop on First Avenue was among the victim's of this early afternoon's heavy rainfall... in case you haven't seen this clip making the rounds...
Last night, a handful of local elected officials along with reps from the MTA and the city gathered at Middle Collegiate Church on Second Avenue for an L-train shutdown Town Hall.
Aaron Gordon has a nice recap at Gothamist today. Here's an excerpt specifically related to my post yesterday about 14th Street and Avenue A serving as the main staging area for the upgrades to the Sandy-damaged Canarsie Tunnel:
Multiple residents voiced a belief that asbestos was being improperly disposed of in dumpsters near their apartments, something New York City Transit president Andy Byford assured them isn’t happening. He promised to post something on the MTA website detailing exactly what materials are being disposed of and that asbestos is not one of them, which requires completely separate disposal teams and procedures due to its high toxicity. “If you all really think that,” he said, “then I think we owe it to you to get something up on the website to get your mind at rest.”
Several citizens also expressed concern about the “considerable truck traffic,” as one put it, that has already inundated the neighborhood. Another said she’s experiencing more headaches and sore throats than usual and cannot open windows out of fear construction dust would enter her apartment. Byford pointed out they simply cannot do the work without trucks bringing materials in and out through the East Village shafts — which will become elevators into the 1st Ave L station after the shutdown is complete — but did offer that at the peak of construction, 30 trucks’ worth of debris will come out of the tunnel per day and 10 will be going in with new material.
[EVG photo from last month]
Byford also said that although the work inside the tunnel will be 24/7 to try and wrap up the project as quickly as possible, surface-level construction will not be all hours of the day.
Meanwhile, as Streetsblog reports, Community Board 6 members said that "the current plan for next year’s L-train shutdown will fall considerable short of what will be needed to efficiently move the 400,000 daily commuters who will be affected." This link goes to the Streetsblog piece.
Community Board 3 officials learned last Thursday during a committee meeting that the Department of Sanitation (DSNY) will use part of 10th Street west of First Avenue to park garbage trucks.
By Saturday, new street signs had arrived [per a resident, the signs arrived a few weeks back. See comments], restricting the parking on part of 10th Street west toward Second Avenue to the Department of Sanitation. The trucks arrived on Saturday as well.
[Top two photos by Steven]
[Photo from Saturday]
Everyone was seemingly caught off guard by this parking development, including the Community Board, local business owners and residents.
"There was no discussion or outreach. We are still gathering information on this issue," Trever Holland, chair of CB3's Parks, Recreation, & Waterfront Committee, told me via email. "Most of the questions we asked went unanswered or [the DSNY said] 'we'll get back to you.'"
The DSNY no longer has use of their garage at 606 W. 30th St., and are relocating their fleet elsewhere, including 10th Street and at Pier 36. None of these trucks will be servicing residents within Community Board 3.
"We have very little information from the DSNY, but many, many complaints," CB3 District Manager Susan Stetzer said yesterday. "I have never before received so many complaints in such a short time."
In an email, one EVG reader noted: "Over the weekend, three stinky garbage trucks were parked on the block. It was like a wall of stench in front of Pinks and across from Snowdays and Tarallucci e Vino."
Pinks, the bar-restaurant at 242 E. 10th St., is the business most directly impacted by the arrival of the parked trucks.
"I can firmly attest to the fact that Saturday evening the corner of 10th Street and First Avenue is jammed with people, and at that time on Saturdays, Pinks typically has a nice dinner and drinking crowd," said Alex Sassaris, an owner who also bartends on the weekends. "This past Saturday during the same time the bar was practically empty.
"Keep in mind we are a food-service establishment, with the cellar door just a few feet a way from a truck filled with garbage — that's certainly a potential rodent nightmare on our hands."
Rodent potential aside, Sassaris said the trucks parked in front of the bar also present a possible security issue.
"[We are] obstructed from the view of 9th Precinct patrols," he said. "This poses a substantial danger to our patrons and staff for any number of potential threats ... if the police can not have eyes on the bar from the street."
[Image from security footage at Pinks]
Before Theater for the New City moved into its current home at 155 First Ave. near 10th Street in the late 1980s, the Department of Sanitation used the building for storage. As Off the Grid noted in a 2012 feature, "When the Theater for the New City purchased the former First Avenue Retail Market building there was stipulation that they had to still share part of the space with the Sanitation Department for a time."
Apparently there are still facilities for the city to use in the building. According to last week's CB3 committee meeting agenda, Department of Sanitation officials were on-hand to discuss a "reactivation of Section Station at 155-157 First Ave."
It's not immediately clear how long the city plans to park garbage trucks on 10th Street. According to CB3's Holland, sanitation officials said that it will be "temporary" — like five years or longer until they secure a new spot.
"If this is allowed to continue, our business is certainly in jeopardy and all the people we employ could potentially be out of a job," Sassaris said.
--
Updated 9/19
Here's an update from CB3 District Manager Susan Stetzer this morning:
I also want to thank the readers who posted information about the trucks. The CB number posted in the comments is not correct — it is a defunct fax number. However, it is not productive to call — we would be doing nothing but answering the phones. Do call 311 and also do submit a "make a complaint" form on the CB website. At this point it would be good to submit only if new information. For example, we just got a complaint through the website that there are now trucks also parking in areas not reserved for the trucks.
CB 3, CB 6 and the council office were informed of this decision shortly before it happened, with little information, and with no input or choice. However, we will be working together to try to have a better resolution.
An EVG reader noted that the East River Park Track was open for business yesterday... mostly students were using the new upgraded facilitates ...
The front gates were unlocked. The reader was unsure if the track was open to anyone or just the students. (It appeared to be some kind of organized practice or event, the reader thought.) Updated: the track is open for anyone to use.
Anyway, as previously reported, the Parks Department closed the East River Park Track at the FDR and Sixth Street — without any advance notice — for a year-long renovation project last September.
In late August, a Parks rep said that the track would return for use on Sept. 10, though it remained locked up last week. The Parks Department website shows that the work here is now "100% complete."
The $2.8 million initiative was set to "reconstruct the synthetic turf soccer field and resurface the running track," per the Parks Department website, which includes this rendering highlighting all the improvements...
799 Broadway is located at the corner of 11th Street and Broadway, at the convergence of Union Square and Greenwich Village. Designed by Perkins+Will, the new 12-story, loft-style building will comprise 182,000 square feet of boutique office space and will provide a dramatic complement to this quintessential New York neighborhood. With floor plates ranging from 3,600 to 22,000 square feet, 799 Broadway will feature floor-to-ceiling glass, private terraces, and 15 foot high ceilings. This combination of highly desirable location and state-of-the-art design will appeal to New York’s most progressive and creative companies.
And...
Once completed, 799 Broadway will complement Columbia’s growing portfolio of differentiated assets in Midtown South, characterized by smaller floor plates, distinctive architecture, and high-end, modern finishes and amenities.
Speaking of once completed...
[Binyan Studios]
Further proof the tech/office boom in our neighborhood, which will be exacerbated by the recent Tech Hub rezoning, is turning Greenwich Village+the East Village into “Midtown South” in the real estate industry’s eyes: https://t.co/r3r5nomlhf
The 165-year-old building that is being torn down is noteworthy for many reasons. It opened in 1853 as the St. Denis Hotel, which is where Ulysses S. Grant wrote his post-Civil War memoirs and Alexander Graham Bell provided the first demonstration of the telephone to New Yorkers.
However, the building is not landmarked... and it is not in a Historic District.
Fire extinguisher handiwork arrived overnight outside the Beth Israel clinic at 26 Avenue A ... and over on the (for sale) Provident Loan Society building on Houston and Essex ...
To date, the majority of articles about the upcoming L-train repairs have focused on the transportation alternatives while the MTA upgrades the Sandy-damaged Canarsie Tunnel.
The 15-month L-train shutdown between Bedford Avenue and Eighth Avenue begins in April 2019.
The MTA outlined the extensive work that will take place in a news release last year:
Demolition and reconstruction of approximately 60,000 linear feet of duct banks, 14,400 linear feet of track and track bed, 270,000 linear feet of cable ducts and associated cables, repair of 7,000 linear feet of concrete lining, and the installation of tunnel lighting and fire systems. The tunnel will be also be protected from future storms with resiliency measures including construction of resilient cables and ducts and the installation of a new discharge line.
Prior to the tunnel closure, extensive station work will be performed that will increase operational efficiency and improve accessibility and circulation. Station improvements at the 1 Av and Bedford Av L Subway stations will include new stairways, and four accessibility-compliant elevators and other work to improve customer flow.
Preliminary work started in the summer of 2017 on building new entrances at Avenue A and a new power station at Avenue B. Since then, 14th Street between First Avenue east to Avenue B has been an active construction zone with a variety of trucks, drill rigs, pile drivers, compressors and generators.
[Reader-submitted photo]
Meanwhile, 14th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue is down to one lane of traffic in each direction.
This is a large — and noisy — project that has already taken its toll on nearby residents and businesses.
However, as some 14th Street residents recently discovered, as bad as it has been the past year, the construction is going to get a whole lot worse. A group of residents living at 542 E. 14th St. at Avenue B said that 14th Street and Avenue A will be the main access point for the 24/7 delivery of new Canarsie Tunnel infrastructure as well as the portal for removing debris from the tube.
BoweryBoogie first reported on this development on Aug. 29. A resident speaking on behalf of tenants at No. 542 provided an update after a second meeting with officials on the construction on Sept. 6
Describe what you have been through with the L-train work to date.
Our first inkling that something was up was on Aug. 5, 2017 (a Saturday), when workers showed up and quietly dismantled the bus stop at the corner of 14th Street and Avenue B. There was no community announcement about a construction job about to begin at that location, no posted announcement about the bus stop removal.
Since that time, the project and site have been growing and growing — from Avenue B to First Avenue, on both the north and south sides of the street. The noise and pollution have made our building untenable. For almost a year, we've had on our block (14th between A and B) over 30 diesel machines (generators, four-story drills, compressors, bulldozers, backhoes, etc.) running six days a week, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
[Reader-submitted photo]
The noise has been astounding. We've regularly made recordings of decibel readings in the high 90s to 120 on many of the machines — way above DEP allowable levels. We've also reported diesel run off into the streets and gutters.
[Reader-submitted photo]
For as horrific as the scope of the project has been, it has continued to get worse in every respect.
While all this has been going on, a crucial, game-changing piece of paper was tacked up at the site on the corner of 14th and A: A permit issued by DEP to the MTA approving 24/7 work hours beginning May 2018 for a full year. Mr. Nirva Paul at the DEP signed off on this permit (below) without the DEP having responded to a single one of our scores of complaints, and with no community interaction whatsoever.
In our first meeting — not a publicly announced, town-hall meeting, but one organized for residents of 542 E. 14th St. with the MTA and Judlau Contracting, Inc. by Assemblymember Harvey Epstein — MTA and Judlau finally admitted ... that their diesel emissions are not being monitored, and their noise levels are not being monitored. We were told in that first meeting that they weren't monitoring diesel emissions because a) they weren't required to, and b) there is so much diesel in the air already, there's no point in monitoring it.
The refrain from the MTA for the Carnarsie Tunnel Project has always been a firm, frantic — "This has to be done!" As if we're in an emergency state of repair. This is a bullying technique of they use to cover their bad planning.
The fact is, Hurricane Sandy happened in 2012 and they've had six years to figure out the best way to do this work with minimal community impact. They are a state agency, and appear to be clueless about our how our neighborhood functions.
This work has already greatly affected the businesses on 14th Street between B and First Avenue. Several have already gone out of business due to severely limited access to their storefronts. Several (west of Avenue A) are suffering because their customer access now is only 28" of sidewalk space, not big enough for a wheelchair in spots.
What we learned in that first meeting was the MTA's plan to make that very spot, at 14th and A, the sole entry and exit point for all old tunnel materials and all new tunnel materials. Heretofore, they had told the public that the work on that corner was for the new stairways and elevator for the station.
The work that's being done — long ahead of the stairways and elevator — is to create entry and exit points for a constant (24/7) flow of yet more diesel trucks removing debris that contains asbestos and silica dust (you can learn about that on the MTA's very own YouTube channel).
Residents said that they have filed complaints with the MTA and the DEP. What has been their response?
We — at least five of us in our building alone — have made a steady flow of very specific, documented complaints about violations to the MTA and the DEP about noise, diesel pollution and traffic congestion. We've had zero response from either agency. The only responses we’ve been able to obtain have been verbally, during the two meetings we’ve had so far with them and the Assemblymember.
You said that MTA reps confirmed on Sept. 6 that the area between Avenue A and First Avenue will be the main staging area — 24/7 — during the reconstruction. Before this, were you aware of any public meetings to let community members know about the work?
There were public meetings, but none of them addressed what you mention, which is what leaked, we believe for the first time, during our first meeting with the MTA, Judlau and Assemblymember Epstein. You can check the records on that — no publicly released information mentioned the staging area or the 24/7 work.
The only work mentioned was installation of the underground power station at Avenue B, and the construction of the elevator and stairways down to the new station on either side of Avenue A. We know of no place this “main staging area” information was made public before now; if it was, it certainly is not known at all in the affected area.
What is your biggest concern about the work?
The fact that the MTA’s current plan is to truck out hundreds of tons of tunnel debris. Much of this debris is known to be contaminated with silica dust and asbestos as acknowledged by the MTA on its YouTube site.
The Avenue A access point 50 feet from a school and church. This debris will be carted out 24/7 for a year and a half, under tight deadlines and facing and with contractors facing stiff penalities for each day the deadline passes, through the streets of the East Village and Stuy Town.
On the delivery end, the MTA will be commandeering the service/access roads of Stuytown to deliver all the tunnel materials, again 24/7. With a very conservative estimate of 30 trucks a day, that is over 13,000 truck deliveries, with all the pollution, idling, beeping and noise coming into what will be some of the most heavily-trafficked blocks and street in the city.
The fact that we’re facing two years of diesel trucks lined up and idling, coming and going round the clock, in an already heavily congested area.
The fact that the neighborhood will very likely to become a parking area for idling diesel trucks, 24/7. This alone will create conditions even more untenable than those we’re already facing.
Why is this being done undercover, in such a shady fashion? The only answer to that is they know community response will be outrage once people have a chance to fully grasp what’s in store. Keeping it secret will allow them to get far enough into the project that there will, arguably, be no turning back. But the nightmare of the plan (and the congestion, not to mention the pollution), combined with their plan to use 14th Street for a substantially increased number of buses round the clock, will have a devastating effect on the area.
Now that we know the plan, we’re calling on all public officials for our district to come out against the plan, and for the Mayor and the Governor to put a moratorium on work until an independent auditor can be brought in to assess the impact of this plan on the community’s health and well-being, and to engage the community in this plan.
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Debris removal from this entry point on 14th Street is likely among the topics to be discussed this evening during a Town Hall on the L tunnel reconstruction project. The event takes place at Middle Collegiate Church, 112 Second Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
We're seven months away from the scheduled L train shutdown. Join @CarlinaRivera and I, along with several other elected officials, for an East Side town hall featuring the latest updates from @NYCTSubway President Byford and @NYC_DOT Commissioner Trottenberg. Details below. pic.twitter.com/MOB9t6BJcX
