Hmm... here's looking west from Avenue D toward the construction zone...
The $60 million Houston Street Corridor Reconstruction is expected to end in the summer of 2014. The plan calls for the widening of sidewalks, enlarging of medians, installating new pavement markings and bicycle lanes from Second Avenue to FDR Drive and creating two new plaza areas.
Anyway, we kind of like weeds.
Answer: A lot.
ReplyDeleteweeds are awesome.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet the city had no problems chopping down a dozen beautiful old (40+ years) cherry trees in Queens so they could build a $17 million atrium for Queens Borough Hall...
ReplyDeleteIf it makes it look as nice a West Houston St, then ill give them another few years....
ReplyDelete"as nice a West Houston St,"
ReplyDeleteAre you serious?
The W. Houston Street median is an overgrown weed bed. It's an unmitigated disaster.
In fact, the weeds are only picked up once a year in the spring by Parks Dept, not by DOT. A team came this May to do it. By now, it looks awful, like some neglected vacant lot.
CB2 and the local community wanted DOT to leave the median alone, because the prior councilmember, Kathryn Freed, had allocated $1.2 million to add iconic SoHo cobblestones and plant nice trees.
No sooner were the cobblestones and trees installed than the new DOT regime under Sadik-Khan tore the cobblestones up, cut down four old trees at two intersections to make it easier for cars to turn into SoHo, built a 3-ft "wall, aka, "median", in the middle of Houston, segregating SoHo from GV, like a Berlin Wall, and then planted some cheap plants.
However, the plants go unattended and the weeds thrive, and the median is full of litter.
DOT under JSK is a disaster, not only on E or W Houston, but all over the city.
JSK had nothing to do with East Houston Street, it was initiated and designed under the previous commissioner Iris Weinshall. Before making unsubstantiated claims, make sure you know what you're talking about.
ReplyDeleteWeed Rocks
ReplyDeleteThat space in between the lanes should be used for something- bicycle parking, even some benches-or make the median a little smaller to accommodate the new bike lanes- Houston is a major traffic artery that needs to stay open to cars and bikes- not wasted space filled with giant concrete walls and weeds
ReplyDelete@anonymous 5:37
ReplyDeleteUnsubstantiated claim? Being snide or inaccurate won't help your position a bit. Nor will poor Reading Comprehension. So be nice.
First, if you read my comments with more discernment, my friend, you'll clearly see I was referring to W. Houston, not E. Houston. Capice?
Second, I know very well the details of this boondoggle that cost us taxpayers $10+ million that could have been better used for schools or fire services or parks - not to speed motorists on their way to and from NJ.
.
I also know it was INITIATED under Iris. But it was CONSTRUCTED under JSK. She is the one who could have killed it. But no! She wanted to facilitate traffic on Houston Street. (Ask her why there is no bike lane on Houston Street. Go on, ask her)
Her DOT was very aware of the community and the community board's opposition to this unnecessary expenditure, but bulldozed ahead, as is her imperious style, and lied to the community board and the local electeds regarding data and statistics used to justify this waste of money.
In fact, are you aware that Congressman Nadler had the funding for this scheme pulled from the Federal Transportation Bill in 1998 in response to community and political pressure, and the boondoggle lay fallow for years until Iris and hubby Chuckie slipped it in the federal budget?
I see you must be one of her few remaining defenders of JSK. I understand. It's a big city and it takes all kinds.
Enjoy the weeds.