The Taxi Relief Stand has arrived sooner than expected, and is now in place on Avenue A between Houston and East Second Street… the posted hours are 7 a.m.. to 7 p.m…
A quickie recap of what has been happening:
The ongoing East Houston Reconstruction Project is having a major impact on Punjabi Grocery & Deli's business on East First Street between Avenue A and East Houston.
Through the years, cab drivers made up a sizable portion of Punjabi's business. The reconstruction, however, has prevented drivers from being able to stop by for an inexpensive vegetarian meal here at 114 E. First St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. (Owner Jashon Singh told BoweryBoogie in the spring that his sales are down some 60 percent in the past five years during the roadwork.)
The Taxi Relief Stand has seemingly been some sort of hot-potato issue among various city agencies. In any event, CB3's Transportation & Public Safety/Environment Committee voted to support the cab stand at its May 12 meeting.
At the time, however, the city said a decision on an exact location must wait until the end of the summer, when the long-delayed construction project was expected (ha!) to be completed, per The Lo-Down.
Looks as if someone got the Stand fast-tracked, as it arrived this week. (Updated 6-5: This stand is only temporary, we didn't point out. The verdict on the final location will come once the construction is done along Houston and East First Street.)
Meanwhile, Taxi Relief Stand or not, the plaza in front of Punjabi is as construction-fucked as ever.
You have to follow a narrow maze of barricades to enter Punjabi…
A spokesperson from the Department of Design and Construction told NY1 yesterday that the agency has continued to reach out to Punjabi. The spokesperson said that they have started aggressively working at the site again and expect work to be done this summer.
Eventually here's how the new Greenstreets and street configurations at Avenue A and Houston will look ...
Previously on EV Grieve:
How you can help Punjabi Grocery & Deli stay in business
Never-ending construction continues to hurt Punjabi Grocery & Deli
It's going to look great when it's finished though. It will have been worth the problems.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't call it "construction-fucked". The construction is moving right along.
ReplyDeleteIf anything, Punjabi is getting exceptional attention from the city in this case. I have not heard of any other small business that has (especially in our area).
The slant in this article is particularly whiny. Why not focus on the positive? There's now a taxi stand! Hey, that's great! And sooner than expected you say. That's a win for Punjabi. So how about calming down now regarding the construction in that area.
Why calm down about a gubment construction project that takes about two Soviet five-year plans (= ten years) to finish?
ReplyDeleteBill, saying to privatize the streets
I'm also glad that Punjabi finally got some help, but I agree that Houston & 1st st badly need reconstruction. I wish it had taken less time, but I look forward to the final result.
ReplyDeleteToo bad East 1st St between Ave A and 1st Ave will still be a construction equipment dump zone for incessant Houston repairs.
ReplyDeleteWill the taxi drivers be able to relief themselves here?
ReplyDeleteBiggest fuckup in this whole thing is is that they didn't incorporate a plan to construct additional subway access on the south side of 1st Ave. That would have been so nice.
ReplyDeleteI meant "East" side of 1st Ave.
ReplyDeleteThis entire intersection has been under construction for what seems like years. It's a joke how long this has taken. Also agree with the other poster that this was a lost opportunity to blow out the 2 Ave station below and add new staircases to improve access.
ReplyDelete