Tuesday, June 27, 2017

A call to expand the boundaries of the proposed special business district in the East Village

On June 7, Community Board 3's Economic Development Committee hosted a public forum to discuss a proposed special district in the East Village "to encourage retail diversity and promote small and independent businesses."

Under the proposal, the special district would be 14th Street to Houston; Second Avenue to Avenue D as well as St. Mark's Place between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. (Read a PDF about the proposal here. You can read recaps from the meeting here and here. Read REBNY's reaction here.)

The borders of the proposed district didn't sit well with some members of the East Fifth Street Block Association, who plan on discussing the topic during the public speaking section of tonight's full CB3 board meeting.

According to an email via the Block Association, streets between the Bowery and Second Avenue should be included in the proposal:

The East 4th Street Cultural District, which is between Bowery and 2nd Avenue, is a cultural hub. Having chain stores at its western approach would destroy its sense of context and historic place.

With the Bowery’s west side above Houston protected by the NoHo Historic District, it would be irresponsible and degrading to the East Village’s sense of historic place to have major gateway at Bowery become the sole repository for these awful chain stores. That would give a negative first impression of this wonderful neighborhood.

Second Avenue is not the gateway to the East Village. The Bowery/Third Avenue is the gateway to the East Village, and all of it should be included in the EV Special Zoning District.

The full CB3 meeting is tonight at 6:30, PS 20, 166 Essex St. between East Houston and Stanton.
at

1 comment:

  1. AnonymousJune 28, 2017 at 2:24 PM

    I guess if people are against it, just expand the boundaries.

    ReplyDelete

Your remarks and lively debates are welcome, whether supportive or critical of the views herein. Your articulate, well-informed remarks that are relevant to an article are welcome.

However, commentary that is intended to "flame" or attack, that contains violence, racist comments and potential libel will not be published. Facts are helpful.

If you'd like to make personal attacks and libelous claims against people and businesses, then you may do so on your own social media accounts. Also, comments predicting when a new business will close ("I give it six weeks") will not be approved.