Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
Residents and business owners gathered yesterday at the corner of 11th Street and First Avenue to urge the city to address ongoing e-bike congestion, blocked sidewalks, and sanitation concerns along the block.
The press conference, themed "A Safer Corner for Everyone," was organized by the newly formed East Village Beautification Project, whose members say more than two years of complaints have failed to produce a lasting solution.
Christine Renzi, a property owner on the block who founded the group about a month ago, said it already has more than 60 members.
"For more than two and a half years, we have been raising concerns about conditions on this block," Renzi said. "Residents and businesses have spoken up repeatedly, but we still do not have a real solution."
She described sidewalks crowded with e-bikes, food waste, rats and difficulty accessing residential buildings and storefronts.
She also questioned why so many delivery workers and their bikes have been concentrated on a single residential block.
"Delivery workers deserve respect and appropriate places to gather," she said. "But this residential block is not an appropriate place for over 400 e-bikes and workers to gather unlawfully at all hours."
Organizers cited the figure of 400 bikes, but it has not been independently verified.
Renzi also criticized the lack of resident and business participation in discussions about the block's future, saying those most directly affected have not been invited to meetings with elected officials and delivery-worker representatives.
"We need a win-win solution," she said. "We want to come up with an equitable solution for everybody."
Several speakers described how conditions have affected their daily lives and businesses.
Mike Paredes, the former owner of REVMPD, a consignment shop at 178 First Ave., a storefront south of the corner, said the congestion contributed to his decision to close the business in March.
Paredes, who now works as an MTA bus driver, said his store relied heavily on foot traffic and window displays to attract customers. As bikes and groups of people increasingly occupied the space outside, he said, that visibility suffered.
"Owning the store was my dream," he said. "I'm here for the other businesses that are here, and I hope that they won't have to share the same story."
Robert Zerilli, co-owner of East Village Institution Veniero's Pasticceria and Caffè at 342 E. 11th St. on the next block, said the problems extend beyond any one storefront.
"Small businesses depend on people walking through the neighborhood, looking through the windows, meeting a friend, coming for coffee, or something to eat," he said.
Zerilli said he knew of at least six businesses that had closed near the corner in the past two years, though he emphasized that he was not attributing those closures solely to e-bike congestion.
"This isn't about demonizing anyone. It's about balance," he said. "People need to work. Residents need to get around. Storefront businesses need to remain accessible."
For Izabela Padula, who has lived on the block for nearly four years, navigating the sidewalk with her baby and stroller has become a daily challenge.
"When I leave home with my baby, I should be able to push a stroller down the sidewalk," she said, calling on the city to maintain clear pedestrian access.
Longtime residents Beth Graves and Michael Anton also spoke about deteriorating sanitation conditions.
Graves, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1974, said she sometimes struggles to get through the block while walking her dog to Tompkins Square Park.
She also expressed concerns about discarded food and an increase in rats.
Anton, a resident since 1981, directed some of his criticism toward the delivery-app companies themselves.
He compared the difficult working conditions faced by delivery workers to those experienced by his immigrant grandparents in sweatshops.
"DoorDash, Seamless, Uber Eats. You have made so much money," he said. "Do something for the people who have made that possible."
Anton suggested the companies help provide off-street parking and gathering spaces for delivery workers rather than leaving the burden on residential blocks.
Meanwhile, the block saw a cleanup effort yesterday afternoon.
According to NYPD sources familiar with the operation, police worked with delivery workers to identify abandoned and derelict bikes.
The Department of Sanitation discarded and removed a dozen bikes. Police took two additional bikes obstructing the sidewalk to the 9th Precinct and vouchered them. Police said the bikes were turned over voluntarily. [Photo below by Jim Naureckas]
The cleanup followed continued NYPD attention to the block, though residents at the press conference questioned whether the improvements would last.
"The NYPD was here yesterday and today, and we appreciate that," Renzi said. "But two days of attention are not a substitute for daily enforcement."
Organizers are calling for coordinated action by the NYPD, Department of Sanitation, other city agencies and elected officials to keep sidewalks and building entrances accessible, address sanitation and develop a longer-term plan for delivery-bike parking.
Their message was that the city needs to find a solution that accommodates delivery workers without leaving residents and small businesses to contend with the same conditions day after day.
Previously on EV Grieve:
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