Midtown
Streetsblog Basics
Busway Opponents Pump Up the Volume at CB 5 Meeting on 34th Street
Manhattan CB 5, which is shaping up to be the "swing district" along the route of the 34th Street Transitway, is only at the earliest stages of formulating a stance on plans to build physically separated bus lanes and pedestrian improvements as part of a river-to-river redesign. Even so, two things were clear at a public input session last night: Curb access remains one of the thorniest issues for DOT street redesigns, and the Murray Hill anti-transit forces are organizing circles around bus lane supporters.
November 23, 2010
Fight for Completed East Side Bike Lanes Comes to City Hall Steps
After rallying on the steps of City Hall this afternoon, Transportation Alternatives delivered 2,500 handwritten letters urging Mayor Bloomberg to complete the protected bike lanes on First and Second Avenues. Joined by elected officials and more than forty supporters, T.A. called on Bloomberg to fulfill the promise of safe walking and cycling on Manhattan's East Side and to complete the bike and pedestrian improvements up to 125th Street.
November 10, 2010
Select Bus Service Debuts on Manhattan’s Busiest Bus Route
Select Bus Service is up and running along First and Second Avenues, bringing rapid bus enhancements to the second busiest bus line in New York City. Though riders will need some time to adjust to the new system, many are already praising the faster service.
October 11, 2010
Reading Between the Lines on East Side’s Missing Bike Lanes
Select Bus Service remains on track to debut on October 10, confirmed NYC DOT and the MTA at a meeting of the project's Community Advisory Committee last night. Bus service improvements along the corridor are as crucial as ever and will be bolstered by camera enforcement, which DOT announced would be in effect starting in November. The changes that take effect in 25 days, however, won't be the full complete streets package originally promised. Above 34th Street, bike lanes and pedestrian refuge islands were unceremoniously stripped from the plan some time this spring.
September 15, 2010
Framing the New Broadway: “Green Ribbon” or “Narrow Passageway”?
Recession or depression? Estate taxes or death taxes? How events or policies are named, or “framed,” has become crucial to their viability. Indeed, the ascendancy of the right wing in the U.S. in recent decades is attributed in part to the Right’s mastery of political phraseology to demonize leftist and even centrist policies.
September 7, 2010
With 34th Street Plaza in Doubt, Local Business Group Expresses Support
Earlier this week, DNAinfo reported that NYCDOT may nix the pedestrian plaza in the agency's ambitious proposal for a 34th Street busway. But support for more pedestrian space between Fifth and Sixth Avenues remains strong in certain quarters. The head of the 34th Street Partnership, a group representing local businesses, supports the principle of adding pedestrian space on 34th. After all, most people using the street are on foot.
July 1, 2010
This Sunday: Help Close the East River Greenway’s Midtown Gap
If you want to close the Midtown greenway gap, make your voice heard this Sunday. For 33 blocks in Midtown, Manhattan’s East River Greenway disappears, forcing cyclists to detour onto some of the most traffic-choked and dangerous streets in the city. That’s a major deterrent to cycling on the East Side. While bike lanes planned … Continued
June 3, 2010
CB 6 Votes Conditionally for East Side SBS, Endorses Better Bike Lanes
Prospects for safer cycling on the east side of Midtown got a boost last night, as Manhattan Community Board 6 strengthened its support for uninterrupted bike lanes as part of NYCDOT and the MTA's redesign of First and Second Avenues.
May 13, 2010
Dysfunction Rules at CB 6 Discussion of Select Bus Service
Last night's meeting of Manhattan Community Board 6's transportation committee was a reminder of how opaque and undemocratic New York City's public review process can be, at its worst. Between a mismanaged meeting that descended into chaos and a parade of NIMBYs who ensured that neither plans for First and Second Avenues nor for 34th Street could be discussed on the merits, it's hard to see how last night's proceedings contributed to an informed discourse about New York City's transportation needs.
May 4, 2010
Eyes on the Street: Cab Crash in Midtown
A tipster sends this shot from 34th Street near Seventh Avenue, taken this morning. The photographer says he heard that the driver and a pedestrian were injured, though we could find no media reports on the crash.
April 27, 2010