Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Plazas

Developer J.D. Carlisle Yanks Support for Kips Bay Plaza, Killing Project

By Stephen Miller | Mar 28, 2013 | 9 Comments

A two-block pedestrian plaza for a Second Avenue service road in Kips Bay, which was on track for implementation this summer, has been indefinitely delayed after adjacent property owner J.D. Carlisle sent a letter to DOT last week saying that it opposed the project. DOT, which had hosted two public design workshops for the plaza, […]

New Plazas Could Reclaim Two Blocks in the Financial District

By Stephen Miller | Mar 13, 2013 | 3 Comments

With painted curb extensions expanding the pedestrian realm on Broadway and Whitehall Street in the Financial District, public space projects are now expected to spread around the corner to Water Street. The area is also on track to receive a first-in-the-city rule rule change making it easier to host public events in privately-owned off-street plazas. […]

West Side and Sunset Park Community Boards Advance Bike Lanes and Plazas

By Stephen Miller | Feb 21, 2013 | 7 Comments

Last night, two community boards in Sunset Park and Manhattan’s West Side voted to support bike lanes, bike parking and permanent pedestrian plazas. As a result, Sunset Park will be receiving shared lane markings on Fifth Avenue, the permanent reconstruction of a plaza at Ninth Avenue and 14th Street will move ahead, and bike lanes and […]

Despite Awful Track Record, Plaza NIMBYs Always Good for a Quote

By Brad Aaron | Jan 28, 2013 | 5 Comments

In case you missed it, the Brooklyn Paper ran a by-the-numbers NIMBY react piece on a public plaza that has been proposed for Broadway near Bedford Avenue. Though DOT has installed dozens of successful, community-backed plazas across the city, reporter Danielle Furfaro leads her story with typical narrow-minded complaints and baseless predictions. Furfaro says the […]

At Pioneering Ped Plaza, Paint and Planters Are Now Curbs and Concrete

By Stephen Miller | Jan 18, 2013 | 7 Comments

NYC DOT’s plaza program hit a milestone today, when officials cut the ribbon on a block of Willoughby Street reclaimed from car traffic between Pearl and Adams Streets in Downtown Brooklyn. What used to be, essentially, a private parking lot for government placard holders, is now the first plaza program project to make the transition from temporary materials to permanent […]

Myth Busted: Safer Streets Are Not Slowing Emergency Responders

By Brad Aaron | Jan 3, 2013 | 9 Comments

A go-to NIMBY argument against safe street improvements is that bike lanes, pedestrian plazas, and ped refuge islands interfere with emergency responders. In 2009, one complainer at an event sponsored by then-Council Member Alan Gerson claimed that pedestrian islands on Grand Street “put lives in danger” by slowing down fire trucks and ambulances. Opponents of the […]

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