Summons Court's Planned Move to Tribeca Meets Stiff CB1 Opposition

The entrance to 71 Thomas Street, slated to become the new site of Manhattan's Summons Court. No date for the move has been announced. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

Alarmed by sudden news that a criminal summons court will be moving to 71 Thomas Street, at the corner of West Broadway, Community Board 1's Tribeca Committee voted Wednesday to demand that the city find another location for the court.

The building now houses a Manhattan civil court.

The criminal summons court, which serves Manhattan and Brooklyn and draws about 600 people daily to fight tickets and to pay them, will be moving out of its current location at 346 Broadway, a nearby city-owned building at Leonard Street that has been sold. Just when that will happen is unclear.

The summonses, issued by more than 40 city agencies, are written for a gamut of offenses, from littering and bicycle riding on the sidewalk to marijuana possession, unreasonable noise, fighting and violent behavior. By far, the most common summons is for public consumption of alcohol, according to the city's statistics for 2012.

People in the area of West Broadway and Thomas Street say they fear the additional crowds and the potential for crime that comes with it.

"The sheer numbers of transient visitors to this area of Tribeca is unacceptable," said Lynn Wagenknecht, whose Odeon restaurant is at West Broadway and Thomas, across the street from 71 Thomas. "That alone would change the nature of our sidewalks."

CB1 members are angry that the city made the decision without notifying them. Just the day before the meeting, the board's staff still could not get confirmation from the city that the relocation had been planned.

Pauline Yu, of the Mayor's Community Affairs Unit, publicly confirmed the court's move at the Wednesday committee meeting, where she sought to ease concerns about safety and the impact of the court on the neighborhood.

"While this falls under criminal court administrative jurisdiction, it’s limited to very minor violations and not violent crimes," Yu told the committee, adding that there would be space provided inside the building for up to 250 people waiting to be seen. At the court's current location, lines sometimes form outside the Leonard Street side of the building.

"It pretty much will be like a standard office building in the flow of people moving in and out." Yu said, adding that any lines forming outside the building will be directed east towards Broadway "to avoid inconveniencing any neighbors on West Broadway." She said the city has no other location for the court.

But the committee was not swayed.

"I’ve seen the kind of crowds at the other location," said committee member Allan Tannenbaum. "Just because they’re arrested on a minor violation, doesn’t necessarily mean that’s all they’re up to. A lot of these people are unsavory types to begin with."

"You’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars in property value that is at risk because of this decision and it was not run in front of us at all," said committee chair Peter Braus. "It's not acceptable to us."

The New York headquarters for the Gap is a major tenant in the building and Braus, who deals in commercial real estate, said he questions whether the company would tolerate the court in the building. "If they object to this," he said, "it’s probably not going to happen."

— Aline Reynolds contributed reporting.