Group Seeks Permanent Designation of Hudson Street Plaza
The "temporary" pedestrian plaza that occupies a one-block stretch of Hudson Street in Tribeca is on its way to becoming permanent.
Friends of Bogardus Garden wants to keep the street, between Chambers and Reade streets, car-free and pedestrian friendly. They will be looking for the blessing of Community Board 1's Tribeca Committee at its meeting on Wednesday. If they get that support, it appears that the city's Department of Transportation will back them.
"I don't expect any problems," said Victoria Weil, the Friends president. "I think the community board recognizes how we've changed the space and how it's become an area for the students, government workers, everybody. Not just the local community."
In an email to the Trib, a DOT spokesman said that, in consultation with the community, the agency would "seriously consider" the request.
After the city closed off the street for construction, Friends of Bogardus Garden opened the plaza in September, 2010, making it a popular lounging spot for pedestrians rather than a staging area for construction equipment during the years-long work on Chambers Street. The Friends group also sponsors events in the space.
The southern end of the closed street is now used for staging and is expected to be cleared in 18 month, according to a spokesman from the city's Department of Design and Constructon. After that, Friends of Bogardus Garden want to close off that end of the plaza with a sidewalk, making for a pedestrians thoroughfare between West Broadway and Hudson Street.
If the plaza becomes permanent, the DOT says it will pay for more seating, to be added next spring. "We run out of tables and chairs in nice weather,” Weil said. “I don’t want people to come in and say, 'Oh man!' and then leave."
Weil said her group is also considering adding benches and umbrellas to the area.
The Friends group has 300 signatures of support for the permanent plaza, including 25 local businesses, according to Weil. But the owners of one business strongly oppose it. Brothers Timmy and Sergio Acapella, whose restaurant Acapella is at the corner of Hudson and Chambers streets, say their business suffers from the lack of curb-side parking for his many customers who arrive by car service.
"It takes away from our customers being able to be picked up and dropped off properly," said Timmy Acapella. "And it creates a hazard for them to pull over on West Broadway, which is a busy main street, or on Chambers Street." Acapella also asserts that the area now accumulates more garbage. And in cold months, he complained, it gets little use.
“We recognize that there’s no place for their Town Cars to park and that's an issue,” Weil said. “We’d love to find a way to improve that situation and we’re looking into it.” She denied that garbage is a problem, saying that the organization ACE is contracted to clean the plaza twice a day.
According to the agency's spokesman, the DOT conducted traffic studies showing that closing the one block of Hudson Street has caused “no significant impact” to neighboring streets.
The Tribeca Committee will discuss the proposal at its meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 14, at 49-51 Chambers St., Room 709. The meeting, which is open to the public, begins at 6 p.m.
By Carl Glassman