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January 13: Save Mom & Pop stores in our neighborhood! Dear Friend: Best regards, January 25: Protest the sliver building on W75 UPDATE We would like to thank those of you who were able to come to the BSA to show your support, particularly since it was a long day. We had a great turnout, which showed the BSA that we are taking this seriously and that the community is not behind this proect. Thanks to Pat and Mel as we had a great turnout on the political front. Gayle Brewer spoke as well as representatives from Land Use Planning Development, State Senator Tom Duane, and Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal. Mark Diller, the Chair of Community Board 7, also spoke on our behalf. Our attorney did a fantastic job and the BSA commended us on our joint 215 W75/Laureate submission. Just one addition to Anjula's note. The testimony from the elected officials today was well above their typical level of involvement in a case like this. They believe in our cause and were receptive to our requests for support. PREVIOUS The first public hearing on the proposed sliver building at 207 West 75th Street begins at 1:30 p mon January 24th at 40 Rector Street, 6th Floor, Hearing Room (E) Come if you can to protest this building. If you can't come, write.. To remind you: Sliver buildings are tall slender buildings constructed on lots with a narrow frontage, typically 45 feet or less. The now defunct New York City Board of Estimate banned these type of structures from many residential zoning districts in New York City in 1983 in response to community protests. What's being proposed for our street is a 10-unit, 14-story high-end condo building on a short, already overcrowded block — on a lot that is only 25' wide. More info: General Meetings Wednesday, November 2 7:00 - 9:00 PM For more information or to RSVP: LRosenthallRSVP@gmail.com (212-873-6368)
Tonight, over 50 community members met before the Land Use committeee of the CB7 to oppose the proposed new condo development at 207 West 75th Street. The developers were clearly outnumbered. We will keep you updated on this issue. There will be another meeting in October. Your local elected officials were on site tonight in opposition as well. ******* There are ill-conceived plans afoot to build a 10-unit, 14-story “sliver” high-end condo building where the two- story, 207 West 75th Street building now stands (building where the tanning salon is). Obviously, our neighbors at 215 West 75th Street would feel the oppression of this more than most, but it affects all of us. Dan and I attended a meeting of concerned residents this evening. We will be attending a Community Board Land-Use Committee meeting on Wednesday at 7:00 pm at the CB7 Offices (250 West 87th Street), to protest this use of the space. Our point of view is this: Just because we can build does not mean we should build. This is an instance where there should be no development. Please weigh in on this if you have an opinion. (Send comments by e-mail to office@cb7.org or by fax to (212) 595-9317.) You are more than welcome to join Dan and me and others as we express our opinions on Wednesday. One last push to get people’s views on the effectiveness of the protected bike lane and the Columbus Avenue redesign. Our office will be presenting the results at Community Board 7’s transportation Committee on Tuesday, October 11 at 7 PM. Bike Lane Survey, A little over a year ago, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) re-designed Columbus Avenue between West 77 Street and West 96 Street to include a protected bike lane and several changes to the traffic configuration. I am supportive of the bike lane and have worked with local businesses, residents and NYC DOT to resolve a number of parking problems; yet I recognize that people have different perspectives on the street re-design. My office is conducting a survey about how the changes affect West Siders and we need your help in spreading the word around the neighborhood. The survey is available online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BrewerBikeLaneSurvey , or you may contact our Jesse Bodine in my office,: 212-873-0282, for a paper copy. Thank you for your help in publicizing this project. Council Member Gale A. Brewer Gov. Cuomo is hailing a new Pennsylvania study showing that the huge Marcellus Shale natural-gas field on the New York border could supply 25 percent of the nation's gas needs and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
...Cuomo has backed the state Department of Environmental Conservationreport which concluded that controversial "hydrofracking" gas drilling could be done safely in most parts of the Southern Tier, asserting that hydrofracking could be done in the Southern Tier while banning it from watershed areas, including New York City's." Excert from: It's a ga$! New study fuels fracking backing By Frederick U. Dicker. NY Post. 7/22/11 The latest draft of guidelines for hydraulic fracturing in New York could open the door to drilling within 1,000 feet of aging underground tunnels that carry water to New York City-a far cry from the seven-mile buffer once sought by city officials... When the state advanced a similar proposal two years ago, city officials said it could expose tunnels to damage and allow explosive gases and pollutants to leak into the water. If the proposal is adopted in coming months, the state would allow drilling near aqueducts but would require a site-specific environmental review for any application to drill within 1,000 feet of the water supply infrastructure. "That's not enough to protect New York City's water," said Kate Sinding, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, which is based in the city. 'There needs to be a buffer area in which there's no drilling whatsoever,' Sinding said. "Just having elevated review doesn't cut it." At the center of the debate is a system of tunnels constructed in the mid-20th century that carries 1.2 billion gallons of water a day from upstate reservoirs to New York City and nearby counties. The network is already fragile-tens of millions of gallons of water leak out each day. One repair project is expected to cost more than $1 billion. "In comments on a previous draft of the state fracking guidelines, the city said brittle rock surrounds many of the tunnels. Drilling nearby could shift the earth, exerting pressure on tunnel walls that they weren't designed to withstand. Natural fractures extend as far as seven miles out and 6,000 feet down through the earth; gases and fluids already have a tendency to migrate through those fractures and toward the aqueducts, according to the city. These geologic features, together with drilling errors like the ones that have contaminated water wells in Pennsylvania, "could result in significant surface and subsurface contamination," the city wrote. Moreover, city officials have said there are areas where the Marcellus Shale, the zone of rock the drillers are targeting, is in direct contact with the tunnels. The shale is deeper to the west and south but nears the surface in parts of New York. "Sinding worries that the layers of protection guaranteed on paper won't get much use in practice. A similar process has existed for conventional drilling in sensitive areas for more than two decades, yet the state has never required the full review, she pointed out. The 60-day public comment period on the state's proposals is scheduled to start in August, after which officials will issue final guidelines, a process unlikely to be completed this year. Drilling cannot begin until the process is complete.
City Drags Its Feet on "Bowtie of Death" Intersection NOTE: Since posting the info below, on August 19, we received this from Council Woman Gale Brewer: Broadway – Amsterdam – West 71st Street. - NYCDOT will improve conditions at Broadway, Amsterdam and West 71st Street by: • Widening sidewalks and medians with markings and delineators; • Adding two new crosswalks • Improving signal timing • Adding a left-turn lane at northbound Amsterdam Ave. approaching W 71st St. Implementation starts late August. To sign up for e-updates on this and other projects, visit www.nyc.gov/dotnews. For additional information, contact Josh Orzeck at the DOT Manhattan Borough Commissioner’s Office at JOrzeck@dot.nyc.gov or (212) 839-6218 or visit at www.nyc.gov/dot.. (We are working with DOT, other elected officials, Community Board 7, and local residents on this project). We urge you to call 311 to add your voice in protest of the continuing danger to UWS residents, not least the frail and elderly, at this hazardous street crossing in our neighborhood.
It's called the "bowtie of death." In the past two years alone, 34 crashes have occurred aroumd 71st Street where Broadway and Amsterdam intersect. The lights are short, the signals are confusing, and cars careen up Amsterdam and down Broadway in a bowtie traffic pattern that accounts for the nickname. Borough President Scott Stringer and Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal held a press conference recently at this Neighborhood residents have been calling for changes for years, and Stringer and Rosenthal stood on the same corner last year, pledging to hold the DOT to its word that it would make the intersection safer. The deadline to make that happen was March, four months ago. The DOT put in traffic countdown clocks on the walk signs, as it has on lots of NYC streets, but it hasn’t extended pedestrian walkways, added a turning lane, or implemented any of the other expected changes. Rosenthal and Stringer say they’ve heard improvements might begin this fall, but the DOT still hasn’t responded to a letter they sent two weeks ago asking for an update. |
9/20: Ill-Conceived construction Plan for W75
Contact the Governor's office by phone (518) 474-8390 or mail: The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of New York State, NYS State Capitol Building, Albany, NY 12224
dangerous intersection, surrounded by a crowd of Upper West Siders, and called for the Department of Transportation to fix the intersection.