The Downtown Alliance is leading a push to warm up the “frozen zone” surrounding the New York Stock Exchange, a security perimeter that bars most vehicles, slows pedestrians, and generally shreds the fabric of the surrounding streetscape.
On May 8, Jessica Lappin, president of the Alliance, led a presentation before the Land Use, Zoning, and Economic Development Committee of Community Board 1 (CB1), after which she noted, “the intersection of Wall and Broad Streets is one of the most visited and photographed sites in all of New York City. Our goal is to ensure it remains safe, but looks, feels, and functions much better.”
On May 23, CB1 as a whole reviewed this presentation. At that meeting, Land Use Committee chair Patrick Kennell explained, “there are overcrowding challenges specifically within the Stock Exchange secure zone, where challenging infrastructure was put in place, rather hastily,” after the terrorist attacks of September, 2001.
Among the security measures in this area are turntable barriers that cost millions of dollars in public funds, but have not worked in years (foreground) and temporary traffic gates that are widely deemed an eyesore (above)
“There was work done in 2003 and 2008,” Mr. Kennel continued, “including those turntables, which no longer work.” This was a reference to a pair of rotating barriers, each 20 feet in diameter, embedded into the pavement on Broad Street. They were installed in 2008, with a $25 million grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which also helped pay for other amenities that were meant to turn the Stock Exchange security zone into a “pedestrian oasis.” These included resurfacing much of Broad and Wall Streets (as well as Exchange Place) with “eurocobble” (a decorative paving stone), erecting wrought iron fencing around the Stock Exchange, and installing decorative bronze barriers — heavy enough to stop a truck, but sculpted and positioned to double as street furniture — in place of concrete walls.
Patrick Kennell
Much of this appears to have been for nought. The turntables (manufactured by a company that produced a rotating stage for the Metropolitan Opera) worked intermittently for a few years, and then broke down completely. They were briefly replaced by pickup trucks, positioned to block traffic, and driven by security guards who would back them out of the way when an authorized vehicle approached. This plan was abandoned in 2012, when a security guard driving one of these pickup trucks ran over and killed a 70-year-old man seated on the sidewalk nearby. After that, access to Broad Street was once again controlled by the unsightly retractable barriers that the turntables (which remain in place to this day) were meant to supplant.
“The infrastructure is challenging and frankly, it’s ugly,” Mr. Kennell said at the May 23 CB1 meeting. “So the question is, why now?” He answered, “there’s a lot of development currently happening and about to happen within this really small area. So the time is really good right now to deal with these issues — particularly because the City will be really paying attention to it, and there’s a hope that they’ll be able to get the capital funding for any plan they might go forward with.”
It is within this context that the Downtown Alliance issued a request for proposals in the waning months of 2016. Earlier this year, the organization selected a design team, to be led by WXY Architecture, a firm with extensive experience in Lower Manhattan. Among other projects, it helped to design the West Thames Pedestrian Bridge (now under construction near the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel) and the visually striking Department of Sanitation Garage at West and Canal Streets, which is paired with a starkly abstract storage shed that evokes the shape of a giant crystal of salt.
Among the failings that WYX will be expected to address, Ms. Lappin said during her May 8 presentation are the unsightly appearance of temporary security measures that have become effectively permanent; public spaces that are ill-defined poorly maintained, and bereft of landscaping and greenery; and the fact that an urban setting rich with historical sites offers little in the way of historical interpretation.
The footprint in which WXY is being asked to reconceive the streetscape is bounded by Pine Street on the north, William Street on the east, Beaver Street on the south, and Broadway on the West. Among the practical limits to any improvements is the ongoing need for security measures within these boundaries. “There will be no change in the footprint of the secure zone,” Mr. Kennell said at the May 23 CB1 meeting. “No change whatsoever. While the Downtown Alliance fought for it, and the Stock Exchange fought for it, the Police Department has consistently said, ‘no.’ The Police Commissioner has personally walked the space and said it just can’t be done because the targets are symbolic in nature. So the secure zone is going to stay where it is.”
“So the Alliance is thinking, ‘how can we make this area more beautiful, how can we enliven this area a little bit?'” Mr. Kennell continued. “And that’s what this study is aiming to do.” Among the project’s goals will be to to create flexible and attractive outdoor spaces suitable for a variety of public uses, to leverage nearby historic and cultural assets (such as Federal Hall), and to improve access and mobility.
To aid in this process, the Alliance and WXY will interview area residents, workers, and business owners in the coming weeks, solicit public comment online, and consult with an ad hoc committee of CB1. The Alliance expects to present preliminary results of the study to the community this fall, and release a finalized version of the plan in 2018.