The BroadsheetDAILY ~ July 1, 2019

Multi-Year Traffic Safety Push Culminates as Traffic Light Comes to South End and Rector

The new traffic signal being installed at the intersection of South End Avenue and Rector Place on Saturday.

More than a decade of advocacy by community leaders came to fruition on Saturday (June 29) when contractors working for the City’s Department of Transportation (DOT) activated a traffic light at the intersection of South End Avenue and Rector Place.

Tammy Meltzer

Tammy Meltzer, who chairs the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1, said at a May meeting, when the final approval was announced, “the DOT has agreed that the volume of traffic, and the history of accidents there, both call for a change. The good news is that this won’t be a ‘traffic calming measure,’ which is what we’ve been promised in the past. This will be a traffic control measure.”

This development followed the DOT’s recent agreement, dating from the spring of 2018 to install a traffic light at North End Avenue and Warren Street. That signal was put in place last summer. The preliminary approval to move ahead with a traffic light at South End and Rector was announced at the same time, in April of last year. But for reasons that were never made clear, DOT officials did not move to implement this promise for more than a year. In the event, preliminary work (installing circuits beneath the pavement to control the signal) began in late May. The lampposts that hold the light were installed in mid June, and the lights themselves were hung on Friday. After being covered by plastic hoods for 24 hours,. they were activated the following day.

Both intersections provide tempting short cuts for frustrated motorists on the nearby West Side Highway, where traffic often slows to a crawl. By diverting one block away from that clogged artery, knowledgeable drivers (such as those operating for-hire passenger vehicles, buses, or delivery trucks) can speed for several blocks uptown or downtown, before returning to the West Side Highway.

But this back road for drivers has created a significant hazard for pedestrians. In September, 2011, Rector Place resident Seema Galati was run over by a speeding for-hire vehicle. At the same intersection, in November, 2015, two vehicles racing to claim a single parking space rammed one another, and wrecked several parked cars. (One of them was moving with enough force to shear off, flush with the sidewalk, the iron post holding a stop sign.)

The new traffic signal being ignored by an Uber driver on Sunday. (Note the green light for vehicles on South End, which means a red light for cars on Rector, whence the black SUV is coming.)

While the new traffic light is almost certain to enhance pedestrian safety, it appears not to be a panacea. On Sunday afternoon, a reporter observed several vehicles blithely driving through the intersection, despite the signal being against them. This may have been attributable to the fact that is new, which means that drivers are not expecting to see it.

This installation of a traffic signal at South End and Rector has paved the way to another goal that local leaders have long advocated for: a legal, and safe, crosswalk at the intersection. Because there has never been a traffic light, or even a stop sign at this location, it has never been possible, under City regulations, to paint a crossing lane for pedestrians on the pavement, from one side of South End Avenue to the other. Hundreds of people cross there each day in spite of this, but this has always been a technical violation of the laws against jaywalking (which are almost never enforced in New York), and a serious potential risk. Although a crosswalk traversing South End Avenue has not yet been painted on the pavement, the pedestrian signals have already been installed.

One question that community leaders may wish to address with DOT and Battery Park City officials is the appearance of the lampposts holding the lights. Most such fixtures in Battery Park City are painted dark green, and encased in visually appealing sheaths that cause them to resemble historic designs, in keeping with the neighborhood’s aesthetic. At least for the time being, however, the new posts are painted a bright shade of silver, and conform to standard-issue, contemporary municipal design.

70 – Roman General Titus and his forces set up battering rams to assault the walls of Jerusalem

251 – The Battle of Abrittus is won by the Goths against the Romans.Roman Emperors Decius and Herennius Etruscus are killed.

1517 – First burning of Protestants at stake in Netherlands

1535 – Sir Thomas More goes on trial in England charged with treason

1656 – First Quakers, Mary Fisher and Ann Austin arrive in Boston and subsequently imprisoned.

1798 – Napoleon’s fleet reaches Alexandria Egypt

1836 – President Andrew Jackson announces to Congress a bequest by James Smithson of 100,000 gold sovereigns to found institution in Washington.

1858 – The joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace’spapers on evolution to the Linnean Society.

1862 – Internal Revenue Law imposes first federal taxes on inheritance, tobacco an on incomes over $600 (progressive rate)

1863 – Battle of Gettysburg, Pa; Lee’s northward advance halted

1873 – Henry Ossian Flipper of Georgia one of the first African Americans enters West Point Military Academy

1874 – First US zoo opens in Philadelphia

1879 – Charles Taze Russell publishes the first edition of the religious magazine The Watchtower.

1917 – Race riots in East St Louis Illinois, 40 to 200 reported killed

1919 – 1st class postage drops from 3 cents to 2 cents

1934 – First x-ray photo of entire body, Rochester, NY

1946 – US drops atom bomb on Bikini atoll (4th atomic explosion)

1948 – NYC subway fare goes to 10 cents, bus fare to 7 cents and combo fare at 12 cents

1959 – Israeli Knesset agrees to weapon sales to West-Germany

1960 – Fidel Castro nationalizes Esso, Shell and Texaco

1960 – USSR shoots down US RB-47 reconnaissance plane

1963 – ZIP Codes are introduced for United States mail.

1967 – Beatles’ “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” goes #1 for 15 weeks

1968 – The CIA’s Phoenix Program is officially established.

1972 – Ms. magazine begins publishing

1979 – Sony introduces the Walkman.

1788 – Jean-Victor Poncelet, mathematician, founded projective geometry

1869 – William Strunk Jr., American grammarian (d. 1946)

1872 – Louis Bleriot, 1st man to fly an airplane across English Channel

1902 – Billy Wyler, director (Ben Hur, Mrs. Miniver)

1906 – Estée Lauder,  CEO (Estée Lauder cosmetics) (d. 2004)

1900 – Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (36) weds countess Sophie Chotek (32) in Reichstadt, Bohemia

1916 – Dwight Eisenhower marries Mary `Mamie’ Geneva Doud in Denver, Colorado

1982 – Over 2000 Unification Church couples marry at NY Madison Square Garden

1989 – Hugh Hefner weds Kimberly Conrad

1784 – Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, composer, son of J.S. Bach, dies at 73

1860 – Charles Goodyear, American inventor, dies at 59

1896 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, US author (Uncle Tom’s Cabin), dies at 85

1958 – Harry Nicholls Holmes, Dr (crystallized vitamin A), dies at 78

1995 – Wolfman Jack, disc jockey (Midnight Special), dies at 57

1983 – R Buckminster Fuller, inventor/philosopher, dies in LA at 87

2004 – Marlon Brando, actor  dies at 80

Composting Takes Root

in Battery Park City

Thanks to the Battery Park City Authority, Battery Park City has always been at the forefront of green living, guided by BPCA’s pioneering green building guidelines and organic park maintenance. For the last couple years, there have been two community compost bins – one at BPC Parks headquarters on Battery Place and one on Chambers Street.

City Council Votes to Okay Controversial Senior Housing Proposal

The proposed Haven Green affordable housing complex for seniors, which is slated to occupy the site of the Elizabeth Street Garden.

The City Council voted to approve the Haven Green proposal on Wednesday, bringing the controversial plan for a senior housing facility on the site of the Elizabeth Street Garden, in Little Italy, a step closer to reality. The vote in favor of the project was unanimous, except for one abstention from Rafael Espinal, a Council member from Brooklyn.

The strong majority in support of the proposal reflected the City Council’s tradition of deferring to a member in whose district a project is located. Because Council member Margaret Chin, who represents Lower Manhattan, supports Haven Green, its passage was viewed as a fait accompli.

To read more…

BPCA to Host Meeting on Wagner Park Flood Measures

	A map showing the geographic extent of flood-protection measures contemplated for BPC’s southern perimeter.

The Battery Park City Authority will host the fourth in an ongoing series of public meetings that will determine the shape of resiliency measures to be constructed soon on the community’s southern flank, near Wagner Park and Pier A.

To read more…

State Lawmakers Bark ‘Belay That’ to Water-Borne Marketing Messages

	The advertising barges operated by Ballyhoo Media

The ubiquitous advertising barges that have become anathema for Lower Manhattan residents over the past year have attracted hostile attention from members of the State Senate and Assembly.

Bills were enacted in the closing days of the legislative session that would ban the 60-foot catamaran — bearing an electronic sign capable of rendering high-definition, full-motion video, similar to the “jumbo-tron” panels that adorn multiple buildings in Times Square — from continuing to conduct its business in New York’s waters.

Governors Island Passengers Are Going in Style with Launch of New Vessel

	Governors1

Visitors to Governors Islandembarking from Lower Manhattan now have a new way to get to the beloved greensward that has become Downtown’s equivalent of Central Park.

The new vessel, Governors 1, a 132-foot-long, 40-foot-wide ferry was built over the last two years at a cost of $9.2 million in the Warren, Rhode Island shipyard of Blount Boats, from a design by Seattle-based Elliott Bay Design Group.

Concerns about Crowding and Noise Surround City Hall Plan for New Staten Island Route to Battery Park City

The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning to launch in 2020 a new ferry service from Staten Island that will bring to the Battery Park City ferry terminal more than 60 new vessels each day, carrying as many as 2,500 passengers.

Subvertising Campaign Shocks the Conscience, But Not for Long

	The “#NoKidsInCages” installation  on Centre Street

On Wednesday morning, two dozen cages fashioned from chain-link fencing appeared on sidewalks at strategic locations around Manhattan and Brooklyn. A pair of these were placed in Lower Manhattan: one on Centre Street, opposite the Municipal Building and close by the Brooklyn Bridge; the other about two blocks away, near the intersection of Broadway and Vesey Streets.

Each one contained a lifelike mannequin, the size of a small child, wrapped in a foil blanket, which bore a disturbing resemblance to a shroud. From around the edges of these blankets, locks of hair and smalls pair of shoes were visible. Concealed within every cage was also a rudimentary audio system that repeatedly played a track of a small child sobbing. This was interspersed with the sound of a heartbeat.

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Many ships pass Lower Manhattan on their way to and from the Midtown Passenger Ship Terminal.  Others may be seen on their way to or from piers in Brooklyn and Bayonne.  Stated times, when appropriate, are for passing the Colgate clock in Jersey City, New Jersey, and are based on sighting histories, published schedules and intuition. They are also subject to tides, fog, winds, freak waves, hurricanes and the whims of upper management.

Local Leaders Raise Concerns about Traffic and Crowding from Planned Events Venue at Brookfield

	Brookfield Place