Survey Says: Three Quarters of Respondents Favor More Greenery Over Concrete
The results of a poll taken by a local advocacy group, Friends of Duane Park, have been tallied, and almost everybody wants to expand the green space, with a strong preference for extra plantings over additional sidewalk. Of 369 votes cast, 278 respondents (or 78 percent) favored a proposal to “restore the park to its historical dimensions, adding green space… to better repel heat and increase water capture, but no southern sidewalk.” Sixty-five participants (18 percent) voted to “restore the park to its historical dimensions, adding green space and southern sidewalk.” Just 15 voters (four percent) wanted to keep Duane Park as is.
Duane Park, in the heart of Tribeca (in a triangle bounded by Hudson Street and two branches of Duane Street) needs restoration to remediate decades of “improvements” that shaved slivers off of its southern edge and western point.
A 2021 proposal sponsored by Friends of Duane Park would have added 1,643 square feet of sidewalk to the space, along with 253 square feet of greenery. This plan would have largely replicated Duane Park’s original size and layout. But in the intervening two years, the desire for restoration has leavened with the need for resiliency. Hence, the Friends of Duane Park revised their pitch, to prioritize additional soil, plantings, and tree (taking up 1,636 square feet), with only 253 square feet of new concrete.
But greenery costs quite a bit of green. Earlier this year, the Friends of Duane Park calculated that either version of their project would cost roughly $400,000. In July, however, the two City departments that will need to sign off on the proposal came back with a capital needs estimate of $1.4 million.
At its November meeting, Community Board 1 endorsed the proposal, enacting resolution that “supports the Friends of Duane Park in its effort to restore the park’s historic footprint, incorporating added (resilient) greenery on the southern perimeter in response to strong community consensus and the tenth tree on the park’s western nose. It is the preference of CB1 that this footprint be set aside explicitly for park use.” The same resolution “urges cooperation and coordination among the relevant City agencies and elected officials to both prioritize and help fund this restoration project.”