We decided to set this up after we heard a lot of concern from neighborhood residents and businesses about how often and what sort of events will be allowed in the plaza.

The new plaza formation is a pilot program to ease traffic issues and increase pedestrian safety, so plaza use as event space is obviously a very important issue to discuss! While there may be feedback on the pilot project itself, that is larger issue that CB2 will be holding meetings on in the future.

A representative from Horatio Street Association will attend. What opinions would you like represented? What questions would you like asked? Do you want events at night, clowns, performances, art shows, salsa lessons, readings for children, dog shows, live bands, fashion shows, a landing pod for spacecraft? The one use that was discussed at the planning meeting for the plaza was a greenmarket one afternoon (say 3PM – 9PM).

The one use so far was the Google Art Party.

Now we, the community, can voice our opinions about use. Post your comments to the blog or email them directly to Christine Quinn’s office:
kseely-kirk@council.nyc.gov

Ok, so, onto the actual story. You may have noticed that 9th Avenue is being torn up and that little stretch of 9th Avenue from 14th to 16th street that went North is gone for good. DOT is in the process of splitting 9th Ave into two portions (both south-bound), with a partition in the middle, and also adding a bike lane to the east side of 9th Ave (eventually to continue down Hudson). This is a temporary configuration of the space that they plan to study before making it permanent.

Meanwhile, the Greater Gansevoort Urban Improvement Project (good God, what a mouthful), after months of study and input from the community, has come up with a brilliant proposal (that they presented to the public last month at CB2 Traffic & Transportation) for a re-design of the Gansevoort Plaza and surroundings (including a slightly different configuration of that stretch of 9th Ave) that aims to increase pedestrian safety, increase public space in a usable manner, decrease traffic congestion and yet maintain the lovely open feel of the Plaza that makes the area so unique….

Here are some of the key points of their plan as I understand it:

1. RAISE our gorgeous belgian pavers in the Gansevoort Plaza to sidewalk level (on Gansevoort Street from Hudson to Washington; on 9th Ave from Gansevoort to W. 13th). THIS WOULD NOT HURT OUR GORGEOUS BELGIAN PAVERS. (phew!) This allows them to use part of the plaza as extended sidewalk/pedestrian/public space and the other portion for cars, without actually removing or breaking up the massive expanse of belgian pavers that give the plaza so open and unique a feel. Cars would be separated from the public by the use of ballards or some other barrier with minimal visual impact.

2. Reverse some street directions to create better flow.
Here is where THE WORST MAP EVER, is actually helpful. Pink is traffic flow and direction. Green is traffic in the 5MPH zone. BLUE is reclaimed pedestrian space. Of note:
- Reverse Gansevoort to flow East only for the section west of Greenwich .
- Reverse Little West 12th to flow EAST only for the section west of Hudson

3. Reduce traffic speed to a 5MPH zone for Gansevoort b/w Hudson & Washington and Greenwich b/w Gansevoort and West 13th. (This zone is indicated by the green lines). Cars would drive up a steep bump into the zone (from the East: on Gansevoort at Hudson or from the West on Gansevoort at Washington), alerting them to the speed change. There would be a bump on the way out as well (to the west: on Little West 12th or to the north on Greenwich at West 13th)

Results? Safer (shorter) street crossings, better traffic flow and an additional almost 3 acres of new open public space – - maybe even enough space to put a Night Green Market (night = 3pm-9pm) in the Gansevoort Plaza area.

What I love about the GGUIP proposal for 9th Ave is that instead of creating open space in the middle of 9th Ave as in DOT’s current configuration (because, really, who likes to hang out between two lanes of traffic?), they have created open space that connects to the sidewalk, which I can imagine people really using and enjoying.

I also like their proposal for the Gansevoort Plaza. By raising the Belgian pavers, they keep the current sidewalk line and the large expanse of belgian pavers in the plaza, but they also reclaim the vast majority of the space for pedestrians while leaving space for (slow) traffic. The plan aims to use something like ballards to create a barrier between the car space and the people space.

I should admit that I’m not sure what the effect of this plan would be on traffic on Horatio Street. By allowing cars to turn left onto Gansevoort from Washington, Horatio is no longer the first left-hand (east-bound) street out of the MPD. Which sounds like we’d have much less of the noisy, honking traffic exiting the MPD.

However, after the cars turn left onto Gansevoort, they are forced north on Greenwich, right through the heart of the MPD and the 5MPH zone and can’t exit until 14th street. If they actually want out of the MPD, Horatio Street will still be the first left-hand turn out that allows them to avoid the 5MPH zone …

Even if this would have a slightly deleterious effect on Horatio Street because of an increase in obnoxious late night traffic noisily leaving via our street, I’m still behind the plan. I applaud this initiative for finding ways to increase public space for people while maintaining the necessary traffic flow and the unique character of this area. Kudos.

This is a community plan for re-claiming public space, and addressing pedestrian safety and vehicular congestion issues, on Ninth Avenue between 16th Street and Gansevoort Plaza.

Ugh, not only are they erecting a hideously ugly billboard, but the billboard base has now taken the space where Hotel Gansevoort used to keep their trash, so now we have to walk by their massive loads of trash heaped on the sidewalk every day. Aren’t there rules about where and how you can store your trash? Rules intended to create a safe community with better quality of life?

Do you have ideas for traffic and pedestrian uses in Gansevoort Market?

Attend the

Gansevoort Market Evaluation and Visioning Workshop

Conducted by:
Project for Public Spaces and Transportation Alternatives

Sponsored by:
Community Board 2
Office of State Senator Tom Duane
Office of City Council Member Christine Quinn

Tuesday, July 19

6:30 PM

Housing Works
320 West 13th Street
4th Floor Dining Room

Traffic & Transportation Committee
Brad Hoylman, Chair

14th Street/Gansevoort Market Area Committee
Carol Yankay, Chair