To get you up to date, please read the reports provided by Bruce Solomon:
May 21, 2008

First, a proposal to ban traffic going south on Washington St. from turning left onto Horatio between 9`pm and 5 am each night was on the agenda for the community board 2 traffic committee May 13. The proposal was intended to solve the problem of the high density of traffic on Horatio St. during the night by disallowing traffic leaving the Meat Market during those hours from using our street as a means of going east towards 8th Ave.

During the discussion there was not unanimous support for the proposal by residents of Horatio St. who attended the meeting. As a result, the traffic committee felt unable to act to implement the ban.

The committee heard a suggestion that problems caused by traffic density on Horatio St. at night might also be solved by allowing parking on only one side of the street at night, instead of both sides, as at present. This would allow drivers trying to park their cars more space to maneuver their cars into the curbside, and therefore they could do it in less time. It was pointed out that it now takes drivers so much time to park because of parking on both sides that traffic often builds up significantly behind them, frequently causing jams at the intersection of Horatio and Washington Streets and the inevitable honking of horns by impatient drivers.

A representative of the mayor’s office said that her traffic committee was already studying the elimination of parking on one side of Horatio St. at night, and suggested that this might prove a more feasible option than forbidding cars from turning into Horatio St. It was suggested that this option would also be easier for police to enforce.

The traffic committee chairman said her group was reluctant to proceed with a recommendation for Horatio St. without a clear indication from block residents as to what regulation they would like, if any, to reduce the noise problems on Horatio St. She promised that if she received a recommendation from the residents, she would place it on the agenda of the next cb2 traffic committee meeting in June.

One block resident suggested that a special meeting of the HSA should be called soon to decide on a concrete recommendation to present to the traffic committee. A meeting would allow the HSA to know how many residents might be affected by a ban on parking on one side of the street, or any other problems this ban would present.

June 20, 2008

You may be interested to know that I did attend the cb2 traffic committee meeting tonight. They could only table any plan to change traffic or parking on Horatio St. because there was no representative of any block association that should have studied the proposals from the last committee meeting. It now appears to the committee that noone on the block except myself who attended the meeting cares about the problem enough to warrant any change.
If you’re happy with traffic on Horatio the way it is, with cars honking at 2 am, while they wait for someone to try to park by maneuvering around 2 sides of parked cars on a narrow street without hitting a side mirror, then fine. Are there really enough residents on this street who park cars in the street to justify parking on both sides? If so, why do so many parked cars at night belong to non-residents parking or unparking their cars through the night?
Obviously, we need a residents’ meeting to either work out a proposal that might solve the problem, such as prohibiting cars from parking on one side of the street, so cars leaving the meatpacking district at night are not backed up waiting for someone to try to park, followed by impatient horn-blowing, or to decide it’s too much trouble to change things. By again tabling the motion from the past meeting, the cb2 traffic committee has signaled that it is waiting to hear from us as a block association what solution do we want.
I agree resident parking permits are the best solution; this is not a phrase our city understands yet, however. The DOT does understand, “No parking this side at any time.” We have to go with the solution the city currently has printed on signs. If it turns out there really are too many residents with cars to park on only one side, we can always go back to the current system. Ideally, resident cars would fill the one side of the street that allows parking, and force non-residents, often loud 20-somethings drunkenly staggering to their cars after midnight, thus another source of noise, to park elsewhere.
Personally, I don’t sleep on the Horatio St. side of my apartment, though I often work at that end at 2 am, so I’m aware of the noise. I feel sorry for those who do sleep on that side. What would you like to do for them?

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.

I have a concern about the traffic light we use to cross the west side highway from Horatio/Gansevoort to the river. If a car is driving west on Gansevoort and will turn left to head south on the west side highway, it will get a green light at the same time as the pedestrians have a walk sign. I’ve seen several near misses as the driver looks back over a shoulder to make sure there is no oncoming southbound traffic. Dangerous!

You probably need to request a traffic light study from the Department of Transportation. To get that done, I would suggest emailing the details as above to cb2manhattan@nyc.rr.com, which is Community Board 2. Address your email to Brad Hoylman, the chair of the Traffic & Transportation Committee of CB2. He’ll put your issue on the agenda for an upcoming traffic & transpo committee meeting. A representative from the NYC Department of Transportation attends each of traffic/transpo committee meetings. You should show up at the meeting when your traffic light is on the agenda (Bringing a large drawing of the intersection so that you can point out exactly where you are talking about is VERY helpful). The DOT representative will tell what the department can and will do, and how you should follow up with them. I think that’s the best way to get DOT to do something.

Keep us updated on what happens.

Do you think the Prostitution issue, especially at the corners of Horatio Street and Greenwich Street and Jane Street and Greenwich Street could be addressed AGAIN?

Ditto the endless all night horn-honking?

I recently contacted the Sixth Precint to inquire who controls where the construction site at Gansvoort and Greenwich places their construction office trailers. The two gigantic ones on Greenwich Street are a traffic nightmare, not only blocking part of a narrow street but also preventing traffic from observing each other. It would make sense to have them around the corner, where the site workers [illegally] park their cars during the day.

Finally, after nearly five days [some went without service for more], we now have phone service restored. It seems Verizon refuses to address a permanent solution to this problem which often happens in heavy rain and snow.

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