The local paper for Downtown wn VISUAL HAIKUS AT THE WHITNEY < P. 14
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER
22-28 2016
In Brief
SHOULD 14TH ST. BE ‘PEOPLEWAY’? L train shutdown could bring new approach
drove instead of taking the subway, it would take a highway of over 50 lanes to accommodate the amount of people the L moves every day. Earlier this summer, many elected officials, including Councilmember Corey Johnson, sent and signed a letter addressing the L Train closure. DeVito said that Johnson is one of many who support the PeopleWay concept. “Right now we’re in the information-gathering phase, where we need to explore every option to mitigate disruption caused by the shutdown,” Johnson said. “Plenty of people travel between Chelsea and Brooklyn or the East Side every single day, so we need to ensure they’re not left behind
BY DIAMOND NAGA SIU
Some transportation advocates are envisioning a carless 14th Street. Taking a lead role, the non-profit Transportation Alternatives is suggesting river-to-river limits on automobiles in the wake of the L train’s planned shutdown, set for 2019. Thomas DeVito, the director of organizing at TransAlt, said the upcoming, extended closure is one of the biggest transportation challenges the city has seen. An estimated 50,000 people every day in Manhattan alone use the L train. The organization’s proposing what it calls a “People-
Cars on 14th Street could be a rare sight if Transportation Alternatives gets its way during the L train closure. Photo: Flickr by Damian Morys Way,” limiting access for private cars and constructing bus lanes, protected bike lanes and wider sidewalks. “This requires bold solutions, so we prioritized the most efficient modes of trans-
portation,” DeVito said. “The PeopleWay came from this recognition that when the transportation system below ground isn’t working, the surface level really needs to accommodate and fit people.”
BOMBING INJURES 29
He said that the subway and bus are the top two most efficient forms of transportation respectively, and the city simply does not have enough room for private vehicles. DeVito said that if commuters
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THEY’RE CLAD IN RED, MAKING A DIFFERENCE Ron Wolfgang, public officers keep the peace, help tourists BY GENIA GOULD
Some people are wired to serve. Take Ron Wolfgang, who retired after two decades with the NYPD on a Friday. The next Monday he was on the job again, leading the polic-
ing arm of the Downtown Alliance. The position, which he’s now had for nine and a half years: senior vice-president of operations. “We’re a presence,” he says of the division he oversees. “We’re a followup, we’re a neighborhood busybody. We report back on
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At Isamu Noguchi’s “Red Cute” sculpture on lower Broadway: Dave Harvin, assistant director for public safety; Ron Wolfgang, senior vice-president of operations; public safety officers Joseph Zapata and Darrell Joseph.
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WEEK OF APRIL
SPRING ARTS PREVIEW < CITYARTS, P.12
FOR HIM, SETTLING SMALL CLAIMS IS A BIG DEAL presided over Arbitration Man has three decades. for informal hearings about it He’s now blogging BY RICHARD KHAVKINE
is the common Arbitration Man their jurist. least folks’ hero. Or at Man has For 30 years, Arbitration court office of the civil few sat in a satellite Centre St. every building at 111 New Yorkers’ weeks and absorbed dry cleaning, burned lost accountings of fender benders, lousy paint jobs, and the like. And security deposits then he’s decided. Arbitration Man, About a year ago, so to not afwho requested anonymity started docuhe fect future proceedings, two dozen of what menting about compelling cases considers his most blog. in an eponymous about it because “I decided to write the stories but in a I was interested about it not from wanted to write from view but rather lawyer’s point of said Arbitration view,” of a lay point lawyer since 1961. Man, a practicing what’s at issue He first writes about post, renders and then, in a separatehow he arrived his decision, detailing blog the to Visitors at his conclusion. their opinions. often weigh in with get a rap going. I to “I really want whether they unreally want to know and why I did it,” I did derstood what don’t know how to he said. “Most people ... I’d like my cases the judge thinks. and also my trereflect my personalitythe law.” for mendous respect 80, went into indiMan, Arbitration suc in 1985, settling vidual practice
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MANHATTAN'S APARTMENT BOOM, > PROPERTY, P.20
2015
In Brief MORE HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESS
The effort to help small seems to businesses in the city be gathering steam. Two city councilmembers, Robert Margaret Chin and Cornegy, have introduced create legislation that wouldSmall a new “Office of the within Business Advocate” of Small the city’s Department Business Services. Chin The new post, which have up told us she’d like to would and running this year, for serve as an ombudsman city small businesses within them clear government, helping to get through the bureaucracy things done. Perhaps even more also importantly, the ombudsman and number will tally the type small business of complaints by taken in owners, the actions policy response, and somefor ways to recommendations If done well, begin to fix things. report would the ombudsman’s give us the first quantitative with taste of what’s wrong the city, an small businesses in towards important first step fixing the problem. of for deTo really make a difference, is a mere formality will have to the work process looking to complete their advocate are the chances course, velopers precinct, but rising rents, -- thanks to a find a way to tackle business’ is being done legally of after-hours projects quickly. their own hours,” which remain many While Chin “They pick out boom in the number throughout who lives on most vexing problem. said Mildred Angelo,of the Ruppert construction permits gauge what Buildings one said it’s too early tocould have the 19th floor in The Department of the city. number three years, the Houses on 92nd Street between role the advocate She Over the past on the is handing out a record work perThird avenues. permits, there, more information of Second and an ongoing all-hours number of after-hours bad thing. of after-hours work the city’s Dept. problem can’t be a said there’s with the mits granted by nearby where according to new data jumped 30 percent, This step, combinedBorough construction project noise Buildings has data provided in workers constantly make efforts by Manhattan to mediate BY DANIEL FITZSIMMONS according to DOB of Informacement from trucks. President Gale Brewer offer response to a Freedom classifies transferring they want. They knows the the rent renewal process, request. The city They 6 “They do whatever signs Every New Yorker clang, tion Act go as they please. work between some early, tangible small any construction on the weekend, can come and sound: the metal-on-metal or the piercing of progress. For many have no respect.” p.m. and 7 a.m., can’t come of these that the hollow boom, issuance reverse. owners, in business moving The increased beeps of a truck has generto a correspond and you as after-hours. soon enough. variances has led at the alarm clock The surge in permits
SLEEPS, THANKS TO THE CITY THAT NEVER UCTION A BOOM IN LATE-NIGHT CONSTR NEWS
A glance it: it’s the middle can hardly believe yet construction of the night, and carries on full-tilt. your local police or You can call 311
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for dollars in fees ated millions of and left some resithe city agency, that the application dents convinced
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The city was thrust into the international spotlight Saturday night with an explosion on West 23rd Street. The man police said was responsible, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was arrested after being wounded in an armed struggle in New Jersey, law enforcement reported Monday. The battle played out in Linden, N.J., near the accused bomber’s last known address. But it was neighborhood of Chelsea that took center stage over the weekend. The area was closed off after a device exploded at about 8:30 p.m. in front of 131 West 23rd St., injuring 29 people, who were taken to a local hospital and released. There were road closures and a subsequent subway shutdown in the aftermath, but many New Yorkers continued on with weekend plans. The Chelsea bomb was thought to be just one in a series across two states. Later that night, another device was found inside a plastic bag on West 27th Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues; it appeared to be pressure cooker with wiring and a cellphone attached, a law enforcement official said. Earlier that day, a bomb went off went off in Seaside Park, N.J., near a charity race. Police closed in on the 28-yearold on Monday, after five more pipe bombs were found in Elizabeth, N.J. and the suspect was reported sleeping in the doorway of a bar in Linden. Reports surfacing Tuesday indicated that Rahami was suspected of being a terrorist two years ago by the FBI.
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