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OTDOWNTOWN.COM
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MARCH
5-11 2015
OurTownDowntown @OTDowntown
SUBWAY SYSTEM AT CRITICAL JUNCTION
In Brief SCHOOL CELLPHONE BAN ENDS THIS WEEK
Politics threaten to derail critical upgrades and repairs to aging infrastructure BY MEGHAN BARR
It’s an ominous refrain, repeated endlessly in the same automated monotone: “Ladies and gentlemen, we are delayed because of train traffic ahead of us.” Every New Yorker who rides the subway to work each day — all 6 million, on the busiest days — has heard that message echoed over loudspeakers when a train car comes to an unexpected halt. What most commuters don’t realize is that those delays are tied to a contentious political fight playing out over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s five-year capital budget plan, which will fund critical improvements and repairs to the city’s sprawling transit system. Right now, the MTA is struggling to find funding sources for about half of that $32 billion plan. The agency could be forced to refund money to contractors on expansion projects like the East Side access project — which will connect the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal — if the budget debate isn’t resolved 18 months from now, MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast said at a board meeting last week. “A year or two, we’re OK,” Prendergast said. “But as you start to get down that path, we get to the point where we don’t have that money, we can’t award design contracts, we can’t award construction projects.” Another major project at risk is the new subway line that will run along Second Avenue, Prendergast said. “Could we start the next phase of the Second Avenue subway? That would be one that would be up on the table,” he said. But Prendergast said the agency has never found itself in that position before, and he doesn’t expect it will happen this time around. “New York gets the money it needs
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The Gansevoort Market, circa 1899. Photo courtesy of New-York Historical Society.
MEATPACKING MECCA PACKS IN HISTORY HISTORY From immense farmers’ market to cool fashion hub, the district continues to evolve BY PENELOPE BAREAU
Why is it called the Meatpacking District when there are only six meat packers there, down from about 250? Inertia, most likely. Located on the shore of the Hudson River, it’s a relatively small district in Manhattan stretching from Gansevoort Street at the foot of the High
Line north to and including West 14th Street and from the river three blocks east to Hudson Street. Until its recent life as a go-to high fashion mecca, it was for almost 150 years a working market: dirty, gritty, and blood-stained. For decades it was a market hosting farmers from miles around who came to sell their wares, much as they do today in farmers’ markets across the city. Farmers started gathering in the 1860s, migrating from overcrowded markets farther south. They set up at the corner of Gansevoort and Greenwich streets,
spontaneously creating the Gansevoort Farmers’ Market. Gansevoort Street has a pretty interesting history itself. It was originally an Indian footpath to the river, following the same route it has today. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was known variously as Old Kill, Great Kill and Great Kiln road. A kiln—pronounced at the time and in some quarters still with a silent “n”—was an oven or furnace, which in this case burned oyster shells to reduce them to mortar, an essential
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Good news for parents, bad news for teachers: New York City’s 1.1 million students once again will be able to bring cellphones to school. The cellphone ban in city schools had been put in place by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who feared they would interfere with classes. Bloomberg, who knows something about the impact of technology, was in some ways prescient: since the ban was installed, texting and Snapchat and Instagram have taken over teens’ lives, to the annoyance of parents and educators. But the ban also had downsides, ultimately leading Mayor Bill de Blasio to lift it as of March 2. Parents complained that the absence of phones made it tough to reach their kids, particularly in family emergencies. In addition, the ban created a bizarre cottage industry of cellphone babysitters -- vans parked outside of schools that charged students a daily fee to watch their phones while they were in class. Some parents, particularly from less-wealthy neighborhoods, complained the ban imposed an unnecessary cost. In announcing the end of the ban, the Department of Education left it up to parents, and principals, to set the rules for when phones can be used, and where. “Parents and families should contact their principal or parent coordinator for information about their school’s specific cellphone use and confiscation policy,” according the DOE’s website. For the moment, no one is talking about allowing cellphone usage in class. Students most likely will be allowed to use their phones during lunch or in designated areas. Otherwise, they’re supposed to be kept in student backpacks and lockers. Good luck enforcing that. Look for under-the-desk texting and photo-sharing, starting this week.