The local paper for the Upper East Side EDUCATION GUIDE 2018
WEEK OF JANUARY
P.15
11-17 2018
RESIDENTS OPPOSE PLAN FOR WATERFRONT BRIDGE COMMUNITY Entrance to proposed esplanade access span would sit in Sutton Place Park South BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Additional metal bollards will be installed in Times Square and other high-profile Manhattan locations as a protective measure against vehicle attacks. Photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
NEW SECURITY MEASURES IN WAKE OF VEHICLE ATTACKS SAFETY 1,500 additional bollards will be installed as part of $50 million project BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
Nearly eight months after a driver steered his car onto a crowded Seventh Avenue sidewalk and accelerated toward Times Square, killing one person and injuring 22 others, Mayor Bill de Blasio returned to the site of the crime to announce a safety initiative intended to prevent similar vehicle attacks in the future. The May 2017 incident ended when the car driven by Richard Rojas, an intoxicated Bronx man, came to a stop in Times Square after striking a metal bollard at West 45th Street. The bollard, one of the dozens of small metal stanchions rising from the
streets and sidewalks around Times Square, brought the car to an abrupt halt, likely preventing further injuries — but only after the vehicle had traveled three blocks on the sidewalk at high speed, striking and dragging bystanders along the way. The city will install 1,500 additional bollards in Times Square and other high-profile locations as part of a new $50 million project to bolster security in public spaces. “These bollards will make sure that the vehicles can never come into the places where pedestrians are,” de Blasio said at the Jan. 2 press conference announcing the plan. The May incident in Times Square was one of two deadly vehicle attacks in Manhattan in 2017. On Oct. 31, a man driving a rented truck steered off the West Side Highway near Houston Street and entered a
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A plan for a new pedestrian bridge at 54th Street connecting Sutton Place Park South to a new section of the East Midtown Waterfront Esplanade has been met with opposition from some neighbors, who say the bridge spanning the FDR Drive would disrupt the nature of the park, a small strip of green space adjacent to the FDR drive between 53rd and 54th Streets. Plans call for the ramp to the pedestrian bridge to sit in what is now the northern portion of the park, close to its entrance near Sutton Place and East 54th Street. Several local groups, including Sutton Area Community, the Sutton Place Parks Conservancy, the Turtle Bay Association and the boards of neighboring residential buildings, have expressed concerns about the proposed bridge, which some neighbors say would take up much of the existing park, eliminate benches and walking space, and block the views of residents of the lower floors of surrounding buildings. The bridge is one piece of a $100 million city initiative to build eight new blocks of waterfront pathway raised on pilings over the East River from 53rd to 61st Streets. This planned eight-block stretch of the East River Greenway is the second phase of the East Midtown Waterfront Esplanade project, which upon completion will run uninterrupted from 38th to 61st
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A map showing the proposed esplanade access bridge at East 54th Street, which would occupy a portion of Sutton Place Park South and is opposed by some neighbors. Image: NYC EDC Streets, closing one of the largest remaining gaps in the Manhattan’s network of waterfront paths. Construction on the second phase is expected to begin in 2019 and last three years. Plans for the project include the construction of new access points to the esplanade across the FDR drive, including the proposed pedestrian bridge at 54th Street. The New York City Economic Development Corporation is the lead city agency on the project. Last month, Community Board 6 passed a resolution requesting that EDC provide in writing its rationale for the proposed location of the bridge at 54th Street. The community board also requested that EDC present the design to the Sutton Place community for further comment. An EDC representative said the agency is currently
reviewing the resolution; at press time, EDC had not provided a written response to the community board. EDC representatives are scheduled to attend the Jan. 22 meeting of Community Board 6’s land use and waterfront committee. “We will work closely with the community and welcome their important feedback as the project moves forward,” EDC spokesper-
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