Midtown Board Wants More Open Streets, Slower Cars

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A Midtown community board passed a trio of resolutions this week calling for more pedestrian space on neighborhood streets and new measures to catch unsafe drivers.

Community Board 6, which covers Midtown East, voted Wednesday to ask the city for more pedestrian space on Third Avenue between East 26th and 32nd streets — an area with "a dense and popular cluster of restaurants, bars and retail outlets."

As it stands, that stretch of Third Avenue suffers from narrow, crowded sidewalks despite having five lanes of traffic available for cars, plus two traffic lanes, the board wrote in a letter to the Department of Transportation.

The area is unable to be named an Open Street, since it does not fall within a Business Improvement District and has no caretaker organization that would maintain it.

Tonight Manh CB6 formally called for an open street here (a block that gets almost no traffic), which is supported by PS 116, PS 281, and a passel of neighborhood groups. (We also asked MTA Bridges & Tunnels for access to the triangular greenspace at left. Their response: "Lol.") pic.twitter.com/HLuvMdHXGB
— Rich Mintz (@richmintz) February 11, 2021

The board asked instead that the city move parking lanes away from the curb and into travel lanes, creating more space for pedestrians, and that the newly pedestrianized streets be outfitted with "amenities and treatments" to make them comfortable.

Meanwhile, the proposed Open Street that won the board's approval runs along East 36th Street from First Avenue to Tunnel Approach Street. With no votes opposing, CB6 asked the city to block traffic along the tree-lined street, which would be maintained by the Alliance for Kips Bay.

Finally, CB6 wrote in support of the FURIOUS Act — a proposed law by State Sen. Brad Hoylman that would allow the city to maintain speed cameras in school zones at any time of day. (As it stands, the cameras can only be used between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. on weekdays.)

All but one board member voted in favor.