George Pleads to Build Maggie’s Bench
“ I have got to sit down – I have got to sit down – now! “ pleaded Maggie Capsis on Bleecker Street after two lung cancer operations that left her unable to walk more than 50 yards. “You can’t sit here – this is not a sitting shop, hissed the prissy Bleecker shop clerk and I looked desperately for a bench, any bench. Maggie died last year and I am still looking for that bench – I want to put her name on it.
Serendipitously the city has a new program that just might do it – it is called Street Seats and it lets you put a bench and planters where two cars were parked. As for any new com- munity project we have detractors. “Who’s going to pay for it?”, “Who’s going to take care of the plants?”, “Who’s going to take it up and store it in the winter?”, and “You are taking away my parking space,” they say.
For a year I tried to get Maggie’s Bench past the Charles Street Block Association naysayers, and in a rare general meeting I screamed out my plea. (They voted unanimously “yes” with one abstention – the man who was going to lose his parking place.) Thanks to the enthusiastic support of one of West Village’s newest businesses, Claire Chan’s “The Elk” coffeehouse at 128 Charles Street, we hope to see an installation there next April.
WestView Architectural Editor Brian Pape follows with the details:
What is the Street Seats program? The city allows quality outdoor seating accessible to the public during regular business hours from April 15 to October 14, in areas without sidewalk café seating or public benches. Designs for the seating must include durable materials, planters and plantings for beautification and protection of pedestrians, handicap accessibility, and must be portable, securable at night, clean and safe. At least 12’ of the platform must be flush with, or accessible from, the sidewalk. The businesses fronting the area of the platform must approve the installation, and the property owner must also approve the final design. Smoking and alcoholic consumption are prohibited there, but otherwise, seating is unrestricted for public use. Only curbsides within normal parking spaces, with no utility obstructions (such as a fire hydrant) or parking restrictions (except for cleaning) may be considered. The platforms may not exceed 6’ width in order to be narrower than nearby parked cars. Off-sea- son, the installations shall be removed completely, and parking restored. Currently, the seating must be designed by a NY licensed design professional .
Among the early adopters of the Street Seats program is the small Local Café at 144 Sullivan Street, and a string of several adjacent businesses, mostly restaurants, along Pearl Street, near Broad Street. Both locations have narrow sidewalks and a dearth of public seat- ing previously. Now, though not exclusively for the eateries, both patrons and the public can enjoy the outdoors; lingering, eating, meeting or people-watching. The business owners report positive results, no complaints, and satisfaction with the program.
The DOT is working on improving the feasibility for small businesses of the Street Seats program. First, a standardized design produced by the DOT would reduce construction costs for the sponsors, while still allowing modifications to suit different site conditions. Secondly, the DOT is looking for secure storage space for off-season removal of the seating.
Public Plazas are a high priority in the goal to improve the quality of life for New Yorkers. The DOT creates more public open space by reclaiming underutilized street space and transforming it into pedestrian plazas. The West Village recently got a new “Public Plaza” installed at the intersection of West 4th Street, Jane Street, and 8th Avenue, by closing a short piece of West 4th. The process of creating a pedestrian plaza almost always emanates from the ground up; beginning with proposals from local community groups, followed by a collaborative design process between the DOT and local stakeholders, and finally the construction of the plaza, which is funded by the DOT. The subsequent maintenance and management of the plaza is the responsibility of the community group that initially proposes it, though local elected officials can and do help with funding.
“WalkNYC” is New York City’s standard for pedestrian way-finding. While the City has many signs directing drivers, these pro- vide very little benefit to pedestrians. The goal of “WalkNYC” is to remedy this information and navigation gap, by adding well-designed and placed signs for pedestrians. Nick Peter- son, leader of the DOT special programs coordinated for better pedestrian safety, showed us one such improved display near his Water Street office, at the Coenties Plaza. It features a map that is oriented in the direction that the observer is looking at the display, (much like a GPS display in a car). But Mr. Peterson would like the displays to be more interactive.
In the future, street kiosks could feature points of interest to amplify the experience for tourists, and to prioritize which spots should be prominently featured, by which are tapped most frequently. A tourist could also download a city map in moments onto their mobile device.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have interactive displays in the West Village to pro- vide a guide and historic information about our precious neighborhood? Just think of the possibilities: step up to a kiosk, tap a location on the map, and have a downloadable pictorial description of how to get there, what its history is, and what nearby attractions there are!
You can help make our neighborhood safer and more enjoyable to explore by sup- porting local efforts to implement the city’s Pedestrian Network.
