From the Times Ledger:Merchants on 37th Road between Broadway and 74th Street say they have seen their business drop by 50 percent or more since the city Department of Transportation has rerouted the bus routes and turned the block into what is planned to be a pedestrian plaza.
The block, home to the closed Eagle Theater, is set to become a pedestrian plaza with bike lanes as part of the DOT’s Jackson Heights Neighborhood Transportation Study.
A few weeks ago, the block was closed to traffic, repainted and given new signs saying only bicycles were allowed to travel through. Scott Gastel of the DOT said granite blocks, tables and chairs will be added to the plaza. He said this was done in response to community requests for more public space in the district and that the project has been supported by Community Board 3 and City Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights).
Saed Tayyab, manager of the jewelry and watch store Moonlite Int. Inc., on the corner of 37th Road and Broadway, said DOT’s plan has already been detrimental to the businesses on the block.
He said the plan has taken away multiple parking spots in an area starved for parking, and the Q47 and Q49 buses, which used to travel down the block, have now been rerouted. Tayyab said 50 percent of his customers are non-local and use buses or cars to shop in the area.
Other business owners questioned whether the area was appropriate for a pedestrian plaza. Rita Kamdar, who works at another phone card store, said the block attracts beggars and drug users, and she believed the plaza would encourage them to stay longer.
10 comments:
the fake cop in the other post will only have to wait on a bench in the new plaza ,to satisfy his sexual addiction , thanks to Sadie.
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Since Khan wants NYC to be like Europe, I suggest she just move there and leave us alone. The city is too crowded and congested to have these silly little bike lanes and pedestrian malls. We have too many cars and too much traffic. Don't forget the city buses too. All this woman is doing is creating more traffic in an already overdeveloped,overcrowded city. Hope the next mayor turns all the bike lanes and pedestrian malls back the way they originally were. That person gets my vote.
Were these merchants asleep when this was before Dromm and the CB?
No, what usually happens is that the people directly affected by these projects aren't notified about the proposal. Happened with Maspeth bypass, too and that was a much larger project.
Not all change has immediate positive effects but instead reap the benefits for the long term.
check out the uneeded conversions of concrete playgrounds for teen play ,to tree filled parks at a $1-$3 million cost, by Doomsberg's GREENIES in Planyc,2009-2011.
most bench filled spaces are never utilized by the teens or public. the teens want to play softball and full court basketball, instead of sitting on a bench.
who has the tree and bench contract with the Doomsberg administration ? they made a killing.....
Yep---the wrath of Khan!
Oh please, I am completely against these pedestrian whatchamacallits, but this merchant is full of elephant dung. I customers are going to travel by bus and car to buy jewelry and watches in a different neighborhood, then it won't make much of a difference to themif they have to walk an extra block or two. You are trying to tell me that people coming in from other neighborhoods will only do so if they can stop right in front of the place? Give me break.
No, it's that there will be less parking now so it will be harder for people outside the neighborhood to find a place to park. Duh.
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