Recap: April's Transportation Committee Meeting
Delancey Street may get a spacious new pedestrian plaza near the Williamsburg Bridge by the end of the summer according to DOT.
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April's Community Board Meeting for the Transportation Committee introduced the neighborhood to a host of improvements across the Lower East Side. The most notable project is the redesign and installations of a temporary plaza on underutilized space on Delancey Street.
On April 11th, representatives from the Department of Transportation (DOT), proposed a pedestrian plaza on a stretch of paved land between Norfolk and Clinton on the south side of Delancey Street (Pictures 1-8). The area is currently off limits for cars (marked by a double white line) and rather spacious but there's currently no reason for a walker to spend much time there as the space lacks shade, seating, or even a vibrant street scene - the massive Essex Crossing storefronts have remained vacant ever since they were built.
DOT plans to fully pedestrianize the space. They will add planters to the space's borders and paint the plaza floor different colors to clearly distinguish it from the rest of the busy road. Apparently, no trees can be installed because of vital subway infrastructure underneath. They will place movable tables and chairs for the community to use. When asked, the DOT rep described this as a "summer project".
The plan is to have this temporary plaza installed for people to begin using the space while the more serious Delancey St. redesign project (that I reported on earlier this year) kicks off. The DOT rep mentioned that project could last six years, starting off in 2024.
Other News From the Committee Meeting
• Four new loading zones will be created in CB3
• Chinatown Market, which was founded mid-Pandemic to support Chinatown businesses, applied for a block party permit for June 2nd that would allow them to close Forsyth Street to vehicular traffic between Canal and Division Streets four nights out of the summer (picture 9)
• A proposal to co-name the north-eastern corner of Bowery and 4th St after Frances Goldin, a housing rights activist
• The owner of a Chinatown transport company (Owl Bus) looking to continue his uncle's business sought a bus stop permit on the north side of East Broadway between Rutgers and Pike Streets