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March 20 - April 2, 2013
Talking Point
Saving the Pier 40 fields is not enough By B ill Martin o and B ill B ial o s k y We have been asked what compelled the Downtown leagues to get behind the Pier 40 Champions initiative given our limited use of the pier. The answer is really very simple; our leagues have sizeable waitlists and we need room to grow to protect the future of organized activities for our children. Pier 40 is the only nearby space for new fields. Consider the data; according to a recent New York Times article, the nine-andyounger population across Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan has grown 129 percent over the past decade. There are upwards of 250 fifth graders in public schools in Tribeca and the Financial District, and approximately 450 in kindergarten. This math does not work since we cannot take in new five-year-olds if we won’t have space for them when they are eight. In just two years, we will be turning families away in alarming numbers and pitting friends and neighbors against one another in a race to secure coveted spots in the leagues.
This problem is analogous to the overcrowding at our local schools. Through the efforts of the School Overcrowding Task Force, under the supervision of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, our community has successfully secured more classrooms and seats over the past several years. We need similar focus and results at Pier 40, which is why
Pier 40 can help us if we can help save it. There’s plenty of space there to build new fields, and with the much-needed assistance of the city and state, we can have new fields in two years. The Hudson River Park Trust is trying hard to keep the park open and they came through in an inspirational way to get the fields repaired quickly after Hurricane Sandy. But they
Soon we will be turning families away in alarming numbers, pitting friends and neighbors against one another in a race to secure coveted spots in the leagues. our Downtown leagues joined Pier 40 Champions, an alliance of youth sports programs and schools advocating for new fields and actively engaged with key local elected officials to make this a core priority.
just don’t have the funds to do the critical repairs. That’s why Pier 40 Champions has made a big pitch for the city and state to act now to keep the pier open. Just as we have grown our schools, we need to do the same for our parks so our
children can grow strong, agile minds and bodies, and learn about teamwork while we parents volunteer, or simply watch with pride from the stands. Bill Martino and Bill Bialosky are respectively presidents of the Downtown Little League and Downtown Soccer League, which both play primarily on the fields in Battery Park City.
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transit sam A LT E RN AT E S ID E PA R K ING IS S U S PE N D E D T U ES D AY FOR T HE F I RS T D AY OF PA SSOV E R Traffic in lower Manhattan has been a bear the last couple of weeks. I am attributing at least some of it to the toll increase at the Battery Tunnel and, to a lesser extent, at the Midtown Tunnel. Since the round-trip tolls went to $10.66 for E-ZPass and $15 in cash, Canal, Varick, Broome and other Downtown streets have seen more traffic as drivers divert to the free bridges to avoid the toll. The diversion is most pronounced on weekends. All Manhattan-bound lanes of the Brooklyn Bridge will close overnight 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday. With nightly 7 p.m. circus performances at Barclays lasting two hours, there shouldn’t be too many stragglers holding up traffic on the Manhattan Bridge. At the Lincoln Tunnel, all lanes of the Manhattan-bound helix (the spiral approach road to the tunnel) will close overnight 11:59 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday. Drivers will take the Holland Tunnel instead. Due to FASTRACK repairs, there will be no E service in Manhattan overnight 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday. Take the A or the C instead. M service from Manhattan toward 71st Ave. and Metropolitan Ave. ends at 8:40 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday and R service from Manhattan toward 71st Ave. and 95th St. ends at 9:40 p.m.
On West St./Route 9A, one lane in each direction will close between West Thames and Vesey Sts. from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, and 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Harrison St. will close between Greenwich and Hudson Sts. 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. In the Battery Park Underpass, the south tube (from West St. to the F.D.R.) will completely close 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday to Friday and 1 a.m. to 8 a.m. on Saturday through late June. For more street closure updates, follow me on Twitter @gridlocksam. Passover-Easter parking break! Get a good parking spot on Monday, March 25 and you won’t have to move your car for A.S.P. until Wednesday, April 3rd! The only exception is where ASP is in effect on Saturday. In addition, New York City public schools go on spring break beginning Monday. That means no school buses, a respite for parents and commuters and yes, parking allowed adjacent to public schools.
Fr om the mailbag: Dear Transit Sam, For the past few weekends around 4:30 p.m., I have travelled north on West St. For many blocks south of Canal St., the traffic backed up to a crawl. The southbound traffic on West St. turning east onto Canal St.
blocked the intersection, making the backup worse. There were no traffic enforcement officers on duty directing traffic. Please help. Mark, Brooklyn Dear Mark, I called the N.Y.P.D. to make sure that intersection is covered on weekends. You should now see someone there from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Let me know if otherwise.
Letters to the Editor (cont.) Continued from page 18
ary zoning” in Northwest Tribeca, and the illusionary inclusionary zoning in the Holland Tunnel rotary, was due to the pressure from a small NIMBY group in the Tribeca Committee. Inclusionary zoning would have helped the affordable housing situation, but that is not what the immediate neighbors really wanted. I should know. I chaired the meetings while pushing for a board-wide zoning committee at the time. C.B. 1 should modify the committee structure by eliminating the four geographical ones like the other 58
However, traffic will continue to be worse since drivers heading south on West St. will turn at Canal to head to the Manhattan Bridge to avoid the toll hike at the Battery Tunnel. Weekend drivers are more ‘price-sensitive’ than daily commuters, so I’m seeing a lot of new patterns on Saturdays and Sundays. Until we end “bridge shopping” through rational tolls, these patterns will continue. Transit Sam
boards and add a Housing or Parks & Recreation Committee. Rick Landman Rick Landman is a former member of Community Board 1 who was chairperson of the board’s Planning & Infrastructure, Landmarks and Tribeca Committees. Editor’s note: With respect to the neighborhood count comparison of community boards, the writer cites the mayor’s community board listings, which defines neighborhoods differently than many New Yorkers. Boundaries are not at all exact, but for example, the city lists the Lower East Side in Boards 2 and 3, while we would say it’s entirely or almost entirely in C.B. 3.