SoHo/NoHo still on edge over rezone report
BY JOAQUIN COTLER
More than a hundred
people gathered at a
Community Board 2
Land Use Committee meeting
last week to express their opposition
to possible new development
in the SoHo and NoHo
areas, which border Houston
Street to the north and south in
Manhattan.
Community members at the
Jan. 15 meeting expressed concerns
that a new report – commissioned
by Borough President Gale
Brewer, Councilmember Margaret
Chin and the Department of City
Planning – would encourage too
much development in the two
neighborhoods.
Elected officials, however,
disputed that charge, claiming
that they are looking to strike the
proper balance between addressing
the need for new economic
activity and protecting the neighborhoods’
historic character.
“At the moment we don’t have
specifics … Part of this process
of obtaining feedback is to understand
what the priorities are,” said
Terri Howell (right) and Carol Steen (left)
brandishing anti-upzoning signs. Steen, a
city certified artist living in NoHo, fears that
rising property taxes will force her out of the
neighborhood she’s lived in for decades .
Tara Duvivier, the Manhattan Borough
Urban Planner for Community Boards 1,
3 and 6. “I can’t give you exactly when
we would come back with anything with
MTA cites big progress on 14th Street Busway
BY MARK HALLUM
The 14th Street Busway in
Manhattan has sped things
up for commuters in a big
way, according to the MTA.
Data that the authority released
Monday suggests that more people
are riding the M14 Select Bus Service
line since Oct. 3, when the city and
MTA imposed made the roadway between
Third and Ninth Avenues open
exclusively to buses. That dropped the
commute time on the route substantially,
36%, and the MTA says that
encouraged more people to use the
bus line.
With ridership up by an average of
19% on weekdays, and 25% during
morning peak hours, the M14 appears
to be a preference among commuters.
On top of that, the MTA is attributing
much of this progress to bus-mounted
PHOTO BY JOAQUIN COTLER
regard to specifics about any zoning
changes.”
Six months of research and public input
into land-use and zoning issues were
The 14th Street busway during its launch on Oct. 3.
camera enforcement of cars.
The announcement came at the
included in the report, according to
its introduction.
“The purpose of this endeavor
was simple, even if the issues were
not: to conduct a genuine public
outreach process to develop an
informed vision and recommendations
to guide the city’s future planning
efforts in the SoHo and NoHo
neighborhoods,” reads the report,
which was released in November.
Since then, officials are seeking a
response from the local community
about its recommendations.
One of the most contentious
items discussed at last Wednesday’s
meeting, held Sheen Auditorium on
Bleecker Street, was a suggestion in
the report to “explore opportunities
for increased density” in order to
create more housing in the area.
While residents generally support
the designation of more
affordable housing, many people
fear that such an initiative could
result in upzoning – the process of
amending current zoning laws to
allow for the construction of residential
skyscrapers containing some
affordable housing – and contribute
to a growing overcrowding problem.
“The current zoning has allowed
20- and 30-story buildings to be
built in this neighborhood,” Andrew
Berman, the executive director of the
Greenwich Village Society for Historic
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
twilight of the 60-day grace period for
drivers ticketed by bus-mounted cameras.
Preservation, said at the meeting. “The
substantial increase in density that the
city would require with an upzoning
would entirely obliterate the character
of this neighborhood … If the city just
drops their ridiculous requirement that
you have to have a massive upzoning in
order to require affordable housing, we
can have a lot more of it.”
Some local business owners who
don’t necessarily support upzoning still
believe the committee should focus on reclassifying
the area as a mixed-use district
to better reflect the present neighborhood
landscape.
Third-generation SoHo business owner
Michael Salzhauer supports comprehensive
rezoning of the neighborhood – including
expanding the definition of who
is eligible for live-work spaces in the area.
Currently, only city-certified artists are
allowed to have live-work studio spaces.
“A successful rezoning of SoHo will
include a methodology for legalizing
residential units occupied by non-artists,
recognizing that a significant portion of
our residents now are not artists, and that
the city has essentially stopped certifying
artists,” Salzhauer said in a statement.
Despite his staunch opposition to upzoning,
Berman says he supports potentially
tweaking regulations, provided that
it keeps the neighborhood’s soul intact.
The committee says they will continue
to revisit these issues in the coming
months.
Drivers who violate the bus-only restriction
on 14th Street will be subject
to fines.
“We know the busway is working
because buses are faster and more customers
come back to the bus system
where these improvements have been
implemented,” said Craig Cipriano,
acting MTA Bus Company President.
“We are changing everything that
New Yorkers thought they knew about
our buses, from new zero emission
all-electric buses to more customer
amenities and better service.”
The bus-mounted cameras were
installed in late November and began
issuing warnings to drivers as part of a
60-day grace period before fines were
scheduled to go into effect.
On the 14th Street busway, 110
drivers have been delivered warnings
since the ABLE system was implemented
on Nov. 21.
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