Downtown Brooklyn Gaining Pedestrian and Bicycle
Improvements
On Tuesday, the local community board approved
city Dept. of Transportation plans for a new pedestrian
plaza in Downtown Brooklyn.
Two Steps Back for NJ Transport Policy
"Every
time we use a gimmick or trick to pay for this year's
expenses, all we're doing is making next year's problem
bigger." Jon Corzine, 3/21/2006.
Development Threatens Williamsburg, Say Preservationists
The
Preservation League of NY State has listed Williamsburg,
Brooklyn in its annual list of the Empire State's most
threatened historic resources.
The Smart Growth Campaign?
Even if New York City is
having trouble getting transportation and development
policies in sync, NY State could do worse than have
candidates for governor vie to be the smart growth
candidate.
Secrets of Yankee Stadium, Still Veiled
Although the
NYC Parks Dept. - by default the "lead
agency" for Yankee Stadium redevelopment - has
been racing to finalize the project's environmental
review, it has been slow to turn over information related
to the project.
Density, Transit Villages Debated
As New Jersey continues
to grow, two Middlesex County municipalities consider
their transit hubs as premier growth areas.
Nassau Bus Ridership Sky High
Long Island Bus ridership
this January was 7.6% higher than January 2005, LI
Bus president Neil Yellin told board members of the
MTA Board last week.
End of Line for ExpressBarge
The Port Authority has
talked for years about developing a "port inland
distribution network" of rail
and water shuttles to quickly clear large numbers of
freight containers out of NJ/NY port terminals.
Good Ideas Department, Part II
The New York State legislature
continues to stymie bills that should be moving rapidly
into law.
Lawsuits Target Toll-Rate Policies
Two commuters have
filed lawsuits against the MTA for alleged "toll
discrimination," according
to the NY Post.
Downtown Brooklyn Gaining Pedestrian and Bicycle
Improvements
On Tuesday, the local community board approved city
Dept. of Transportation plans for a new pedestrian
plaza in Downtown Brooklyn. New public space will be
created by closing Willoughby Street between Adams
and Pearl Streets and the Adams Street service road
at Willoughby Street. The city says the new plan will
provide 7,000 square feet of public space and that
2,600 people walk through the area during the busiest
hour of a weekday.
Work is scheduled to start in May for a temporary
plaza with benches, bike racks, and planters. DOT officials
say if the project is successful, a permanent, curb-level
plaza will be constructed.
Transportation Alternatives reports that nearby,
NYC DOT has created a safer entrance to the Brooklyn
Bridge promenade by installing a greenway path along
Tillary Street. 20 parking spaces were removed to create
the path from Clinton Street to Cadman Plaza West.
T.A. reports that the Brooklyn end of the bridge path
is the most dangerous intersection for cyclists in
the borough.
Such city efforts to make streetscapes more people-oriented
should be the norm, rather than the exception. City
planners should implement similar traffic calming,
people-oriented projects as regular policy, rather
than in a few isolated neighborhoods where residents
have demanded solutions for years. These projects materialized
after clamor followed the Downtown Brooklyn rezoning,
the failure of the years-long Downtown Brooklyn traffic
calming study and long-term pressure by T.A. for safer
entrances to major bridge pathways (that’s one
down, seven to go for the major East River bridges).
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Two Steps Back for NJ Transport Policy
“Every time we use a gimmick or trick to pay
for this year’s expenses, all we’re doing
is making next year’s problem bigger.”–Jon
Corzine, 3/ 21/2006
Over the objections of environmentalists, transportation
reformers and most Republican legislators, Democrats
in the State Senate joined their Assembly colleagues
to approve legislation allowing New Jersey to increase
and extend its transportation debt until 2041 to fund
the next five years of construction projects. Governor
Corzine signed the plan into law on Thursday, March
23.
“Smart Growth” language that was included
in earlier versions of the legislation but removed
by the Assembly Appropriations Committee and from the
final Senate bill would have limited highway capacity
to 4% of NJ DOT spending. The final legislation takes
a step back from the Transportation Trust Fund act
of 2000, which presented ambitious road and bridge
maintenance targets to state transportation managers.
Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance criticized the
plan: “I am particularly upset that the bill
is moving forward without the Fix-It-First provisions
supported by transportation activists, environmentalists,
and most of the Republican Caucus.”
Recent NJDOT capital programs have kept roadway capacity
spending within 4% of total DOT construction, and no
radical change in this trend is expected despite the
Legislature’s step back on the issue. The FY
07 transportation capital program is due to be presented
to lawmakers in early April.
An analysis of preliminary capital program documents
for northern New Jersey suggests that while roads and
bridge maintenance spending will increase this year
over last, the program is also bumping up against 4%
regarding road capacity due to projects that add lanes
or otherwise widen segments of state routes 17 (Bergen),
1 (Middlesex), 9 (Monmouth), 23 (Sussex) and 70 (Ocean),
as well as county route 166, also in Ocean County.
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Development Threatens Williamsburg, Say Preservationists
The Preservation League of NY State has listed Williamsburg,
Brooklyn in its annual list of the Empire State’s
most threatened historic resources, “Seven to
Save.” The group says present and anticipated
development in the neighborhood “is out of scale
with its historic fabric. The boroughs of New York
City are experiencing one of the most intense periods
of development in many years. This boom is aided by
revised zoning codes, which have increased the allowed
density for new construction. While growth is important
for the health of New York City overall, the number
and size of proposed developments may permanently erase
the historic streetscapes and pedestrian scale which
now attract growing numbers of residents and businesses.”
As MTR readers know, the development boom is weighing
heavily on mass transit capacity in the neighborhood,
and rezoning-related density will worsen this problem
and create street circulation issues. So far, the Bloomberg
administration still refuses to develop a long-term
transportation capacity plan for the area.
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The Smart Growth Campaign?
Even if New York City is having trouble getting transportation
and development policies in sync, NY State could do
worse than have candidates for governor vie to be the
smart growth candidate.
Candidate and NY Attorney General Elliot Spitzer
urged the reconstruction of upstate cities in a speech
this week. Along with themes such as the reclamation
of former factory sites and a pledge to focus investment
in SUNY facilities in downtown areas, Spitzer said
that growth strategies that limit sprawl are essential
to reviving ex-industrial centers.
Speaking in Syracuse, Spitzer noted that “From
1982 to 1997, Central New York lost 6,500 residents
but urbanized over 100,000 acres of open land.” He
declared that “Enabling growth to occur in cities
takes advantage of an existing infrastructure that
was built to support a much larger population base.
It also takes pressure off of suburbs to support growth
that in many cases they do not want. The lack of effective
planning in the past has resulted in suburban sprawl
that hurts the economy of our cities and the quality
of life of our suburbs… Look around and you
will see the effects — traffic, pollution, vanishing
wetlands and wildlife habitats, and increased spending
for an overextended suburban infrastructure.”
Spitzer went on to argue that “effective regional
planning and the right kind of transportation infrastructure
can play key roles in supporting smart growth for both
cities and suburbs.” He lauded a plan recently
released by the Capital District Transportation Committee
that linked a variety of development aspirations with
public transit investments to better connect communities
in the Albany area (the entire speech is on-line at
spitzer2006.com).
Spitzer’s Democratic rival, Nassau County Executive
Tom Suozzi, says on his web-site tomsuozzi.com, without
further explanation, that “Tom brought smart
growth planning to Nassau County. ‘New Suburbia’ is
an idea that marries the old dream of the white picket
fence, the single family home, good schools, Little
League, low crime, first rate parks, and employment
opportunities, with a new vision for growth in targeted
areas which creates high-paying jobs that protect our
suburban quality of life, strengthen our tax base and
ultimately reduce traffic congestion.” Elements
of the “Nassau Hub” vision to build denser,
transit-served development in central Nassau are starting
to come into view, but are far from realized.
Among Republican candidates, Randy Daniels points
to his work as Secretary of State for the Pataki Administration
reclaiming brownfields and waterfronts (randydaniels.com).
John Faso’s on-line site has no particular discussion
of development or planning strategy (johnfaso2006.com).
Neither does William Weld’s, but he does have
several particular transportation proposals, one harkening
to his populist toll-bashing days as Massachusetts
governor: he attacks high tolls on the Verrazano Bridge
and says he will “examine all of New York’s
tolls and transportation expenditures. Bill will stand
on the side of commuters, watch out for our safety
and will utilize transportation money to fix crumbling
infrastructure, not increase an aged bureaucracy. Bill
Weld literally took a sledgehammer to tolls and tollbooths
in Massachusetts. He fought an entrenched bureaucratic
authority and wrestled away their chokehold on tolls
imposed merely to perpetuate the authority in office.” Since
Weld also is against tax increases, it’s unknown
how foregone toll revenue would be made up in the mass
transit and bridge budgets. Weld also says he “supports
further work on potential high speed rail linking between
Buffalo, Albany, New York and Boston” (weldfornewyork.com).
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Secrets of Yankee Stadium, Still Veiled
Although the NYC Parks Dept. — by default the “lead
agency” for Yankee Stadium redevelopment — has
been racing to finalize the project’s environmental
review, it has been slow to turn over information related
to the project.
The Tri-State Campaign filed a Freedom of Information
Law request on February 2, asking for, among other
things, travel surveys relied on in the environmental
impact statement tao project travel behavior for the
project and information prepared as part of the parkland “conversion” (to
parking garages) under the federal Land and Water Conservation
Fund. Mullaly
The Parks Dept. responded with a letter stating, “we
anticipate some records becoming available for disclosure
within twenty (20) business days from the date we received
your request.” However, other records will be
available in forty (40) business days.
Despite the generous one- and two-month deadlines
the agency gave itself, it has yet to turn over any
documents. A call to the agency yielded the response
that some of the information would be ready “next
week” – but that was two weeks ago.
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Density, Transit Villages Debated
As New Jersey continues to grow, two Middlesex County
municipalities consider their transit hubs as premiere
growth areas.
In one case, the township of Dunellen along NJ Transit’s
Raritan Valley line has presented a completed plan to
the public. In the other, clashing visions pit developers
who understand the value a future North Brunswick train
station could mean for property against citizens wary
of new housing and population growth.
Dunellen Mayor Robert Seader has enthusiastically promoted
the township’s vision for a transit village and
hopes it will revitalize the economy and make the downtown
area safer for pedestrians and more pleasant to visit.
Some business owners are concerned they will be forced
to move and oppose the plan. Contracts have been signed
with developers, but the township has promised an open
process as the planning process reaches its final stages.
Interestingly, North Brunswick is discussing a transit
village even though a station as part of the planned
Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex line may not materialize for
years. At a recent meeting about the future of the 212-acre
Johnson and Johnson property just off Route 1, residents
were quizzed about what they would like to see happen
when the land is redeveloped. Residents showed strong
opposition to adding more housing to the area but were
supportive of other types of development that a train
station might be able to anchor. DOT officials at the
hearing were non-committal about whether or not housing
that is not proximate to the future station could meet
its requirement for a transit village designation. The
Tri-State Campaign urges state planners to consider only
housing within a half-mile of stations to be transit-oriented,
otherwise they risk watering down the transit village
incentive program.
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Nassau Bus Ridership Sky High
Long Island Bus ridership this January was 7.6% higher
than January 2005, LI Bus president Neil Yellin told
board members of the MTA Board last week. He said he
will soon need more buses on the street to keep up with
rising demand.
A 15% hike in state aid will come to the bus agency
if Governor Pataki’s budget proposal is approved.
That will allow service increases on overcrowded routes,
but won’t buy a bigger bus fleet.
Yellin said annual ridership in 2005 was 3% more than
in 2004, the largest increase in 33 years.
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End of Line for ExpressBarge
The Port Authority has talked for years about developing
a “port inland distribution network” of rail
and water shuttles to quickly clear large numbers of
freight containers out of NJ/NY port terminals.
The first operation in the network was a container
barge service carrying cargo up the Hudson to the Port
of Albany, begun in 2003. The service was recently hauling
400 containers a week, but apparently was still not economical.
It ended in February, when a federal grant to the Port
Authority to subsidize the operation ran out, according
to the Journal of Commerce. It is unknown how the demise
of this first element of the inland distribution network
may affect other plans in the works, like container barges
between New Jersey terminals and Bridgeport, CT.
Meanwhile, the Port Authority reported that ExpressRail,
the port-related rail terminal network in New Jersey,
attained a new record, handling 303,032 containers in
2005, nearly 7 percent more than in 2004.
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Good Ideas Department, Part II
Smart growth proposals slow moving in Albany
Smart growth advocates are busy in Albany this year,
but the legislature continues to stymie bills that should
be moving rapidly into law.
The New York State Community Preservation bill, sponsored
by Assemblymember Tom DiNapoli, passed the Assembly on
March 20. The bill will give municipalities power to
voluntarily create a fund to protect natural areas, support
family farms, and preserve historic buildings. The bill
would remove the obstacle of legislative approval to
for funding local efforts. Environmental Advocates, which
recently launched a campaign to pass the legislation,
says the bill will help towns deal with sprawl development
pressures.
Like so many bills in Albany, the bill is having trouble
passing both houses. It was approved in the Assembly
last year, but died in the Senate. Environmental Advocates
reports that although 32 Senators voiced support for
the bill, enough to pass it, Majority Leader Joseph Bruno
never allowed a full vote to occur. Governor Pataki supports
the legislation. Hopefully EA’s campaign will persuade
Bruno to allow a vote this year.
The Smart Growth Infrastructure Act, also sponsored
by DiNapoli, applies seven criteria to state infrastructure
projects with a goal of making such spending more efficient
and preserving open space. Like the Community Preservation
Bill, it passed the Assembly in February and now sits
with the Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee.
Smart growth groups are also pushing legislation to
give individuals more power in lawsuits brought under
the state environmental review act (SEQRA), to increase
environmental preservation funds and strengthen wetlands
protection under the Clean Water Protection and Flood
Protection Act.
Transit Benefit Stuck in Albany Gridlock
Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell of Manhattan is
sponsor of legislation (A.2230) to give state employees
the pre-tax transit benefit program, known as TransitChek
or WageWorks in much of the region. It allows employees
to purchase transit passes with pre-tax income, potentially
saving them hundreds of dollars a year. The bill would
offer New York state employees the pre-tax benefit that
New York City, Westchester and Nassau County, and State
of New Jersey public employees already enjoy, but unfortunately,
it seems to be one of the many bills stuck in Albany.
It was passed by the Assembly in 2004, but never approved
by the Senate. It now sits again in the Assembly Ways
and Means Committee. The matching Senate version is S.6718.
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Lawsuits Target Toll-Rate Policies
Two commuters have filed lawsuits against the MTA for
alleged “toll discrimination,” according
to the NY Post.
Currently, the MTA gives discounts to Staten Islanders
who use the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and to Rockaway
and Broad Channel residents who use the Cross Bay and
Marine Parkway bridges. The suit claims this creates
an unequal toll structure for motorists, and is therefore
unconstitutional. Petitioners are from Queens and New
Jersey.
Lawyers in the case did not tell the Post what prompted
the lawsuit. The Port Authority provides toll discounts
at its Staten Island-New Jersey bridges but enrollment
in the program appears to be open to anyone with non-commercial
vehicle plates. The law firm in the case is involved
in a similar suit against the NY State Thruway over “preferential” discounts
for tolls near Buffalo.
Staten Island residents and elected officials have
long defended the discounts, arguing they have inadequate
commuting options and no toll-free routes for leaving
and entering Staten Island.
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