The Broadsheet - Lower Manhattan’s Local Newspaper

City Council member Christopher Marte is leading a coalition of several dozen Lower Manhattan organizations that want to reopen Park Row, which has been closed to civilian vehicles since September 11, 2001, and reopened only for pedestrian and cyclists in 2018.

For decades, the artery that once connected the Financial District and Civic Center to Chinatown has been closed, under the rationale that a security buffer was needed for the nearby Police Headquarters building, along with other government offices. This closure was introduced as a “temporary” measure in 2001, but never rescinded. During the years since, Park Row has served as an unofficial (and free) parking lot for police vehicles and employees of adjacent court houses. For most of that time, the only public access to this half-mile stretch of streetscape has been aboard the M103 and M9 bus routes, which continued to use Park Row.

In an April 3 letter to Mayor Eric Adams, Council member Marte and the community leaders who co-signed his statement, state that “Park Row is a multi-lane passageway that we know can fit all the needs of our community. We support having an improved bike lane, pedestrian walkways, added greenery, and vehicle traffic. We understand that as Park Row reopens, all of these changes cannot happen at once, and we support a phased approach as is necessary.”

“While we understand that some trial periods might be necessary,” Mr. Marte and his co-signers conclude, “we hope that there is not an extensive need for traffic studies as this is not a new road. We have faced so many years of delay, so many years of politicians giving us empty promises, and we see an incredible opportunity to act as your partner to deliver this historic win for Chinatown, the Seaport, and our City.”

Among the organizations that co-signed in support of Mr. Marte’s message to Mayor Adams are the Chinatown Business Improvement District, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, the Greater Chinatown Civic Coalition, Friends of the Lower East Side, and Community Board 1.

In its 2019 District Needs statement, CB1 noted that “ways to safely reopen Park Row are necessary to relieve severe burdens placed on nearby residents and businesses by restrictions associated with 1 Police Plaza. We are encouraged that the City has allowed Park Row to be re-opened to pedestrians and cyclists, but to the extent possible, we are interested in having Park Row re-opened and re-integrated into street grid.”

While support for expanding public access to Park Row is widespread, agreement on the prospect of reopening the street to cars is not unanimous. The Park Row Alliance has proposed beautifying the boulevard (which is in a state of squalid disrepair), but prefers to emphasize pedestrians and cyclists rather than drivers. In 2022, the administration of Governor Kathy Hochul awarded the Park Row Alliance a grant of $4 million to fund capital improvements, which are expected to begin later this year or early in 2024.

But the State grant does not preclude measures to reopen Park Row to traffic, a priority that Mr. Marte is now pushing the Mayor’s office to implement.

Community Board 1 is advocating for the creation of a multi-agency West Side Task Force that will enable an integrated, holistic view of resiliency measures along the Hudson River waterfront. This proposal aims to address the conflicts and contradictions that can emerge when a welter of government agencies are formulating plans in parallel with one another, but no single agency is in overall charge. Read more...

The Trust for Governors Island and the administration of Mayor Eric Adams have announced plans to bring the City’s first hybrid-electric ferry into service next year. The new vessel, now under construction in Louisiana, will accommodate up to 1,200 passengers and will operate in two modes: zero-emission, battery-only power or battery-assisted hybrid with diesel backup. Even the latter will prevent the emission of some 600 tons of carbon dioxide every 12 months, roughly the amount absorbed by 24,000 mature trees over the same period. Read more...

This open house at Bowne & Co., the 1775 letterpress print shop that is the city’s oldest operating business under the same name, will feature printing equipment that attendees will be invited to use. Advanced registration required. Ages 12 and up. Free.

Improve balance, strength and focus through gentle exercises. Free.

Rachel Galvin reads from her new book of poems, Uterotopia, and Shawn R. Jones reads from her new book of poems, Date of Birth. 

1199 – King Richard I of England dies from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder.

1712 – The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 begins near Broadway.

1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America's first millionaire.

1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.

1909 – Robert Peary and Matthew Henson reach the North Pole.

1930 – At the end of the Salt March, Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.

2022 - Scientists claim to have found dinosaur remains killed on the actual day a giant asteroid struck earth 66 million years ago and began their extinction, in North Dakota

1483 – Raphael, painter, architect (d. 1520)

1773 – James Mill, Scottish historian, economist, philosopher (d. 1836)

1888 – Hans Richter, Swiss painter, illustrator, director (d. 1976)

1903 – Harold Eugene Edgerton, engineer, academic (d. 1990)

1928 – James Watson, biologist, geneticist, zoologist, Nobel Prize laureate

1520 – Raphael, painter, architect (b. 1483)

1528 - Albrecht Dürer, painter, printmaker, dies at 56

1971 – Igor Stravinsky, pianist, composer, conductor (b. 1882)

1992 – Isaac Asimov, science fiction writer (b. 1920)

2010 - Wilma Mankiller, first woman chief of the Cherokee Nation, dies at 64

2015 – Ray Charles, singer-songwriter and conductor (b. 1918)