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The pedestrian plaza adjacent to Bogardus Gardens, dubbed Bogardus Plaza, on Hudson Street between Chambers and Reade Streets, was a typical one-lane street with curbside parking until mid-2010, when the city transformed it into a temporary public seating area at the onset of the Chambers Street reconstruction project.
The city’s plan was to reopen the street to vehicular traffic once street construction on the southern end of the plaza was completed in summer 2012.
But now, halfway into the three-year street project, the plaza’s mastermind and operator, “Friends of Bogardus Garden,” (F.B.G.) is petitioning the city Department of Transportation to permanently close the street so that the plaza may be retained and enhanced.
Bogardus Plaza is an essential asset to the community, as there isn’t a comparable public space with tables and chairs in the immediate vicinity, according to F.B.G. President Tory Weill.
“It’s sort of an epicenter of activity in Tribeca,” said Weill. “People stop there on their way to somewhere else.”
Weill along with other F.B.G. members have garnered the support of more than 300 local residents and 25 local businesses to make the plaza permanent. And, as of last week, they received near-unanimous backing of Community Board 1’s Tribeca Committee, which voted 9-1 in favor of keeping the public space as is.
“We’re filling a need in the community,” said Weill. “We have [petition] signatures from businesses, residents — people who really count — saying they want this space.”
The D.O.T. seems on board with the idea as well. Spokesperson Scott Gastel said the agency is “seriously” assessing F.B.G.’s request to permanently close the portion of Hudson Street.
According to a D.O.T. study conducted in summer 2010, only 114 vehicles per hour drove through the area that is now the plaza.
Gastel also said the D.O.T. is considering supplying the plaza with additional tables and chairs in the springtime, having already invested $11,000 in the space thus far. F.B.G. is also soliciting outside funds for a clock tower, WiFi service and community programming for the plaza.
“I’m a huge fan,” said 90 West Street resident Scott Lawin, who frequents the plaza on weekends with his wife and toddler in the summertime. “The more we can do to create open space for neighborhood residents, the better.”
When it was open to traffic, the busy Hudson and Chambers Street intersection was a danger zone for pedestrians, Lawin noted, adding, “I almost got hit a few times before the plaza was there.”
“It’s a nice place,” echoed Christopher Blumlo, managing partner of Marc Forgione restaurant, at 134 Reade St. “I grab a coffee there to sit down and take a breather once or twice a week.”
Alan Solman, owner of Kings Pharmacy at 5 Hudson St., said profits at his store have risen by five-to-ten percent thanks to plaza users who pop in to purchase beverages and snacks. The plaza is a pleasant sight for passersby, compared to a bustling street backed up with cars, Solman added.
“When you walk by, you see four or five students sitting around, enjoying themselves,” said Solman. “It has a calming effect.”
Other community members, however, are calling for the plaza’s closure, contending that the northbound street is a vital thoroughfare for cars traveling along Hudson Street.
Timmy Acapella, general manager of Acappella Restaurant, a Northern Italian restaurant at 1 Hudson St., attributed a 15-to-20 percent drop in business since the plaza opened last year to the difficulty the blocked-off space causes his customers who are dropped off by cars. “[The plaza] serves its purposes for six months out of the year,” said Acapella, “but for us, it’s a problem.”
“The city must take into consideration the effects it has on the people that work in the neighborhood.”
Marc Ameruso, the only Tribeca Committee member who voted against the C.B. 1 resolution, deems the plaza an “assault on traffic flow.”
“For the community board to vote on closing the street without really doing any study is irresponsible,” said Ameruso. “The street shouldn’t be permanently closed until the Chambers Street construction is completed and Chambers Street becomes a two-way street again, to allow us to determine whether or not this [plaza] will cause issues in the rest of Tribeca.”
Tribeca committee member and Duane Street resident Allan Tannenbaum also has reservations about a permanent closure of the street, but ultimately voted in favor of the C.B. 1 resolution.
“A lot of traffic that would normally turn off of Chambers to go up Hudson Street, is now forced to turn onto Church Street, and it creates a bottleneck there,” said Tannenbaum. “But we’ll have to keep on being inconvenienced for the greater good of the community.”
