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Police cars parked along Varick Street between Ericsson Place and North Moore Street, particularly those that are parked near the northwest corner of the street, are causing a blind spot for pedestrians as they cross the street, according to 25 N. Moore resident Michael Marra, who appeared before the Jan. 11 Community Board 1 Tribeca Committee to voice his concerns. Some of the cars, Marra said, are illegally double parked in front of fire hydrants and even cross the boundaries of the Varick Street pedestrian crosswalks.
The situation has gotten so bad, Marra said, that he has seen the MTA M20 bus resort to unloading passangers in the middle of Varick Street rather than at the nearby bus stop.
“From a community perspective, the unwise choice to put the Command Center in a residential neighborhood is clear – police cruisers, the civilian cars of officers, and the small interceptor vehicles are too numerous to physically fit in the neighborhood,” said Marra.
Short of the NYPD finding a local parking lot to park their vehicles in, Marra said, “I think we have the right to expect that at least those officers who park personal or official vehicles in the neighborhood will stay will stay away from hydrants, not park in places that cause visibility or other traffic dangers to pedestrians, and keep sidewalks open.”
A police van routinely parked in the crosswalk makes the turn especially dangerous, according to Marra, who frets about the safety of his two young children.
“We taught the kids to walk against the North Moore pedestrian light, because it’s way more dangerous to cross when you have the light with cars making a turn from Varick Street,” said Marra.
“It’s really hard to get visibility on that corner, and cars are making sharp turns [onto North Moore Street] at relatively high speeds,” echoed Allen Murabayashi, president of the board at 25 N. Moore St. “It’s just an unsafe atmsophere for what really is a family-oriented block.”
Signage is in place to remind cops of the parking regulations, and the Police Department would take internal disciplinary action ranging from verbal warnings to summonses to the towing of vehicles if the rules are violated, according to Sergeant George Giga. Varick Street is especially packed with parked cars these days because the space is shared between the Command Center, the First Precinct and Transit District Two, he noted.
“Within the Police Department, there’s a big ‘no-no’ to park vehicles in crosswalks or hydrants, unless it’s an emergency,” said Giga.
The C.B. 1 Tribeca Committee is drafting a resolution requesting that the Command Center and the NYPD take additional enforcement steps to address the parking issue. “The volume [of cars] doesn’t work in our neighborhood, so we’re formally requesting that the NYPD take more action on this and try to improve it,” said Committee Chair Peter Braus.
A dangerous intersection isn’t the only problem that came with the Command Center’s creation last year; a stairwell the Command Center constructed last summer has also caused concern.
The stairs’ installation, which required the partial demolition of a brick wall inside the landmarked First Precinct building, is scheduled for review by the city Landmarks Preservation Commission at a Feb. 7 hearing, according to L.P.C. Spokesperson Lisi de Bourbon. The three-story building, constructed in the early 1900s, is landmarked for its neo-Renaissance design, according to data provided by the L.P.C.
“A permit was required prior to the installation of the staircase,” said de Bourbon, “but we issued no violations or warning letters because the Police Department submitted an application for a review of the work after we contacted them.”
Light and noise emanating from the stairwell was disturbing residents that live in the adjacent building at 27 N. Moore St., prompting complaints to the Police Department in the fall. The Police Department made an effort to resolve the problem in early December, when the Command Center removed half of the stairwells’ light bulbs and painted the sides of the remaning light fixtures black, according to Giga. Residents of 27 N. Moore St. couldn’t be reached for comment.
“Neither [tactic] was satisfactory, so they put up a wall,” said Giga. “I was in one of the [adjacent] apartments, so I definitely understood their grief.”
The Command Center, which deploys more than 200 police officers to monitor possible terrorism activity in and around the W.T.C. site, is still slated to move to 4 W.T.C. in approximately two years.
