Seniors, children and disabled menaced for a decade at local Chinatown "Park"

Click photo to enlarge

A cyclist uses the bronze plaque of the Lin Ze Xu statue. The cobblestone planter was designed and installed by D.O.T.

The cement which was used to smooth over the cobble stone, was put there by vandals in the middle of the night - dressed as construction workers. Smoothing over the cobblestone was done in order for skateboarders to use the planter as a ramp to skate on.

This exemplifies a level of disrespect that is so profound it is beyond words.
click photo to enlarge

A Cyclist using a bronze plaque placed in front of the bronze statue of Commissioner Lin ZeXu - a hero to millions of Chinese. Not only is this disrespectful, this cyclists is oblivious to the danger he poses to pedestrians trying to simply cross the park.
click photo to enlarge

click photo to enlarge

click photo to enlarge

Location: Kimlau Square , a national park.

The Monument to Benjamin Kimlau - War Veteran

"In 1961, a local law named this island within Chatham Square in recognition of the contributions of Lt. Kimlau and the veterans post. That year, the post erected this memorial, designed by architect Poy G. Lee (1900-1968). Standing at the head of Oliver Street, it is reminiscent of a triumphal arch. The memorial stands eighteen feet nine inches in height and is sixteen feet wide. Inscribed on the memorial is a dedication in both English and Chinese: “In Memory of the Americans of Chinese Ancestry who lost their Lives in Defense of Freedom and Democracy.”

What is the bronze plaque for? Commisioner LinZeXu - a hero to the Chinese people

click link below to see VIDEOs

VIDEO OF CHINATOWN BANKS in ACTION

Chatham Green Private property, Foley Square, Chinatown Banks - VIDEO
"Chinatown Banks" as it is known to skateboarders and cyclists (Chatham Square - its official name) continues to be a favorite for bikers and skateboarders, some who travel from outer boroughs just to skate or bicycle on the gently sloping "ramps" stupidly designed and installed by The City Of New York.

NYC from KHYBER on Vimeo.

UPDATE: Community Board 3 has seen the photos in this posting, and are speaking with NYPD, and the Department of Transportation, and The Parks Dept. Community Board 3 will have this issue on their agenda to be heard in January - CCRC will keep you posted.

Chinatown's defacto Skate Park - Thanks Department of Transportation, you've made us less safe.

A skateboarder about to make the leap on what seems to be a newly cemented ramp retrofitted for exactly that purpose. The Parks Department in 1999 laid a sturdy foundation for making jumps in this public park, the skaters took the initiative to "tweak" it a bit by smoothing it out.

In order to let each other know where this "skate park" is located, skateboarders publish the location on websites catering to fellow skateboarders.

Who knows what happens at Chatham Square in the dark of night? Rogue cementing apparently....... if we can only get them to fix all the potholes in Chinatown while they're at it.
Here is a blog post from a tipster, this is from www.bigappleskate.com :

Chinatown Banks is the new hot spot now thanks to Jimmy who dressed up as a construction worker and paved it in the wee hours of the morning! This is a 1:28 clip featuring the skating of Ben Gofayzen, Yaje Popson, Kevin Tierney, Pat Hoblin, and Pedro Claro. Filmed by Ben Gofayzen and Pedro Claro.3/23/07 Would've came out cool if i wasn't filming high on crystal meth in the heat of the summer. : (http://www.bigappleskate.com/backgroundindex.jpg

~Ben

www.curbed.com reports that the non-sanctioned skateboard and bmx bike park under the Brooklyn Bridge is going to be closed due to the renovation of the Brooklyn Bridge. The story originates from the Downtown Express.

NYC(link) CHINATOWN BANKS SKATE "PARK"

">Chinatown already has a problem with skate boarders and bmx bikers using Chatham Square as their own skate park. The planned closure of the Brooklyn Bridge park will surely bring more of these "enthusiasts" three blocks north to Chatham Square and nearby residential properties that have already been plagued by skateboarders leaping off their property at all hours of the day and night.

The owner's of the Everest Diner tell CCRC that they have had to replace the glass door to their diner several times because skaters and skateboards have crashed through it. They explain that there is simply too many of them for the local police to enforce, and the police in fact, have "just stop coming" according to the owners.

The Department of Transportation has, in its infinite "wisdom," created a hazard right in our neighborhood, and done nothing to address this problem. BMX bikes, and skateboards have been around a long long time, surely in 1999 when this "feature" of Chatham Square was implemented, someone should have known this would become an immediate pedestrian hazard. WHO would intentionally design planters with the perfect curvature for skateboarders and bmx bikers? Likely the D.O.T. will blame the Parks people, Parks will blame City Planning, and the blame goes on..... meanwhile for the last ten years Chatham Square is a hazard and not at all the "peaceful sanctuary" envisioned by the city. With this type of activity -- would you allow your grandparents or children walk through or sit without a defensive guard running interference ahead of them?

This woman was nearly hit by this inconsiderate skateboarder, or was she inconsiderate enough to stand in the way of skateboarding at this "pedestrian plaza" designed by the D.O.T. and Parks Department?

The $50 million redesign of Chatham Square which the city tried to ram through the community without sufficient notice or input in late 2008 was fiercely opposed. The Chatham Square redesign as proposed by the NYC Parks Department has remarkably similar low walls, ramps, steps and even a fountain -- perfect for the same skateboard activity and bmx biking as the current design. At a Community Board #3 Parks committee meeting this spring where the Parks Department unveiled their drawings of the intended renovations to Chatham Square, coincidentally about 40 skateboard enthusiasts were crowded into the room. They could be seen snapping pictures of the drawings, and tracing the outlines of ramps with their fingers as if to plan their high speed jumps.

The skateboarder's enthusiasm over the new design, below, for Chatham Square is precisely the reason why it should not be built, and if it is built, it must have features that DETER rather than ATTRACT skateboarders and bmx bikers, both of whom use ramps and steps as jump off points, endangering passersby, and especially our senior population in Chinatown. The Parks department never consulted with the community on what features it would like to have in the park, obviously taking a cue from the D.O.T. in successfully excluding the opinions of the residents, businesses, and people who will be using the park.

In short, Chinatown already has a dangerous illegal skate park, and the best the DOT and Parks Department can do is design another one? Community support - no way!

RECENTLY received:

LEGAL skateboard parks exist in ALL FIVE boroughs according to The Daily News. This is a good argument against rogue skate and BMX bike parks. Sanctioned skateboard parks are good for NYC because they ensure safety for both the skaters and bikers as well as pedestrians who are kept at a safe distance and not forced to share space.

comments posted to DownTown Express Oct 28th 09, letters to the editor:

To The Editor:
I just read the article in the Downtown Express about how the banks are closing. That isn’t a smart move for the city because now skaters and bikers are just going to go to other spots around the city and end up getting in pedestrians’ way and getting kicked out of spots that they aren’t allowed to be. I think the Banks is the one spot in N.Y.C. where skaters/bikers can hang out and ride without getting in trouble or wrecking ledges and benches and getting in people’s ways. Not only that, but the Banks are a historical spot for us. I mean just look at some of the things that happened there.
Joe Karlson

To The Editor:
I concur fully with the opening sentence of the news article on the Brooklyn Banks park (“Don’t let the Banks collapse, skaters say,” news article, October 23 - 29), which states “The Brooklyn Banks is a place with no rules except gravity.” Therein lies the problem for those who live next to it at Southbridge Towers.

There are no curfews, so skaters/bikers remain active well after dark. There is no supervision so some build wooden “jumps” which could be dangerous. The noise of skaters/bikers, because to the proximity of the “jumps” to St. James/Pearl St. is magnified by and echoes through the Brooklyn Bridge arches into the apartments of Southbridge residents. Your ample photos demonstrate the graffiti, and one quote in the article states, quite matter-of-factly, that the park is filthy.

Many skaters on their way to the park elect to travel on sidewalks, posing a danger to everyone, but especially to seniors, who frequently complain to me, thinking that as a member of Southbridge’s board of directors, I can solve this type of problem — I cannot. Worse, the park is actually in Community Board 3, so our local Board 1 had no input in the decision to locate it there.

In short, this type of park would be best in a non-residential area, perhaps on Randall’s Island.
John Ost

Under Bloomberg the City is not as safe as he claims it is. - commissioners and inspectors dropping like flies as the spotlight exposes them.

Mayor Bloomber touts his impeccable record in crime reduction.....but his dubious CrimeStat numbers tell one story, while actual safety issues abound all over the City that have nothing to do with muggings and murders but are just as dangerous.

Under Michael Bloomberg the City of New York has had its streets repaved, reconfigured, and reviewed ad infinitum..... the reason? These are VISIBLE changes that are front and center, easy photo ops in preparation for a third term campaign. Less visible are the MOB connected building inspectors, the corrupt crane inspector, the lack of Con Edison oversight which resulted in the steam pipe explosion and electrocutions from exposed wiring. While the bike lanes and lawn chairs are positioned just so, the party inside the correction center (in view of Police Headquarters) tells a different story. Anyone in Bloomberg's administration keep an eye on their commissioners? Apparently not, perhaps this is why they are dropping like flies..... embarrassing isn't it?

The latest casualty, FDNY Commish Scopetta, steps down in 2010, perhaps fearing the wrath of the investigators who have nailed him in a coverup.

And so it goes........ under Michael Bloomberg we are NOT safer if you are walking or working in the shadow of a building crane or a scaffold. Or if you are biking, driving, or walking on or near the Grand Street bike lane. You're NOT safer these days if you live in a building that somehow got overlooked because the few building inspectors the City employs have been paid off, you're also not safe if you work for Nick Scopetta.

With regard to the Chatham Square reconfiguration plans, the Department of Transportation REFUSES to incorporate ANY pedestrian safety studies or statistical data. The DOT's supporters, most of whom are blind lemmings and transients, support this kind of "fare thee well approach" to neighborhoods, opting to support the D.O.T.'s commish in anything she does without any regard for true pedestrian safety. At the foot of the Manhattan Bridge, considered one of the city traffic hotspots and site of many accidents and fatalities -- nothing has been done to alert drivers that they are entering a heavily residential area.

Let common sense and the long memory of NY'ers prevail, there's something rotten in New Amsterdam, and chances are it's one of Bloomberg's Commissioners..... fire them all. CCRC

________________________________________________________________________________

With 13 people killed in building accidents so far this year and allegations of lax construction oversight, Department of Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster stepped down June 3, 2009

Real estate and political insiders debated whether the embattled agency chief was merely a convenient scapegoat or if the announcement was too little, too late.

"The agency is obviously not what it used to be," said Rudolph Rinaldi, who served as buildings commissioner under Mayor David Dinkins, citing a change in the number of people who make the civil service a career. "If you are not tough enough, everybody in the industry is going to cut corners and take advantage of it."

Lancaster was brought in by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2002 to reform the agency, and her achievements include a major overhaul of the city building code.

But her term paralleled a period of explosive development, with dozens of Bloomberg-spearheaded rezonings creating a secondary skyline of cranes.

Lancaster herself pointed to that boom as a reason for the spike in accidents. - City building commissioner steps down April 22, 2008 By David Freedlander dfreedlander@am-ny.com

And another one bites the dust............

June 3, 2009 - NY Times

The commissioner in charge of New York City’s jails and its probation department said Tuesday night that he would announce his resignation on Wednesday.
The commissioner, Martin F. Horn, said he would not answer questions about why he was stepping down until after the announcement, because “I think that would be unfair to the mayor.” The commissioner is also leaving a month after a suspect in an attempted burglary died while being held at Rikers.
The resignation is the latest high-level departure from the Bloomberg administration, which prides itself on low turnover.


even more under Mike's "watch"

Oct 17, 2009 - NY Daily News.

Three key officials at the Department of Correction resigned Friday, just months after several prisoners held religious parties and a jailed female rapper posed for a magazine photo shoot.
Chief of Department Carolyn Thomas and Frank Squillante, assistant chief of special operations, both turned in their resignations effective Oct. 31, sources said.
George Okada's resignation as warden of the Manhattan detention complex is effective the middle of next month, sources said.
"I'm sincerely happy to see [Thomas] go," said Patrick Ferraiuolo, president of theCorrection Captains' Association. "I don't believe she did a good job. We need a strong leader."
The union leader also expressed enthusiasm for Okada's departure.
"He allowed his deputy wardens to run his jails," Ferraiuolo said.


Partying on our dime.....

NY TIMES by JAMES BARRON

Published: June 15, 2009

A top Correction Department official who is suspected of approving a bar mitzvah at a New York City jail last year has submitted his resignation and told the department he plans to retire, a spokesman for the department said Monday.
The official, Peter Curcio, has been the department’s bureau chief for facility operations, with responsibility for security in all city jails. The spokesman for the department, Stephen Morello, said Chief Curcio was promoted to that job a month before the bar mitzvah in the gymnasium at the Manhattan Detention Complex, on White Street in Lower Manhattan. Some 60 guests attended.
Mr. Morello would not comment on whether Chief Curcio was offered a choice of resigning or dismissal. Chief Curcio was one of three bureau chiefs in the department’s uniformed service but within the department was considered first among equals. He earned $162,000 a year.
Mr. Morello said Chief Curcio “failed to report the situation” about the bar mitzvah “to his supervisors at the time.”

DOB Inspectors Arrested on Bribery Charges, Mob Connections

• 10/2/09 at 10:31 AM
• 1Comment

It’s no wonder opening a restaurant in New York is such a flustercluck. First there was news, back in April, that the State Liquor Authority was taking bribes, and now it turns out that Department of Buildings employees have been doing the same. That’s not exactly shocking (we’ve long wondered how “expediters” work their magic to get their clients Certificates of Occupancy that might otherwise take months), but the kicker is: The DOB was all mobbed up! The Times reports that a two-year-old investigation into the Luchese family’s connections with illegal gambling has led to the arrest of 27 people, six of whom are DOB employees suspected of bribery. Three of the building inspectors are Luchese family associates who also dealt in gambling, drug trafficking, extortion, and loan sharking. Good times!

Mob Infiltration Is Seen in New York City Agency [NYT]

A lack of hard data is the status quo for D.O.T. - we're unapologetic for not feeling warm and fuzzy over your lawn chairs on Broadway

Daily News:
Broadway tap dance: City Hall has yet to produce data behind Times Square traffic plan

Sunday, May 31st 2009, 6:26 PM


This much we know for sure about the Bloomberg administration's grand experiment to speed traffic by closing Broadway at Times and Herald squares: People who like to sit on beach chairs are thrilled.

All else is unknown, except that cabbies and delivery truck drivers are griping. But hack attacks and trucker truculence are hardly gold standards for judging travel times.

So we again pose the question to Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, whose brainchild the closure is: Will you please explain the scientific method by which you will determine success and failure?

If she has such a method. We've grown skeptical on that point because the yardsticks, while seemingly very basic, have not been forthcoming.

Not that we're traffic engineers, but we would compare vehicular loads and speeds on all the avenues from Fifth Ave. to the Hudson before the closures and after the closures. And we would do the same for all the crosstown streets that could possibly be affected.

Again, that would be loads and speeds before compared with loads and speeds after. How hard could it be to publish those numbers? Not hard at all.

So let's have them.

CB3 Chatham Square resolutions 1,2 and 3

Community Board One - REJECTS the DOT's Chatham Square Reconstruction Plan

On Dec.9th 08, Community Board One's Seaport / civic center committee voted to REJECT the DOT's plan for Chatham Square's reconstruction.
DOWNTOWN EXPRESS NEWSPAPER's Julie Shapiro Article :


Board backs Chinatown’s opposition to Chatham Square plan

By Julie Shapiro

Before Community Board 1 could decide what they thought about the proposed Chatham Square redesign, they had to make a more fundamental decision — whether to let the Department of Transportation even present the plan.

Paul Hovitz, a C.B. 1 member, said the plan sounded like a fait accompli.

“If that’s the case,” added John Fratta, chairperson of the Seaport/Civic Center Committee, “we don’t need a presentation. We’re sick and tired of the D.O.T. ramming plans down our throat and the hell with the community.”

After continuing in this vein for about 15 minutes, the committee ultimately decided to listen to the presentation. They then unanimously disapproved the plan.

The city wants to spend $50 million to reconfigure Chatham Square, a congested seven-way intersection. The plan would align St. James Pl. with the Bowery and Worth St. with E. Broadway, effectively cutting Park Row out of the intersection. Park Row was closed after 9/11 to protect One Police Plaza, and the new plan assumes that it will remain closed long-term.

Fratta mentioned the uniformly negative response the project received at a public forum in Chinatown last week as a main reason for opposing the plan. He is particularly concerned that the city is turning part of Park Row into a park and promenade, which he sees as “just a way to dress up keeping Park Row closed. It screams to the community, ‘We’re keeping Park Row closed whether you like it or not.’”

Hovitz questioned whether it even makes sense to turn Park Row into a park if it is supposedly a dangerous area. “You’re inviting people to picnic and hang out in a minefield that is a potential attack zone,” he said incredulously.

Jeanie Chin, from the Civic Center Residents Coalition, pointed out that Park Row is still open to buses, and under the new plan, buses traveling from the Bowery to Park Row will have to make two additional turns at traffic lights.

“That will jam up the traffic as the buses turn,” Chin said, adding that it is very hard for the new double-length buses to make turns. “It makes no sense.”

Josh Kraus, who works for the D.O.T. Lower Manhattan borough commissioner’s office, said only 10 to 20 buses per hour would be slowed down, while many more vehicles moving through the square would be speeded up.

Joe Lerner, a committee member, said the D.O.T. removed an M-21 bus stop at Frankfort and Pearl Sts., saying the double-length bus could not make a left turn. It is inconsistent for the city to now say a double-length bus can easily turn left onto Park Row, he said.

Community board members also criticized the city for not doing enough community outreach. Seth Myers, from the mayor’s office, countered that the city has been speaking to the community since 2004. After some back-and-forth on that fact with Chinatown residents in the audience, State Sen.-elect Daniel Squadron stepped in.

He diplomatically praised the D.O.T. and the city for doing community outreach at higher levels than in the past, but he also said the outreach “needs to be ramped up now.”

Squadron added that any plan that makes the Park Row closure permanent is unacceptable.

The committee initially wanted to pass a resolution encouraging the city to hold off on the project until they do more community outreach. But since Myers said the city was planning to put the current plan out to bid early next year, the committee decided to take a stronger stance and oppose the project.

During the presentation, Myers tried to highlight the city’s flexibility on some landscaping details. The plan for the Park Row promenade is to install cherry trees, but if people want other kinds of trees, the city is open to listening, Myers said.

Ann DeFalco, a committee member, shook her head. “That’s the least of our worries,” she said.


Julie@DowntownExpress.com

Maps showing the proposed redesign of Chatham Square

Click the image to ENLARGE.


Above is a diagram showing one map laid over another to show the distinction between what Chatham Square looks like currently, and what the City's proposal is for the reconstruction.
November 26th is the FIRST time that this reconstruction plan has been made available to the public, despite Josh Kraus's (Dept. of Transportation) statement in DowntownExpress this week that " we've had an ad-hoc plan since 2001". Sure, CB3 and DOT will tell you that "groups in the community have seen the plan" but that does nothing if there has never been any way to view the proposals until November 26th 08.

The only reason why the information is NOW available on line is because several outraged business people demanded it at a presentation hosted at Lin Sing Assoc. on Mott St. on Nov. 25th. Surprisingly DOT claimed at the Lin Sing meeting that "CB3 has had the plans , we don't know why they are not on their website, we apologize on behalf of CB3, even though it is not our place to do so". In less than 24 hours the plans were on the CB3 website AND the DOT website.
If it was that easy to do, then why was the information held from the community?

The LIGHT yellow paths on the map show the current configuration, while the darker ORANGE paths show the proposed plan.
Please comment on this plan.