The Harlem Neighborhood Block Association

Neighbors united to improve the quality of life in Harlem

Tag: Transportation Alternatives

Smart Compost Bins Spotted in Harlem

Posted on by Harlem Shill

The Adams administration announced the placement of 250 new “smart” composting bins. The sealed bins will be on publicly accessible streets and opened via a smartphone app.

The city has completed a small-scale pilot of these bins that began in late 2021, proving them to be a popular and effective way to keep compostable material out of landfills. The new bins will be placed in communities in all five boroughs, with a special emphasis on areas in Manhattan above 125th Street, the South Bronx, the North Shore of Staten Island, and Central Brooklyn.

At the moment of writing this post, the NYC Sanitation site had not been updated to show Harlem locations:

https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/site/services/food-scraps-and-yard-waste-page/nyc-food-scrap-drop-off-locations

but check it out to see if they’ve updated the outdated information that the Smart Compost Bins are only in Astoria and Lower Manhattan. The bin below and at the top of this item, is at the corner of East 130th and 5th Avenue:

A Deadly 2022 For Children

More children were killed last year by drivers in New York City than any year since the launch of the street safety initiative Vision Zero in 2014, according to a new analysis by the group Transportation Alternatives.

The report found that 16 people under the age of 18 were killed in 2022 by drivers, which is double the number of kids killed by drivers in 2018 or 2020.

Last year’s total pedestrian death toll also marked a 24% increase from 2018, when 202 people were killed by drivers. That was the lowest number of deaths since Vision Zero launched with the goal of reducing traffic deaths to zero.

“As we near the 10-year mark of Vision Zero, it’s clear we haven’t moved fast enough to address this crisis,” said Danny Harris, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives.

The report noted that East Harlem and the Bronx saw the most crashes, with 6.2 crashes per 100,000 residents. Next was the City Council district covering the East Bronx, as well as the district covering Fort Greene, Crown Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant.

Advocates urged the city to recommit to goals signed into law in the 2019 Streets Plan, which requires the construction of 250 miles of protected bike and lanes and 150 miles of dedicated bus lanes over a five-year period. The Adams administration is not on pace to meet those goals.

— Reporting by Stephen Nessen

Playstreets: Summer of 1968

Posted on by Harlem Shill

The city’s Parks Department opened a new photography exhibition at Central Park’s Arsenal Gallery that displays more than 40 archived photographs from the department’s collection. Called “Streets In Play: Katrina Thomas, NYC Summer 1968,” the exhibit features images taken by the late photographer Katrina Thomas, who in 1968 was hired by NYC Mayor John Lindsay and tasked with capturing the city’s summer initiative, “Playstreets,” in which residential blocks were closed to vehicles and instead equipped for recreational activity.

The Arsenal Gallery is located on the third floor of NYC Park’s Central Park headquarters at Fifth Avenue and 64th Street. The hours are Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Admission to the exhibition is free, and more information on the gallery can be found on the department’s website. “Streets in Play” will be on display through September 2.

Tree In The Middle

This is the only tree I know of in Harlem that has grown in the middle of a sidewalk.

Safe, Family Bicycle Ride from Harlem to Astor Place

Join Transportation Alternatives for a bicycle ride along the newly-extended route for NYC DOT’s Summer Streets! For the first time in city history, the DOT will be extending Summer Streets Uptown into East Harlem.

To celebrate, we will be hosting a ride that starts in Harlem at the State Building, travel along Adam Clayton Powell and then heads east on 110th Street toward Park Avenue. We will then ride Park Avenue all the way down to Astor Place where TA will have free bike valet so we can all hang out and build together.

Along the route, we plan to highlight various campaigns our TABxUP and TAMAC activist committees are currently working on (Central Harlem Bikeway, Bike Crosstown and Fifth Avenue). We hope you can all join us!

This free, family-friendly event will start at 9 a.m. on August 13 by the ACP State Office building. We’ll meet at the Citi Bike station, near the corner of W 125th St & Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd, and depart at 9:15 a.m. for a 90-minute ride down Summer Streets to Astor Place.

Please make to register and share with your friends!

RSVP HERE

*The course map will be emailed to attendees the week of the event.*

125th Street Redesign

Posted on by Harlem Shill

Transportation Alternatives is floating an idea on how to address the endemic double parking on 125th Street that effectively blocks bus traffic, forcing busses to veer into traffic lanes, causing more congestion and slowdowns.

The proposal is to take the bus lanes which are located on the edges of the street, and instead put them in the center of the road.

Bus lanes ensure that disproportionately low-income and BIPOC bus riders aren’t stuck in the traffic created by private vehicles. They propose the city install center-running bus lanes to minimize double parking and delays by private vehicles, and allow for a cycle track.

They also propose more greenery to combat high pollution and asthma in our community. In times of extreme weather, trees increase a city’s resiliency. During summer heat, their shade can lower surface temperatures by up to 20°C, and during heavy rain, a single street tree can reduce runoff by around 60 percent. Throughout the year, they also clean the air: one tree can remove 26 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually.

Lastly, parking spaces for bicycles along 125th street can combine waste receptacles as well as secure bike parking. Moving trash from piles on the sidewalk to sturdy containers in the street will increase pedestrian space, ease the work of sanitation workers, and reduce rat populations while creating secure bike parking will expand access and reduce maintenance costs for bike owners.

To see an interactive version of the plan:

https://platform.remix.com/streets/plan/0748e39f/scenario/49358c0d?latlng=40.80813,-73.94615,17.77,p0,b29.12

To see the comments made by Harlem residents on the plan/idea, see:

https://platform.remix.com/streets/plan/7fadc9d4/scenario/f0532c2c?latlng=40.80543,-73.93876,15.803,p0,b28.6&public=true

Meanwhile, Kristin Richardson Jordan is quoted by Patch.com as saying:

she supported measures to reduce congestion on 125th Street, pointing to her campaign materials calling for “a solution that helps move people, busses, taxis, and bicycles faster and safer.”