Category Archives: Neighborhood

Liquor Store Update

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Following up on our prior post about the State Liquor Authority denying Seward Park Liquors’ request to move their license to Ludlow Street, we have confirmed that there was in fact an outstanding violation for selling to minors.  That violation appears to have been resolved on January 28, when Seward Park Liquors paid a $6,500 fine (see page 63 of this document).

According the SLA’s website, on January 24 both VinFamily (the would-be new liquor store) resubmitted their application for a new license at 393 Grand, and Seward Park Liquors resubmitted their “removal” (i.e. new location) application.  Both applications are scheduled to be reviewed by the full SLA board on April 4.

Seward Park Liquors denied license at new location

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Former SPC commercial tenant Seward Park Liquors will not be re-opening on Ludlow Street any time soon.

After our Board decided not to renew their long-time lease at 393 Grand Street, Seward Park Liquors announced they would relocate to Ludlow Street this month.  But the NY State Liquor Authority website now says that a “disapproval letter” was issued on January 8, 2018, with respect to the store’s application to move their license to the new location.

Our sources tell us that the disapproval was related to recent violations for selling to minors.  Those same violations supposedly caused the SLA to deny a license to the would-be replacement tenant for the 393 Grand storefront last fall.  We understand the new tenant is appealing the decision.

Will blocking bridge access from Clinton help traffic?

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Currently there is a petition circulating asking the DOT to close the Clinton Street access to the Williamsburg Bridge, in an attempt to address the odious traffic problems.

In 2012, in response to the killing of a middle school student trying to cross Delancey at Clinton, the DOT made a bunch of changes to improve pedestrian safety on Delancey, including narrowing the distance needed to cross and extending the time available to cross.  They also banned left turns from southbound Essex to eastbound Delancey (forcing southbound cars to go down to Broome and over to Norfolk before turning onto Delancey), and they reopened the Clinton Street access to the bridge, which had been closed for many years.  The rationale given in DOT presentations for reopening Clinton was that it would reduce speeding and red-light running on Delancey, since previously cars waiting at the light at Norfolk would have a vehicle-free path ahead of them inviting them to gun it when the light turned green.

Those changes happened around the same time as a bunch of other things, including:

  • Unending construction on Houston,
  • Grand changing from 2 car lanes each way to 1 car lane and 1 bike lane each way, and getting traffic-calming medians
  • Clinton below Grand having its traffic lanes narrowed and bike lanes added
  • Tolls going up (in 2009, 2013, and 2017) on the tolled crossings

As soon as Clinton was reopened, traffic started backing up on Grand, sometimes even on the FDR.

In 2013-2014 the DOT tried to address the backups.  They made the green light at Clinton and Delancey longer so more cars could turn onto the bridge with each light.  They added back the second westbound car lane on Grand so that cars that didn’t want to turn onto the bridge at Clinton could bypass the cars that did want to turn.  They added signs on the southbound FDR indicating that Houston was an alternate route to the Williamsburg Bridge.  And those things DEFINITELY helped.

But in the last year or so traffic has gotten worse again.  I am not sure why, but suspect Essex Crossing construction has made traffic flow a little slower, and the March 2017 toll increase may have pushed a few more cars toward the free crossings.

It’s possible that closing the Clinton approach would help, as it would stretch the Grand Street traffic out a couple more blocks, and Norfolk still has two northbound lanes (when they’re not blocked by Essex Crossing construction) that allow a higher volume of cars to turn onto Delancey with each light vs. Clinton.  But I am skeptical, as I think it will primarily move the problem to Norfolk and reintroduce some of the speeding on Delancey.  It will also become dangerous to cross Grand on the west side of Clinton, as there will be many more cars turning left onto Grand from northbound Clinton to try to get to the bridge.

My view is that tolling the bridge is the only real solution.  With the MTA moving all their tolled crossings to cashless tolling, there are no real technical hurdles to doing that, but there are big political ones.  So stopgaps might include further improving the signage that tells drivers they can use Clinton orNorfolk to access the bridge (almost nobody uses Norfolk, even though at peak times it’s probably faster to bypass all the traffic in the right lane on Grand and just go to Norfolk), and adding traffic cops along Grand at peak times with a mandate to strictlyenforce red lights, turning from the wrong lane, driving in the bike lane, honking, etc.

Fortunately, the Community Board is focused on the issue and the DOT is currently studying it.  Only time will tell whether they will come up with a good solution or not.

Renaming Samuel Dickstein Plaza? Let’s call it Pitt Street

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Following is a slightly revised version of a letter the Seward Spark’s publisher sent to CB3 Transportation Chair (and SPC shareholder) Karen Blatt in 2014, in reference to a petition to rename Samuel Dickstein Plaza for Lilian Wald instead of Samuel Dickstein.   We are reposting this letter now in light of renewed publicity given to the Lilian Wald petition.

Dear Ms. Blatt,

I write regarding efforts to rename Samuel Dickstein Plaza and to request that whatever it be named, that “Pitt Street” be included in the official name and signage. As a resident of 264-266-268 East Broadway, which is located at the tangled confluence of Grand Street, Pitt Street, East Broadway and Montgomery Street, I am often frustrated trying to explain my building’s location to visitors and delivery people. Having a fifth street name involved (Samuel Dickstein Plaza) does not help. And if the two blocks of Samuel Dickstein Plaza were renamed to something entirely different, it would only compound the problem.

Site Plan from “The Story of Seward Park” by Abraham Kazan (1961)

Samuel Dickstein Plaza was constructed in the early 1960s (amid the urban renewal that redrew the neighborhood’s map) as an extension of Pitt Street below Grand. The original site plans for the Seward Park Cooperative show it as Pitt Street, and many maps today still show Pitt extending below Grand. This is logical since the street is a direct, colinear extension of Pitt from Grand to the intersection of Henry and Montgomery. Yet when the extension was officially named by the city in 1963, it was named exclusively Samuel Dickstein Plaza. Today, all the street signs between Grand and Henry say Samuel Dickstein Plaza (not Pitt).

Other streets in the neighborhood that carry honorary names (like Abraham Kazan Street and Bialystoker Place) still retain their historical names and corresponding signage (like Columbia and Willett).  In the case of Bialystoker/Willett, a portion of Willett was renamed exclusively Bialystoker Place in 1979, but to alleviate confusion the city backed off and in 1987 renamed the street again to be co-named Bialystoker Place/Willett Street.

I realize that it may not be possible to simply rename Samuel Dickstein Plaza to Pitt Street, since the building numbering on Pitt Street starts at Grand Street and runs north (1 Pitt Street, if it still existed, would be on the northwest corner of Grand and Pitt). But it would still ease navigation if Samuel Dickstein Plaza could be named Pitt Street South (like Park Avenue South, south of 1 Park Avenue at 32nd Street) or Pitt Street Extension (like Flatbush Avenue Extension, north of 1 Flatbush Avenue at Fulton Street) or something similar. And it would be perfectly fine with me to co-name the street in honor of Lilian Wald or even leave it co-named for Congressman Dickstein (treason notwithstanding). But including the phrase “Pitt Street” in the name and the signage to help people find their way around a complicated corner of Manhattan seems far more important than choosing which other dead person should join William Pitt, the First Earl of Chatham, in his cartographic glory.

Please include the phrase “Pitt Street” in any future name for Samuel Dickstein Plaza.