Community Speaks Out About Rector Street Bridge
By Andrea Appleton
“They’re building apartment buildings with green spaces on the top and we’re taking green spaces away on the ground,” said resident Jean Silliman at a recent meeting of Community Board 1’s Battery Park City (BPC) Committee. Silliman was one of nearly 50 residents who came to the meeting to discuss the fate of the Rector Street bridge. The bridge was built after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 to serve as a temporary passage over West Street, until a more permanent bridge location could be found. Its footing and ramp intersect an area planned for recreational space as part of the Route 9A redevelopment. But the committee learned last month that the two basketball courts and over 50 community garden plots slated for the space would have to wait. The state DOT had decided to revamp the ‘temporary’ bridge to last another decade, in lieu of taking it down. No permanent bridge location has been found, partly because of difficulties finding a landing spot on the highway’s east side. The board decided to invite the community to the next meeting before taking a stance on the situation. And, indeed, the community came. They filled every seat, leaned against windows and crowded the aisles. Raucous chatter filled the room. A row of children held up hand-made signs with drawings of trees and entreaties to: “Save Our Park!” When the room had settled, Leticia Remauro,BPC Authority’s vice president for community and press relations, gave a short history of the bridge. Then she added an addendum that appeared to resolve the issue of the evening at one fell swoop: “We worked with our consultant and we understand that we can get all of these amenities in as a temporary situation, even with the bridge. So you get the best of both worlds,” she said. “You’re able to cross safely and have your basketball courts and the community gardens.” Remauro noted that the configuration of courts and gardens would be slightly different from the permanent plan. When the ‘temporary’ bridge eventually does come down, the area underneath would be redeveloped according to the original design. That solution was quickly lost in a discussion about other impacts brought about by the planned Route 9A (West Street) reconstruction. The community had the ear of transportation officials, and they weren’t about to let go. “Everybody’s talking about balance and compromise and how wonderful it is, but the dogs always seem to get the short end of the stick,” said Paula Galloway, of the BPC Dog Association, to loud applause. The dimensions of the proposed dog runs (one for small dogs and one for large) have shifted several times during planning. “What happened to the tennis courts?” asked John Jones, a long-time Tribeca resident who helped found the tennis court in Washington Market Park. “Did they lose out to basketball?” (They did, in earlier stages of planning.) Mark Costello, president of Downtown Little League, proposed reducing several tree barriers along a lawn used for kid’s sports, to gain a few feet. The design currently calls for shrinking the lawn by some 10 feet. Finally, the discussion came back around to the bridge itself. Remauro clarified the Authority’s position. “The bridge is in the construction document,” she said, “and in order for it not to remain, we’d have to take a position that public safety is not at risk by taking this bridge down.” Remauro cited a study by traffic consultant Sam Schwartz. He concluded that nearly 7,000 people use the Rector Street bridge a day. Murmurs of disbelief went up around the room. “Come on people, we have to compromise,” responded public member Maria Smith. “I don’t know what’s more important than being able to cross this horrible highway.” But two and a half hours had passed and the bridge’s fate still was not resolved, so the matter was tabled. At next month’s committee meeting, the BPC Authority and transportation officials will appear again, this time with detailed plans of the temporary courts and gardens.
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