CB1's FiDi Reps Bypassed on Plans for Massive Event in Their Neighborhood

On May 28, more than 12,000 runners and walkers are expected to participate in the American Heart Association's Wall Street Run and Heart Walk, which traverses parts of Tribeca and Battery Park City, but mostly is routed through closed streets in the Financial District. Photo: American Heart Association

As its name implies, the three-mile American Heart Association Wall Street Run and Heart Walk is mostly routed through the streets of the Financial District. But when it was time for organizers to explain their plans for the massive event next month to Community Board 1—plans that, at staggered times, include closing Church, Liberty, William, Pearl, John and State streets on an early Thursday evening—it was the Battery Park City Committee that they came to see.

Other than a short stretch on Battery Place, the more than 12,000 runners and walkers will travel through Battery Park City along the esplanade and not the streets, ending at the North Cove.

“Obviously you have an impact on our neighborhood,” Anthony Notaro, the chair of the Battery Park City Committee, told three representatives from LeadDog Marketing Group, Inc., the firm that is putting on the May 28 event, which is in its 35th year. “You’re coming through the esplanade. But most of your walk is through the Financial District.”

“Did you share this with the Financial District Committee?” asked board chair Catherine McVay Hughes.

“We haven’t,” responded Diana Sorbera, an account manager at LeadDog Marketing Group. “We came to this meeting last year as it was of concern to this community. This race has been going on for very many years. It was never of concern to other communities.”

Though the committee passed a resolution approving the section of the run within Battery Park City, they requested that the organizers present their plans at the April full board meeting as well as to the May Financial District Committee next month.

Reached by phone for comment after being sent a map of the route, Financial District chair Ro Sheffe expressed some worries.

“The Financial District has been devastated by construction and road repair and we have narrow streets to begin with,” Sheffe said. “There are really only two northbound thoroughfares through the community and one of them is Church Street and one of them is Water Street. So the fact that both of those will be closed is a concern. And then Liberty Street, of course, is one of the main eastbound thoroughfares, and it will be closed.”

In an email, Sorbera said that efforts would be made to mitigate traffic congestion.

“We will continue to work with the NYPD and all city agencies to keep the race as contained and timely as possible,” she wrote. “Our number one priority is safety for our participants and for the people in the community.”

The event begins at 6:45 p.m. at the intersection of Warren and Greenwich streets in Tribeca and ends just before 8:30 p.m. at Battery Park City’s North Cove Marina. Sorbera could not say how traffic will be rerouted during that time, noting that the NYPD makes that determination. A representative from the 1st Precinct did not return a request for comment.

Last year, run organizers appeared before the Battery Park City Committee in both May and June––but, like this year, the board, which is responsible for scheduling the presentations at its committee meetings, did not invite those representatives to speak at the Financial District Committee.

“My recollection is that the organizers worked with our BPC Committee to plan the event last year so that any disturbances would be kept to a minimum,” Noah Pfefferblit, CB1’s district manager, wrote in an email. He said he did not recall any complaints about the run from Financial District residents last year.

Still, McVay Hughes said, Financial District residents need to be notified in a “clear and transparent manner” about the event.

“It makes sense that they provide an update to that committee,” she said, “even if it’s a brief update so that the concerns can be discussed at a committee meeting to try to minimize the impacts on the surrounding area.”

Sheffe said he is certain the Financial District Committee will have suggestions to offer the organizers of the run, but he is less confident that those changes will be made.

“I think we could definitely come up with some alternative routes for them,” Sheffe said. “As to whether or not they could, in that short period of time, get the requisite approvals from the city to alter the route at this point, that could be a lot more problematic.”