CB1 Opposes Proposed Kiosk for Food Delivery Workers Next to City Hall Park

Rendering of the proposed kiosk for food delivery workers on the sidewalk outside City Hall Park, which is part of the City Hall Park historic district. Credit: Fantastico

A kiosk that would provide battery charging and other services to Lower Manhattan’s legion of food delivery workers is a worthy need but wrong for the proposed site outside City Hall Park, Community Board 1 said in an advisory vote late last month.

The city’s Parks Department, in collaboration with the Brooklyn-based Workers Justice Project and Los Deliveristas Unidos, wants to install a kiosk for e-bike-riding workers, also known as deliveristas, on the Broadway-facing sidewalk between Murray Street and Park Place, the site of what is now a vacant newsstand. Paid for with $1 million in federal capital funds through Sen. Charles Schumer’s office, the pilot project—said to be the first in the country and one of two proposed for the city—would offer nearly 50 battery charging stations, a bike repair facility and a place for workers to take a break.

It would be located within the landmarked perimeter of City Hall Park.

Due to go for approval before the Landmarks Preservation Commission on April 16, the landmarks appropriateness of the kiosk was first reviewed last month by CB1, which voted 26-10 to reject it for reasons both practical and aesthetic.

David Cerron, a Parks Department assistant commissioner, told the board that the kiosk is needed because delivery workers do not have dedicated places to receive those services, “or maybe just sit down and take a rest for a few minutes.” He maintained that the site is ideal because it is central to delivery routes, already has electrical hookups, and would replace a non-historic structure built around 1980.

“Our delivery workers have spoken loud and clear in support of this hub, and we hope that you will support it, too,” Cerron told the board. “It’s critical for us as a city, not to just say we support the delivery workers, but to follow through in that support by providing this essential infrastructure that is going to benefit them and benefit New Yorkers.”

But in its resolution, CB1 said it opposed the structure in that location because, among other reasons, it would not have direct access to a bike lane and force the workers to ride on the sidewalk or against traffic on Broadway. In addition, the board said, the larger building, designed by the Brooklyn-based firm Fantástico, would be an additional obstruction to pedestrian traffic and limit the protests that take place in that area. As for its appearance, the board said the proposed “new contemporary building design does not complement the existing 19th-century historic-style fencing and subway entrances” around City Hall Park.

The current vacant kiosk, which would be demolished, was designed to fit in architecturally with City Hall Park and was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. “Why wouldn’t you just adaptively reuse [the building]?” asked CB1 co-chair Alice Blank. “I would want more information on that,” she added, “before we jump into tearing something down and building something new.”

Two years ago, Schumer and Mayor Eric Adams stood next to the news kiosk to announce that it would be repurposed as a hub for delivery workers. “We’re going to take underutilized public space on our streets like this newsstand right behind us…and use it for delivery workers,” Schumer said proudly. 

Cerron told CB1 that the city changed its mind about preserving the building because “given the conditions of the structure and the budget that was generously granted from Senator Schumer’s office, we felt a more efficient way to provide these services was to have a new building that’s prefabricated and brought on site with a very similar footprint.” (The new building, 21 feet long and 14 feet wide, would be about one-third larger than the current structure.)

April Bovet Krishnan, board president of the City Hall Park Conservancy, told CB1 that the group supports the hub but suggested that “a more suitable location be considered,” especially one that would allow for the addition of a restroom.

CB1 opponents also argued that there are better locations for the hub, a leading one being the site of two vacant kiosks on the north plaza of 1 Centre Street where the board had already approved a proposed toilet facility—and a public toilet is available in the building.

“So you can have the benefit of everything,” CB1 Chair Tammy Meltzer said. “It’s on the bike path in the proper direction. It has access to bathrooms if they need them, and washrooms. It could be built with charging stations. And you’re not limited to the seating within that one structure on a pedestrian right of way.”

A Parks Department spokeswoman referred questions about the alternate location to the Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the space. (The DOT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) The Parks spokeswoman declined to comment on the Community Board 1 resolution. “We’re proud to be part of a creative, first-of-its-kind effort to support app-based delivery workers with a safe and supportive workplace, using our public spaces in a new and innovative way,” the agency said in a statement.

Gabriel Montero, a spokesman for the Workers Justice Project, also declined to comment on CB1’s rejection of the hub next to City Hall Park. “We are committed to working with communities throughout the entire development process to understand their concerns so that we can build this first-of-its-kind station,” Montero said in a statement. “Infrastructure development of this kind is a collective effort that requires feedback from everyone involved, and we look forward to strategically and thoughtfully working together to prioritize and meet the needs of the community.”

The hub is part of a city initiative to support delivery workers, a force that has grown to some 65,000 since e-bikes became legal in 2020. On April 1, the workers received the first of two staggered pay raises that, by next April, will mean a minimum wage, exclusive of tips, of nearly $20 an hour.