The Story of One Tribeca Bench, and How It Cured a Political Cynic

The bench at the bus stop at Warren and Greenwich streets is a welcome addition not only for bus riders but for people who just need to take a load off their feet. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

While leafleting outside Independence Plaza last fall, two members of the Downtown Independent Democrats tried to give a flyer to Lee Katcher, 74, a Tribeca resident of nearly 50 years. She refused to take it, citing her frustration with the entire political system.

“She said the only thing she really needed help with was bringing back a bunch of benches in the neighborhood that had been removed over the past several years,” recalled Sommer Omar, who had been passing out the flyers with Richard Corman, the club’s president. If she couldn’t get help with this, Omar said Katcher told her, “why should she keep voting for people who aren’t going to help her out?”

Katcher, it turns out, had been fighting for more than a decade to re-install three benches near Warren and Greenwich Streets following her hip replacement in 2015. “I started calling my community board and they told me I had to call 311. I called 311 and they said I had to talk to the Department of Transportation.” The borough president’s and mayor’s offices also redirected her, fruitlessly, to the Department of Transportation.

“This went on for years,” Katcher said.

But it was a fight that, in the end, paid off. This is the story of how one woman’s persistence, aided by Omar and a dose of political activism, finally led to the three-seater now at the corner of Warren and Greenwich Streets—with hopes of adding the other two.

Omar gathered records of Katcher’s communication with 311. She found out when the benches were removed by checking a function of Google Maps that shows how places have changed over time. Armed with that information, she penned a “strongly worded” letter to the DOT, making the case that “benches are not trivial ornaments on our sidewalk. They’re a core part of how seniors, families, New Yorkers with impaired mobility actually move around the city and have a vibrant life.” 

Omar also gathered signatures from community leaders, including John Scott, advisory board president of the Independence Plaza Senior Center. “Everyone I talked to signed the letter,” she said. “Now we had the backing of the community, this was not going to be Lee by herself trying to get the attention of whoever’s responding to a 311 complaint. There was a village behind her.” 

Finally, she reached out to City Councilman Christopher Marte, who agreed to send his own letter to the DOT. “We said it’s been a long time since these have been removed,” Marte recalled in a phone interview. “What’s the timeline for getting them back?”

In May, a bench appeared by the bus stop outside of Whole Foods on Warren Street. Soon after, supporters of the campaign gathered for a ribbon cutting.

“Here is a woman sitting happily on the bench with us, just glowing about what Sommer did, just glowing about someone taking up the flag and making something happen,” Corman recalled. Katcher’s story, he added, “is representative of a larger frustration felt around the government.”

“It was a good success story of how even the smallest things can have a great impact on everyday people,” Marte said.

“I think what gave Lee a sense of relief was that these were not empty words,” she said. “I gave her my word and a bench showed up.”