Updates from West 57th St N A
Gale Brewer and W 57th St Neighborhood Association
West 57th st Neighborhood Association members Deb Hughes, Michael Gibralter, George Fox & Ted Federici met with City Councilwoman Gale Brewer from the 6 th district. Ms. Brewer represents our neighborhood and came to discuss how we could work together to improve the quality of life in our community.
Gale Brewer met with our team to discuss ways to support each other.
April 28th 2024: W 57th St Neighbors' Litter Cleanup with the Litter Legion
We were 15 volunteers strong, and collected a~43 lbs of trash across 4 blocks! We started at W 56th St + 11th Ave, went east to 9th Ave, north to W 57th St, then back west to W 57th St + 11th Ave.
Dear Neighbors,
I write to you to bring you up to date on the activities since our last meeting on June 18.
At that meeting, we decided that our priority would be removal of the bike rack (formally known as a “bicycle corral”) in front of the Watson Hotel, which served as a commercial hub for food delivery drivers. Dozens of mopeds, e-bikes, and bicycles were chained to the rack and the Watson Hotel scaffolding. This caused distress for the block from frequent moped activity and constant noise from moped alarms and loitering. The southern sidewalk presented an unwelcoming environment for pedestrians.
To that end, we met with Gale Brewer, our City Council Representative, and worked with the Hell’s Kitchen Neighborhood Coalition. We also met with the District Manager for Community Board 4, which is our neighborhood board.
George Fox, our Secretary and Treasurer researched the bike rack installation process and applicable city laws, discovering that the bike rack violated Department of Transportation regulations. We discussed this matter with the Community Board District Manager, who understood and explained that the bike corral was erected two years ago as a matter of city urgency during the migrant crisis to provide the Watson Hotel inhabitants with a means of transportation and occupation. It was understood, however, that it was being misused. We formally notified the Department of Transportation and our Community Board, requesting remedial action (see attached letter to the Department of Transportation and their response). This resulted in the removal of the bike rack, except for a small section to accommodate a handful of bikes.
The street in front of the Watson Hotel is now mostly free and clear. In addition to the removal of the bike rack and mopeds, the bicycles that were previously chained to the scaffolding are now being stored in an orderly fashion on the Watson Hotel property, away from the sidewalk, allowing clear passage for pedestrians. For those that use the Watson Hotel parking garage, drivers entering and exiting the lot will no longer have their vision blocked by the bike rack. What was once a noisy, cluttered space is now empty, quiet, peaceful, and safer for our motorists, pedestrians, and neighbors (see before and after pictures below).
Pictures before (December 2. 2023)
Pictures after (August 10, 2024)
Our work has also restored parking spaces in a few ways. Removal of the bike rack brought back about five parking spots on the south side of the block. In addition, the Department of Sanitation has diligently been issuing tickets for street sweeping, motivating drivers to move their cars to allow the street sweeping trucks to do their jobs. While I hate tickets as much as you do, the result is that cars accumulating unpaid tickets are being towed, which is having the dual effect of clearing out the illegally plated cars on our street – which was a major pain point for our organization – and opening up more parking spaces.
We also became aware of the city-ordered removal of the Windermere building scaffolding (southwest corner of 9th avenue and West 57th street) because of a lawsuit brought against the owners. If appropriate and feasible, we will consider the same course of action with the owners of the Watson Hotel. George Fox has arranged pro bono counsel from the New York Law School free clinic, who accepted our application and will assign a legal intern in the fall semester. This means that we should be getting free legal advice and if needed, representation by the Law school student and a professor who oversees the program.
Kelly Chiang, our Beautification Committee Chair has done a phenomenal job working with Rita Kwong from the Hell’s Kitchen Conservation Corps in leading fruitful events on June 23 and July 21. Several of our neighbors participated in removing nearly thirty pounds of litter off the street, as well as providing care for our neighborhood trees with weeding and soil aeration. We continue to be concerned about the trash accumulation in our neighborhood and expect more events in the fall that will make our streets cleaner and greener.
Happily, we have grown to 95 members in the association. We are growing thanks to you. Our next Membership meeting will be on September 17th at 7pm by Zoom. More details and an agenda will be sent out in a future email.
Thank you for being a part of our neighborhood association. We are proud of our recent achievements and will continue to focus our energies toward improving our quality of life.