Manhattan CB 10 Continues to Oppose Safety Overhaul for Morningside Ave

Wednesday night, Manhattan Community Board 10 in Harlem continued to obstruct a street redesign that could save lives. A safety overhaul for speeding-plagued Morningside Avenue, requested by local residents and developed by DOT, has been stalled as the board refuses to back any plan that includes a reduction in the number of car lanes. In a near-repeat of a board meeting in February, CB 10 sent the issue back to committee, where it has languished since last September. Meanwhile, the board has established a Vision Zero task force, even as it opposes street safety measures.

The Morningside Avenue stalemate continues at CB 10. Photo: DOT
The Morningside stalemate continues at CB 10. Photo: DOT

Key board members are convinced that road diets on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Mount Morris Park West have been failures. Last night, CB 10 chair Henrietta Lyle described those streets as having “extreme problems” and “hazardous conditions” as a result of the road diets. In fact, a study of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard found that speeding was reduced, travel times improved, and crashes dropped by nearly one-third after the road diet was implemented [PDF].

Lyle claims that she wants DOT to move ahead with improvements for Morningside Avenue, just not the plan that’s on the table. “We need them to take some action now,” Lyle said. “We don’t want DOT to use anyone as a scapegoat for why they’re not fixing the problem.”

The problem is that the board has ruled out the kind of redesign that has been proven to prevent injuries and save lives on similar streets. CB 10 wants speed humps and traffic signals, not a road diet. DOT says the road is too wide for speed humps and traffic volumes too light to justify traffic signals — which can make a street more dangerous anyway.

Community Board 9, which also includes Morningside Avenue, has already backed the road diet plan, but DOT is bending to CB 10’s opposition and developing an alternative plan to be presented in the coming months.

“An alternative plan that doesn’t include lane reductions, doesn’t include traffic lights, and doesn’t include speed humps? Sure, I’d like to see that,” said road diet supporter Elise Merrow, who lives on 114th Street near Manhattan Avenue and along with her neighbors has gathered more than 1,000 signatures from neighborhood residents calling for the road diet.

CB 10 is not monolithic. While the stalemate continues on street safety redesigns, a Vision Zero task force is taking shape within the board, comprised of the heads of the health, transportation, education, economic development, land use, and housing committees.

The task force also has the ability to advance resolutions to the full board. Using measures passed by CB 7 as a model, task force chair Maria Garcia is drafting resolutions in support of bills in Albany to set a 20 mph default speed limit, now supported by State Senator Bill Perkins and Assembly Member Keith L.T. Wright, and grant the city home rule over automated enforcement.

“The police cannot be expected to be doing all of this without help,” Garcia said of speed cameras at the task force’s kick-off meeting last week, which attracted a small group of board members, area residents, street safety advocates, and the executive officers of central Harlem’s two police precincts.

With a borough-wide pedestrian safety workshop coming to Harlem next month, Garcia is hoping the neighborhood can create its own list of traffic safety priorities. “We need to motivate the community to be part of this process,” Garcia said. The task force is hosting Harlem-specific Vision Zero workshops on May 13 and 27.

  • Ben Theohuxtable Garber

    Generally speaking, the community boards should be a prime target for traffic re-education. A lot of board members, not just in CB10 but in many districts, are too attached to old ideas.

  • J

    Can we have a competition for worst CB in the city? CB10 would certainly be up there: ignoring all evidence, admantly refusing to reduce travel lanes on a street that clearly has too many; unfounded opposition to safety improvements; clear contempt for transit users. Can others top this? Maybe ones in Staten Island?

  • JamesR

    ‘Traffic Re-education’? What does that even mean? It sounds kind of Orwellian. Regardless, it’s no secret that CB membership demographics skew older and include motorists at a rate disproportionate to the city’s overall demographics. These members are simply voting their interests, for better or (usually) for worse.

  • JK

    When Bklyn CB 6 opposed the DOT’s Fourth Ave safety improvements councilmen Brad Lander and Steve Levin wrote a public letter to DOT supporting DOT’s improvements. Back on Morningside Ave, this is a place where electeds who actually care about saving the life and limb of their constituents should do the same. DOT’s safety design is sensible and fairly mild. The criticisms from CB 10 are irrational and unsupportable, and seem based on their obsession with providing unlimited double parking and free parking for the 1/4th of community members with a car — and a motoring class of the politically connected. The political class in Harlem should be embarrased that they care more about a place for their ca, than a safe place for kids to cross the street.

  • Mark Walker

    This is a great idea! I hope the editors of Streetsblog will consider it.

  • Cold Shoaler

    “These members are simply voting their interests…” I’d argue that they’re only voting for their perceived interests. Motorist would also benefit from a road diet.

  • Peter Engel

    Aren’t these CB members puppets of Inez Dickens? The only way she’ll change is if she’s hit by a motor vehicle.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Morningside Ave. Road Diet Set for July After CB 10 Chair Urges Support

By Stephen Miller |
With new, clear marching orders from chair Henrietta Lyle after nine months of stalled deliberations, Community Board 10’s transportation committee voted unanimously last night to support a road diet plan [PDF] for a speeding-plagued stretch of Morningside Avenue. Pending expected support from the full board next month, DOT is scheduled to implement the safer street design […]

Harlem’s CB 10 Continues Assault on Safer Streets and Better Buses

By Stephen Miller |
According to Harlem’s Community Board 10, there is apparently no such thing as a street redesign worth pursuing. Over the course of two-and-a-half hours Tuesday night, members of the board’s transportation committee declined to support a road diet for Morningside Avenue, attacked a community-based street safety plan installed on Mount Morris Park West, and asked […]