The Adams administration pushed back against pro-car activists in Chinatown, committing to keeping private motor vehicles off Park Row while getting rid of some of the NYPD parking that has taken over the Lower Manhattan strip.
Business groups and politicians from the City Council up to the halls of Congress have been lobbying City Hall to bring automobiles back to the roughly half-mile strip for the first time since officials sealed it off after the 9/11 terror attacks, as Mayor Adams plans to redesign the complex adjacent intersection at Kimlau Square, but city reps showed that the inevitable extra car traffic would spell disaster for the downtown area.
"Last year, we announced a historic $56-million public realm investment in Chinatown that will make much-needed traffic safety improvements at Chatham/Kimlau Square, expand the public plaza footprint, and beautify the Park Row connection to Chinatown," Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi said in a statement. "Our work with the Chinatown community and all who live, work, and visit the area continues as we move the next phase of design forward to bring this neglected space back to families, businesses and workers."
If motorists were allowed back on Park Row, the quiet road would transform into Midtown-level traffic, endangering pedestrians and cyclists, while slowing down buses and other cars in the area, according to results from a much-anticipated Department of Transportation traffic study [PDF] that city officials presented at a meeting with locals on Wednesday night.
The city also plans to remove the police parking lining the east side of the roadway, according to the proposal, which was first reported by the Daily News, and one local civic advocate urged neighbors to come together to improve the space, rather than get bogged down by the loud calls for more cars.
"Everybody agrees that Park Row should be a passageway from Chinatown to the Brooklyn Bridge — let’s beautify it," said Lucy West, the president of the board of Chatham Green, a large residential complex on Park Row. "Let’s figure out how to upgrade Park Row by doing the thing everybody agrees on."
Private car traffic would pose too much of a security risk to the adjacent headquarters of the NYPD at One Police Plaza and the courthouses that line the road, according to the Economic Development Corporation, which is overseeing the city's Kimlau Square redesign.
The changes will take effect by early February, according to the EDC.
Adams previously planned to unilaterally reopen the strip to cars, and his reversal did not make everyone happy, chiefly, Council Member Chris Marte, who has taken on the issue since he came into office and railed against the mayor's decision.
"Eric Adams's disrespect for Chinatown is unconscionable," Marte said in a statement. "In my life, I have never seen a mayor who cares so little about the needs of this community and who is so intent on its destruction. This is supposed to be a democracy — not a dictatorship — and we will make sure Mayor Adams knows not only is his decision wrong, but it must be reversed."
Marte had gotten the ear of former Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks, and cops even briefly put up signs in 2023 saying the street would resume private car traffic on nights and weekends, before abruptly removing them. Banks resigned last fall, reportedly amid pressure from Gov. Hochul for Mayor Adams to clean house as Hizzoner faced federal corruption charges.
Park Row has for decades had security gates, allowing access only to only law enforcement, MTA buses, and residents. The area has devolved into a private campus for NYPD and the nearby courthouses to store their cars and other property, like protest barricades, angering residents who have to navigate around the law enforcement paraphernalia every day.
More road, more cars
The DOT study found that letting motorists back onto the corridor would add hundreds of extra cars an hour, which would increasing the number of vehicles at the already complex Kimlau Square junction by 45 percent.
Traffic volumes on Park Row would become comparable to the hustle and bustle of 34th Street at Penn Station, according to the agency.
The move would also create new turning conflicts with pedestrians crossing Park Row and Worth Street, while leading to a "large increase in delay" for several bus lines.
Park Row would also not relieve traffic in a major way from nearby St. James Place, and a "substantial" number of new trips would only pass through Chinatown.
The city should take the car-free approach further downtown on Park Row, which is still a car-dominated road south of the Brooklyn Bridge, said one advocate and former city transportation official.
"If anything we should be thinking about the rest of park row for a massive road diet, if not an outright pedestrianization," said Jon Orcutt, director of Advocacy at Bike New York, who worked at DOT under former mayors Bloomberg and de Blasio. "You provide for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic — it’s the last thing we need in Lower Manhattan."
Business boon
Some business groups in the neighborhood have long clamored for Park Row to reopen, even though its residents overwhelmingly get around on foot, and city studies have shown that commerce increases along streets that limit car traffic.
Eight in 10 people in the area pass through on foot, but get less than 40 percent of the streetscape, and Chinatown residents are older, poorer, and have a lower car ownership rate than Manhattan as a whole. And the recent implementation of congestion pricing has already reduced car traffic in the area.
The city last year found lower storefront vacancy rates at DOT's open streets locations, and Chinatown's own car-free corridors like Pell, Doyers and Canal streets have been thriving without cars.
One local politician running to unseat Marte seized on the latest news to push back on the lawmaker's stance favoring the car-owning few.
"We’re returning this public space and investing in the uses of this space that people overwhelmingly prefer," said Jess Coleman. "To me this is an unquestionable win for our community."
"It’s kind of a regressive mindset that we need to be putting more cars in our community," he added.
Marte did not respond for further comment.
