CM Marte: Pedestrianizing Lower Manhattan Is A Fitting Memorial To Sept. 11
In the days and weeks following the 9/11 attacks, the streets of the Financial District were covered in toxic dust. Storefronts closed, never to re-open. Corporations with offices broke their leases. New Yorkers experienced unfathomable loss, and for a long time after, Lower Manhattan bore the scars.
But our resilient city bounced back. Today, the Financial District is bustling, not just with business, but with thousands of new residents, thanks to office-to-residential conversion that completely transformed this neighborhood. According to a new report from the state Comptroller’s office, Lower Manhattan’s population has doubled since 2000.
Yet the final piece of this recovery puzzle — the pedestrianization plan — eludes us.
Pedestrianizing FiDi, or making it a “Low-Traffic Neighborhood,” would be a model for the world on how we can adapt historic neighborhoods for their modern use. The narrow, traffic-filled corridors of FiDi no longer meet the needs of its residents and workers. Its streets are overflowing with parents pushing strollers, tourists and commuters navigating, seniors getting around with mobility devices, and delivery workers on e-bikes.
The vast majority of vehicular traffic in the neighborhood does not stem from the activities of the people actually living and working there, but simply people driving through to get somewhere else. We should not put these cars and trucks above the people making this neighborhood a community. Making FiDi a low-traffic neighborhood would open up the streets for this growing community, while allowing deliveries and necessary vehicles to operate in specific locations with minimal impact to pedestrians.
It has been nearly a decade since the Department of Transportation was tasked with developing a study of pedestrianizing the winding streets of FiDi that are already brimming with pedestrians. This administration can use this solemn 25th anniversary of 9/11 to recommit itself to the revitalization of downtown, and finally release the plan and put it into action.
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