Residents of Chelsea assert that a pandemic-related traffic closure poses a safety risk by delaying emergency vehicles and should be cancelled.
12 hours a day, every day, the junction of West 22nd Street and Eighth Avenue is closed to all but local traffic by metal barriers.
Ambulances, fire trucks, police cars, taxis, and anybody else attempting to travel the block are required to park their vehicles — typically in a crosswalk — relocate them, and then park them again.
In August of 2021, Nico McLane, age 53, said that her stepfather, then 89 years old and suffering from a medical emergency, lost critical minutes because the Uber driver carrying him up was unable to move the massive obstacles. She was required to run down the street to assist.
McLane, an engineer whose family has owned a brownstone on the street since 1971, stated, “It’s a moment of fear.”
Residents who oppose the proposal are circulating a petition requesting that the city open the street.
Helayne Seidman
The barriers have been replaced by equivalents that are less in weight.
At the request of some neighbors, the city Department of Transportation placed the block between Seventh and Eighth avenues to its contentious Open Streets program in 2020. The initiative is intended to facilitate “pedestrian and bicycle usage and pleasure” or, in certain situations including full street closures, the use of streets for outside eating by eateries.
Ironically, one of the sole companies on the West 22nd Street block is a parking garage whose entrance requires vehicles to move the barricades.
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“There is no restaurant present.” There is no park present. There is no school present. There is no one there,” claimed Cindy Loomis, a 65-year-old medical researcher who resides one block west of the shuttered roadway. “I frequently ride my bicycle down that block. I never see someone utilizing it on the street.”
For the city to open the roadway, opponents of the idea are circulating a petition with more than 1,000 signatures. In addition to safety issues, they mention the diversion of traffic to adjacent blocks.
“The result is that they have a city-funded front yard,” said Loomis’ husband, 65-year-old attorney Joseph Neuhaus. The residents of all the other blocks must endure the inconvenience.
Molly Harris, a 51-year-old immigration attorney who resides on the street, stated that the obstacles create confusion about who is permitted there and give the unintended impression that the neighborhood is “exclusive.”
Tom Lunke, a resident of the neighborhood, stated that a group of volunteers is now working on options to minimize street traffic.
She stated, “I find that to be really troubling.” I also believe that working 12 hours a day is excessive, very excessive.
Tom Lunke, a retired urban designer and 63-year-old resident of the block, stated that a group of volunteers is now working on ways to minimize traffic on the street, including without barriers, which they expect to propose to the city this month.
“The notion of having a route that is especially built to slow down traffic and give vegetation and seating for walkers without gates at Eighth Avenue is a win-win for everyone,” said Lunke.
Vin Barone, spokesperson for the Department of Transportation, stated, “We look forward to exploring design options that rely less on moveable obstacles.”
»Residents of Chelsea demand the authorities ease an obsolete street closure«