Photo by Margaret.
By Howard Freeman
With pedestrian safety in Central Park getting lots of attention in the past few weeks, Monday night’s Community Board 7 Parks & Environment Committee meeting was packed. The four rows of chairs for the public were mostly filled. Most committee members were present, two representatives from the Central Park Conservancy were there, and also attending was NYPD Commander Jessica Corey, Deputy Inspector of the Central Park Precinct. Transportation Committee Chair Andrew Albert also attended.
The officials discussed ways to make the park safer for all users, and brought up proposals including push-to-cross signals at intersections.
The first half of the meeting focused on “road safety” (not “bike vs. pedestrian conflict,” Committee Chair Klari Neuwelt was careful to point out) in Central Park and was the reason for the relatively high turnout.
Commander Corey opened the discussion with a quote from Clarence Cook’s 1869 book A Description of Central Park: “…the theory [is] that every person who comes here shall be enabled to enjoy his visit in his own way.” The quote continued on about the responsibility of carriage drivers to look out for pedestrians and also that no pedestrians shall be “knocked down by any fiery Pegasus.”
This won a laugh to ease what might have been tension, but also raised the point that while in 1869, as noted in one of the book’s footnotes, the roads were laid out to “make racing impossible,” in the 20th century Robert Moses actually straightened certain roads, such as East Drive north of 84th street, in order to make it more friendly for vehicles to move quickly.
Most of the time was spent on the problem of park crosswalks, which include 47 signals that are generally ignored, and how to bring them up to the same standard and functionality as signals outside the park would cost $25 million. DOT was noticeably absent from last night’s meeting, which was unfortunate since this city agency is responsible for all roads and signals in the park.
CB7 and others have been pushing for a total closure of park roads to all “private vehicles” for some time, and there is a bill introduced by Council Members Helen Rosenthal and Mark Levine to do just that next summer (June 24 – September 25, 2015) as a test.
While the Parks & Environment Committee commendably has approached this problem—which has caused numerous injuries and even some recent deaths—by identifying “user groups” (pedestrians, including tourists, commuters, recreational; vehicles and those sub-groups; bikes, including rentals, racing; and so on) that have to co-exist in the park instead of pitting one group against another, there was no data presented during my time at the meeting to describe which user groups are most often involved in accidents, or contributing most to congestion.
Two solutions discussed were having more posted signs in multiple languages at intersections and also the adoption of “push-to-cross” buttons on signal posts. The first is a near-term solution, the latter a longer-term and more costly but perhaps more effective one.
There was general consensus that all “users” who enter the park do so in a different, almost non-urban, frame of mind: that there is a carefree, recreating side to us when in the park that ignores standard rules and regulations, including red lights at crossings.
What button will we push to make people, cyclists and pedestrians alike, to actually obey the signals in the park?
The signals don’t belong in the park any more than the cars do. If we eliminate cars (cars in a park?), we could do away with traffic signals and focus on increasing biker/pedestrian awareness.
I imagine those that complain about cyclists in the park have never biked the loop. It’s hardly a workout if you have to stop at every light and, other than the lower part of the park, there’s usually no one waiting to cross, anyway. It’s ridiculous to stop and just sit there, no cars and no pedestrians in sight.
I agree with the sentiment about biking, James. In fact, the suggestion for push-to-cross signals — as long as we have cars — came from an avid cyclist who made your argument.
I completely agree. Every New Yorker should have the right to utterly ignore any law that that disagree with or find to be “ridiculous”.
i guess you only cross at the crosswalk on green, huh? how’s that lonely street corner treating you?
Ric: i’ve noticed many tourist cyclists stopping at the crosswalks, but these same tourist cyclists seem to go against common sense, like stopping three abreast in the middle of the road, or doing U-turns likewise, or riding and taking videos from their phones. I think for tourists from Europe, especially, their sense of urban crosswalk propriety kicks in, but they pull bone-headed maneuvers while riding.
As for pedestrians, that goes to everyone’s sensibility while there: we are off dreaming and looking and admiring nature and not attentive and on guard.
The cheapest solution would be to redo the paint for the crosswalks to increase visibility for pedestrians and bikers.
Clarence Cook’s 1869 book “A Description of Central Park” can be found for free here: https://archive.org/details/descriptionofnew00cooko
Good word, Lucien.
That was, in fact, discussed throughout my time at the meeting, and I would hope that it would be part of any solution. They also raised the idea of painting one of the bike lanes green, to correspond with those on city avenues, or at least having green icons if there wasn’t enough money to paint the entire park’s bike lane a color.
Several times, it was mentioned how unfortunate it was that DOT wasn’t present because indeed they could have spoken into many if not all the issues and possible solutions raised.
One spot in dire need of attention is the Strawberry Fields area. For some reason when the park was relined several of years ago, the pedestrian crosswalk just inside the park at CPW/72nd St. was not relined. That crosswalk needs to be restored. It connects two pedestrian walkways plus the Strawberry Fields access. It always provided some sense of order in the middle of a very chaotic area that includes heavy foot traffic, car traffic in the am and pedicab solicitations all day long. Can’t imagine why it was taken away. At a comparable intersection inside the park at East 72nd, there is not only a huge marked crosswalk but also a traffic light.
Have made several of calls to 311, but no response.
Another very dangerous intersection is West 81st. Always lots of people waiting to cross, at the bottom of a long hill and shortly after a curve in that hill. Further, some tourist cyclists seem to stop right after that intersection, in the middle of the road, to check directions or take photos. Three or four abreast.
Most of the accidents I’ve witnessed happen with leisure or tourist cyclists not wearing helmets and not that proficient on a bike.