By Gus Saltonstall
Following a growing number of complaints related to conditions at Columbus Circle, a group of community stakeholders met on Wednesday to discuss the situation and do a walk-through of the area.
The meeting and walk-through, organized by Upper West Side Councilmember Gale Brewer, included representatives from multiple city agencies, the Central Park Conservancy, the West 50s Neighborhood Association, Community Boards 4, 5 and 7, the Street Vendor Project, and more.
Participants stated their leading concerns as the downward trend of general cleanliness, aggressive pedicabs, and the growing number of street vendors in the area at West 59th Street and Central Park.
“I write on behalf of constituents and other residents regarding the noticeable decline in sanitary conditions around Columbus Circle, particularly near the Central Park entrance,” Brewer wrote in a letter at the end of July to Department of Sanitation Commissioner Javier Lojan. “Constituents report an increase in litter and a general lack of upkeep in the area.”
On Wednesday, Brewer told West Side Rag during the walk-through of the area that multiple solutions had been discussed at the meeting, which was closed to press, including funding street bollards that are easier to keep clean than the current concrete blocks, power washing the area more consistently, and working to make sure that pedicabs operate within the proper regulations.
David Acheilis, president of the West 50s Neighborhood Association, told the Rag that the area has gotten “messy, dirty and loud” in recent years.
“Conditions have gotten a little out of control over the last few years, especially with the vendor situation,” he said. “There were some good ideas related to solutions today. This plaza was designed by Calvert Vaux and it was not designed for a commercial space, it was designed to commemorate a monument, which is very serious about the killing of the sailors before the start of the Spanish-American War. It would be nice to see the plaza cleaned up and enjoyable for everybody.”
Also in attendance on Wednesday was Mohamed Attia, the managing director of the Street Vendor Project, which is a membership-based organization that “champions the rights of street vendors as small businesses.”
“I was invited to join this conversation about the street vending system and the challenges that vendors face, but also to address the community’s needs and challenges they have raised,” Attia told the Rag. “It is not easy to find a legal vending location, which is one of the main reasons why a lot of vendors end up lining up on one block, like Columbus Circle, because this is a legal location if you have the right paperwork.”
Brewer is also looking to increase the number of trash bins in the Columbus Circle area.
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Agree Columbus Circle needs to be cleaned up. It used to be very clean and upscale, now it is very dirty, run down, street vendors. It looks more like Washington Square Park than Central Park.
Spot on. And “increasing the number of trash cans” won’t solve the problem. I’m not optimistic that the likely new administration will do anything to improve the situation. In fact…
So there is an increase in litter, and the “answer” is to clean it more. Is there ever any thought to stop it at the source? Arrest the vagrants littering and there will be no litter. You really need a meeting for that?
Only vagrants littering? Really?
I think he was saying that anyone who litters is a vagrant. You can be a billionaire and litter and thus be a vagrant.
Everyone is always looking for reasons to be angry.
LC21, did Adam say that only vagrants were littering? As someone who volunteers to pick up trash, I can tell you that panhandlers and street people leave trash behind. Please don’t distort what commenters write.
Then why did he not suggest arresting the non-vagrants that litter? Or leave vagrancy status out of it entirely and say “…arrest the people littering…”?
Because anyone that litters is a vagrant.
That isn’t the definition of the word, “vagrant.” If you think it is, you’re wrong, but if you know it isn’t, the criticism that you’ve received for your remark is well deserved.
The “rights” of people to rip off tourists and undercut rent and tax paying businesses.
Please.
Not to mention the fumes off those generators
Street vendors all over the place, and empty storefronts all over the place.
This is sort of OT, but the area in front of the Museum of Natural History has become much the same.
Agree, off topic, too. (New entrance to AMNH and TR Park is public space overrun with carts and stands, noisy smelly generators, garbage like hot dog wrappers and empty drink cups. A mess.) Would be nice to have Mr. Attia’s organization make a splash with clean-up projects – and endear vendors to their public and neighborhoods – more than making a buck, make their areas better.
Any mention of the fact that Central Park West from 60th to 62nd is a parking lot for NYPD personal vehicles? Takes up a lot of space that could be used by vendors, etc. There is no lack of public transportation at Columbus Circle!
I’d rather have NYPD personal vehicles there than vendors.
I’d rather have NYPD officers setting an example and parking legally.
Gale Brewer organized the walk through? She organized the decrease in the quality of life! Her support for developers and their destructive ways is well known. When confronted about her refusal to take a stand against ONE PARTICULAR supertall on the UWS, she reportedly screamed at the constituent.: it’s going to be tall: GET OVER IT!
That is pretty much Gale’s view when ever a resident raises an issue and pushes back against inaction….GET OVER IT!
The City no longer cares about those of us who pay property taxes and like to be able to walk on our sidewalks and visit local stores. We are told how dare you object! Get over it.
Walk throughs are throw aways unless and until Gale and her colleagues begin to take residents concerns seriously!
I have my issues with Gale but come on… buildings in Manhattan are going to be tall.
Additionally, if she takes action on every single constituent’s opinion then absolutely nothing would happen because opinions will contradict each other. For every issue, there will be people in favor and people against. Elected officials have to try to take into account the majority opinion, or make the decisions that would be best for their constituents as a whole. That is the point of a representative democracy.
True. For some reason the Gale-haters (and the Republicans in the comments around here..) are convinced their views are widely in NYC held despite all the voting results which are evidence to the contrary.
It does not appear that any action will be taken.
Area could be better, but not our biggest problem.
Did not know there was a “Pedicab Checklist”
I thought they are there just to annoy people with the loud music and harass tourists.
An issue caused by NYPD and not the vendors is the proliferation of police vehicles at northbound M10 bus stop across the street from the Trump Hotel. There are so many police vehicles crowded in there, that the buses cannot stop safely, and bypass it to the next stop two blocks or so further north. This surprises those waiting at that marked bus stop as their bus flies by, and especially inconveniences wheelchair bound riders. Why do they have to park there? The hotel is not a police precinct where that kind of crowding of police vehicles has become the norm.
There is a NYPD Transit District in the Subway station.
Surely the Transit officers could take public transit like the rest of us?
The 2 things UWS Dad hates the most, Cops and Cars.
with good reason! The cops in that particular district NOT ENFORCING THE LAW is why Columbus Circle looks like it does. I spoke to 2 cops last week about ice cream trucks parking in 1) a bus stop 2) a no standing zone at the corner of CPW and Columbus Circle that force bikes into traffic, right where that Aussie tourist was killed in 2019 for exactly that same issue.
They said ‘not our job – call 911’
I believe failure to take action is a disciplinable offense, per the patrol guide.
Not sure Transit officer parking is the issue at Columbus Circle.
They are not required to live in NYC.
Public transportation is not readily available in some of the areas they live,
Needless to say with odd schedules and OT required, commuting by car is the
only practical way.
Where in a 50 mile radius of NYC is “public transportation not readily available??”
Gale certainly knows how to put on a show.
Thank Goodness! There are over 20 street vendors and food trucks pumping out fumes over 12 hours a day around the circle – how is that not a health problem for people, trees and animals. All around the circle. and around almost every block now, we are inundated with propane gas smell and fumes, black stains show the residuals from the gas that are on our feet that are now on the floors of our homes making our kids and pets sick with skin rashes and back to asthma medication.
We have congestion pricing, limits on regular truck idling, yet these trucks and carts blast fumes and make noise for over 12 hours a day – something needs to be done – we need regulations. Please don’t say propane is safe – go ahead and stand next to one of these trucks for five minutes and then tell us that!
Let’s start with the current law – move and ticket carts and trucks parked under apartment buildings, blocking fire hydrants, blocking sidewalk entrances and in front of eating establishments. Second time – confiscate the truck!
Next, please put a limit on the number of street vendors per area – we have lost so many small delis and restaurants. The poor small deli and food business owners have been run out of business by these vendors. Vendor carts and trucks don’t pay rent and taxes -it’s not fair to these places. Food trucks are out of control and it is an ugly mess.
Propane. when burned, gives off carbon dioxide not methane, a lethal emission. (Methane is what passes into the air at Newtown Creek where most of NYC food scraps go!) So food trucks do pollute but less so than other fuels. There seems to be an effort to convert fuel trucks to solar power. See this source :
https://environmentamerica.org/articles/food-trucks-next-big-step-for-clean-environment/
Why is the default to accommodate the needs of street vendors and those ever increasing ebikes and mopeds drivers? Are they really that necessary or is their lobbies more powerful a d profitable for electeds? Is it that its a way to create jobs? Aren’t there other jobs and empty storefronts where they can find work that contributes more positively to the neighborhood? Maybe they do jobs that aren’t really worth the wake they create?
I know some will say its an immigrant thing. No, it doesn’t matter who it is. Its a mess and difficult to navigate. Filthy, smells of weed, and attracts drug dealers/users.
edited away before mod.
I live on 58th St. directly opposite the former Time Warner Center. I am in the Park virtually every day. The Circle itself is dirty, the fountains filled with litter, the skateboarders pounding and slamming, homeless stretched out on the benches etc etc. One I navigate through that I’ gird my loins for the push through the plaza. It’s truly disgusting and the harassment by the pedicab “sales force” is outrageous. Then in the Park there has been an explosion in illegal vending. On my walk I pass dozens of “fruit cup sellers”. Uninspected, unsanitary and untaxed not to mention competing with licensed vendors. Something needs to be done more than theater. As for the “Street Vendor Project” I have as much of a right to quiet enjoyment of my neighborhood. How about the street vendors rent a shop and get off the sidewalks?
We need an Officer Krupke to tell people to “move along” like in the old days. No loitering. If you are asked multiple times to move and don’t, there should be consequences. I’m not talking about life at Rikers consequences. But some sort of meaningful slap on the wrist. First offense is a small fine. Second offense is a bigger fine. Fines keep increasing. After numerous fines, then bigger penalties. It’s really simple.
Officer Krupke got too many CCRBs and lost vacation days, he is now an empty suit, like other smart cops.
80% of NYPD officers never catch a CCRB complaint in their career.
Those that do often are repeat offenders, like the entire SRG, the CRT and corrupt brass like Chell, Maddrey etc.
Moderator, this is *disinformation*
What’s your solution? These are ‘undocumented’ and ‘unhoused’ individuals. Should they be ticketed – which they’ll ignore? Arrested and not prosecuted by Alvin Bragg? Deported? There are real world consequences to sanctuary city policies and lack of law enforcement. Do you think the city council is going to do anything? This is what people support and voter for.
Quite frustrated that there was a Democratic challenger to Alvin Bragg who got no attention or traction. Hard to believe Mr. Bragg represents what the majority of New Yorkers want.
I voted for Timmins. Did not vote for Bragg. But the majority don’t vote at all.
He represents what the majority of voters in Manhattan want as a DA.
In addition, Central Park itself has the same issues. It’s abominable how dirty and uncontrolled the walkways are.
Question:
It is my understanding that the City Council is seeking to increase the number of street vendor licenses?
Q1: If that is the case, then with more street vendors, there is more competition and each street vendor makes less? Yes?
Q2: The argument advanced (by street vendor groups?) is that there need to be more street vendors? But the fact that there are multiple and duplicative street vendors all over (and particularly in tourist spots like Columbus Circle) seems to suggest that there is a glut of street vendors? That there is not a need for more street vendors?
With respect it seems that there is inherent conflict between the argument and the reality There are many issues (including impact on stores, sidewalk access, generators etc) – but even the core argument does not seem to make sense?
How else are ‘undocumented’ folks and ‘unhoused’ criminals supposed to make money? That’s who the city council cares about. They don’t care about theft from stores.. They don’t care about employed, taxpaying, law abiding, English speaking US citizens. That’s the reality of the ‘progressives’ on the city council .
Add “No music amplification above [allowable decibels] “ to the pedicab regulation checklist. Please!!!
NYC can’t even stop people from racing past red lights in ebikes. Do you really think they are going to bring decibel readers along with them to measure how loud the vendor music is? These are the kind of solutions that NYC specializes in. More bureacracy, no enforcement.
Make the rule NO music.
Why is this happening? Street vendors all over the place? RENT GOUGING!!! This is why people trying to start individually owned businesses resort to the streets. That’s why we have lost Mom and Pop businesses which reflected the area in which they were situated. Instead we get corporate mega-businesses staffed by underpaid, often overworked, sullen staff. People also contribute to the empty storefronts due to recourse to online vendors, such as Amazon.
We need commercial rent control!
Finally, we will only get this if he throw out the leadership in this city. Brewer, Nadler, Espaillat and others need to be voted out.
“nuff said.
Commercial rent control is business welfare. There’s no reason a store has a right to perpetually stay in a spot forever just because it happened to be there.
These street vendors are generally not going to open a legit business and pay all the taxes associated with doing so. Frankly it’s troubling for me to see Brewer having some kind of relationship with the Street Vendor project which wants to increase the number of street vendors .
Go to Germany. They have commercial rent control. Shopping districts in Berlin and Hamburg are thriving
Rent control is not working. Let’s change the valuation assumptions that allow landlord’s buildings to be valued at hypothetical rents when empty storefronts cannot command those rents once vacant. This allows landlords to get bigger mortgages than the true rental of their property warrants.
How can something that isn’t in place for commercial properties not be working?
Why is it that people have such a difficult time with the imposition by government of law, order, cleanliness and civility? Somehow, like so many other things, issues like this become politically charged. But does anything honestly think that a lack of those things does not harm or even affect the impoverished? Do you really think that impoverished people don’t enjoy the beauty and comfort that such things bring? Truly backward thinking.
They don’t think in these terms. It is a fad in our current administration and they won’t admit that even to themselves.
And our leftist City Council is about to override the Mayor’s veto and “decriminalize” street vending. So the situation will get much worse before there’s finally a backlash in a few years.
Nothing but a photo op on Gale Brewer’s part. Nothing will be done.
I am glad attention is being paid to the loud and messy Columbus Circle. I have some sympathy with the vendors, if their numbers and the noise they make could be kept within reasonable limits. I have no sympathy whatever for the loutish pedicabs: they should be banned altogether. If that’s not possible (why?), they should be strictly forbidden to carry noise-making devices, and otherwise tightly regulated.
Is the area in question is within the boundaries of Central Park? If so, are the food vendors in compliance with the Central Park vendor price list? (Yes, there is such a thing. Here: https://www.nycgovparks.org/opportunities/concessions/pushcart-prices.)
Thank you for this, but this list is as of JUNE 2024. Wonder what it will be when updated for inflation this year. OH HOW I WSH THEY WOULD LIST THESE PRCES. That way, they would not get away with asking for 9 dollars for water, and yes I walked away.
Whatever happened to sautkraut anyway?
I would much rather a calm and peaceful ride in a carriage pulled by a horse than a loud and flashy overpriced pedicab.
What is one to make about a city renown in every corner of the world – a city known as the financial capital of the world, where taxes to feed an entrenched and chronic bureaucracy are as tall as its buildings – what is one to make of a city like this, a city that can’t manage to maintain clean and presentable bathrooms in one of the most iconic gems, Central Park. THAT single fact alone tells you what a joke NYC government is. It’s a bureaucratic monster hiring an enormous amount of people that does absolutely nothing for its residents. The bathrooms in Central Park (and there are just a handful) are totally disgusting and wreak of urine, have broken floor tiles and chains holding toilet roles to slimy stalls. How much money would it cost to keep these bathrooms spotless 24/7? Barely NOTHING. Why do we accept this?
The supreme Court has said that California can remove homeless people from the sidewalks and from the streets. why can’t New York do the same thing and Force vendors to be in certain areas and only certain areas on the sidewalks and why can’t they limit the number of vendors on the sidewalks. Right now the city council wants to do away with the penalties for illegal vending! what pathetic people are we electing these days? I got off the train at my station and there were eight people selling fruit on the platform stopping people from being able to walk off the train to get to the stairs. something has to be done.
All vendors are supposed to have a price list. Most of the ones at CC outside of the park don’t. Maybe people should order, get the food, and then pay what they want.
NYC pricing rules: https://www.nyc.gov/assets/dca/downloads/pdf/about/PricingLaws.pdf
The city was able to contain the disney and superhero characters to a specific section of Time Square….why not this?
“Constituents report an increase in litter and a general lack of upkeep in the area”. So let’s get the Sanitation Dept to just clean up more trash that’s left.
Gale Brewer, please stop with the grandstanding and pretending to want to make a difference. If you really wanted to make a difference, you and your fellow council members would demand money go to mental illness hospital beds & insist on better shelters who actually hold people accountable to getting treatment for drugs and mental illness.
Is it really compassionate to allow people to sleep on the sidewalks and do drugs on the sidewalks the rest of their life? Everything in this city would change if just these 2 things were done. But that wouldn’t be Progressive.
Feels like preserving sanctuary city status trumps laws and quality of life concerns for others at any cost. Yet another workaround. Unlicensed and over saturation of “jobs” we likely don’t need. Sad.
Spare me the angst. The whole area votes overwhelmingly left wing. The people want it like this
Exactly.
Vote better.
That area is disgusting. It is dirty and smelly. There needs to be a limit to the number of vendors in one location. Not the ‘line up’ that there is now. We used to see basically one stand ~ that was it. No mess no problem.
It is nothing but an eyesore to what was once a lovely spot. It is dirty and crowded.
I walk in and out of the train station there and it gets worse and worse as time goes on.
The pedicabs are just the icing on the cake.
The NYPD vehicles are not relevant to this issue. They are around the corner; IMO not a contributing factor to this mess.
quality of life comments.
-Street Vendors. Appreciate them
in spots but they are very noisy with generators and music and crowd buildup. And they have put small businesses like delis and cafes out of business! This comments is a general one. I see this issue all over town including all the entrances to the museum of natural history and all Central Park entrances. It is no longer peaceful to enter the Park.
-consider utilizing the old no litter signs. Even if don’t always enforce folks make think twice before they litter (and curb and clean up after their dogs!).
-new housing should not be at the expense of quality of life-(marginalizing green space, erecting too tall buildings)
Thx!
Gail Brewer if you’re reading this:
Please do something about the lack of lighting leading from the outdoor food stand/restaurant at 104th Street on the Hudson River. Once away from the immediate area the light to the stairwell exit at 1O3 St. is dark and dangerous. There are no signs pointing how to get to that stairwell and out of the park and there’s no light until you get to the foot of the stairwell — if you can locate it. In addition, the pavement is uneven. The stairwell is an abomination of untended to stones that are broken and chipping and uneven. It’s very easy to miss a step or be on a step that crumbles and the risk of a fall is very very high if you’re not holding on to the banister.
The restaurant by the water is such a lovely addition to the park but the route there and back up that hill is unsafe in many ways.
Why do street vendors have a right to public space to sale their items? I don’t understand this.
They don’t have a legal right That is a great point. Its the philosophy and approach of our lawmakers who create these workarounds for groups they feel are “most vulnerable” even at the expense to everyone else. And if you complain you are called names that suggest your are racist, elitist, privileged, or not a “real” New Yorker because this is part of the fabric of the city. Laws only matter when you are a business with a storefront who pays taxes and is likely not reliant on city services.
And even then they don’t matter, trust me. I pay taxes and rents and provide sales tax to the city and state and they do not look out for the storefronts either. They could care less about what happens inside and outside our stores that affect our business and our customers.
Yes the City keeps implementing policies to help restaurants, street vendors, and ecommerce – but the City has done zero for retail and neighborhood businesses.
The area has become a filthy, noisy mess. I notice that youths, vendors, and street and shelter people will simply discard their trash on the sidewalk. They don’t care and they are not invested in the UWS. I avoid Columbus Circle, just as I avoid Central Park due to the fear of being run over by the cyclists who don’t stop and the people who continue to ride bikes and scooters on the walking paths. I want more police oversight in the park and fewer vendors; their wagons are eyesores.
Honestly it feels like the pedicab industry has fallen a long ways from where it was 15-20 years ago, where it seemed like operators were out to make a fair and honest living, and non-tourists might occasionally & strategically use one.
Now afaict they just exist to fleece tourists, completely lack price transparency, set themselves up obnoxiously with light and sound systems, and don’t provide any real value.
I don’t think they should be banned but they need a much different oversight regime than they .presently have.
Unfortunately, the quality of life on the UWS has been pretty awful for years now.
While it certainly is a visual and auditory cacophony at Columbus Circle, I have never found it to be all that inappropriate or disturbing. But then, I live further up on the UWS and not in that area, so my opinion doesn’t count.
Every morning in the summer, I see homeless either sleeping on the benches or bathing in the fountains. The ground is littered with trash, food, vomit, urine and feces. By the late afternoon, the circle is taken over by skateboarders and people blasting music. The only time it’s ever patrolled properly is during Columbus Day when the monument is targeted for vandalism.