By Gus Saltonstall
A set of new benches is headed to an Upper West Side stretch of Columbus Avenue.
The benches will be installed on Columbus Avenue, between West 81st and 92nd streets, by the New York City Department of Transportation, following a letter from Upper West Side Councilmember Gale Brewer.
“There is a large stretch from West 81st Street to West 92nd Street lacking public seating, aside from a bench on West 88th Street in front of the Phelps House Senior Building and one outside of my District Office on West 87th Street,” Brewer wrote in the letter, which was on behalf of an Upper West Side senior who commented on the lack of seating options within the specific stretch. “Manhattan Community District 7 ha one of the highest populations of senior city-wide; it is important that residents are comfortable and feel at ease when walking around the neighborhood.”
Danielle Zuckerman, the DOT’s Manhattan Borough Commissioner, responded to Brewer’s letter confirming that the agency would install the following six benches along the stretch.
- 445 Columbus Avenue, between West 81st and 82nd streets
- 451 Columbus Avenue, between West 81st and 82nd streets
- 527 Columbus Avenue, between West 85th and 86th streets
- 562 Columbus Avenue, between West 87th and 88th streets
- 640 Columbus Avenue, between West 91st and 92nd streets
- 641 Columbus Avenue, between West 91st and 92nd streets
The DOT added that the new benches will be installed within the next two months.
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We need more benches on cross streets too. Eyes on the street is the best way to prevent crime! Every block should have at least one.
Many side streets barely have room for a single pedestrian, where would you put the benches?
Although, since we give up parking spaces for restaurants to use for seating maybe there should be a few spaces for public benches .
More likely you will have vagrants dozing off on them.
Wow, a whole 6 for the 8 people who need them. Well done!
“8 people who need them”? Glad you don’t need to rest sometimes.
Meh. Ok. I guess I’ll take it. Not a pressing need but there are worse things. Aren’t there seats at bus stops if someone really needs to sit down?
Big fan of WSR, but I think you can allocate your reporting resources better than this – it is one step up from just publishing press releases – you do a lot of great work and this isn’t that exciting…
Agree. Rather than reporting on this, perhaps we could get more information on what happened at the CEC3 meeting last night? I just got an e-mail about it and it sounds pretty bad, but the party line e-mail was obviously/understandably sanitized so I would love to know more about exactly what happened. Thanks.
Please no outdoor dining sheds.