Walking Is Transportation

IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME

Last night, an 1872 French Second Empire mini-mansion across the street from our house caught fire, the inevitable conclusion to a decades-long process of disinterest and disinvestment.

42 Westervelt Avenue in St. George was never as grand as the French Second Empire building pictured right, but its proportions suggest it was probably pretty impressive in its day.

Here's an incomplete record of its recent physical deterioration.

Like many larger residential properties in St. George, 42 Westervelt Avenue was chopped up into apartments some time before World War II. Under the right management, with proper maintenance and appropriate improvements, it could have continued to provide solid housing for six families.

But once the building fell into the hands of its current absentee owner, its fate was sealed. He promptly filled the building, and others he owned adjacent to this property, with friends and relatives and for a long time it was rundown but quiet and "respectable."

But that was only a temporary reprieve from this handsome building's continuing downward slide.

When these friends and relatives left, one by one, they were replaced by crack addicts and their friends. In short order, the building became a flop house whose occupants you see on the front stoop in the photo, above, dated 2008.

And so it continued through 2009, when the photo at left was taken, and well into 2010.

Until last night.

I took the photo on the left, below, through glass and a mesh screen, producing an eerie visual that perfectly represents last night's craziness,with hordes of firefighters responding to a four-alarm blaze that not only savaged 'The Crack House.' It also severely damaged the beautifully restored post-Civil War-era rowhouse to the right, separated by only a narrow alley.

I took the photo below, right, from my front porch this morning. I want to try and get the Landmarks Commission involved here, to make sure that whatever happens next, happens in a preservation context.

Just to get this on the record: Two fire marshals were here this morning and described the building as severely damaged but 'structurally sound'---their words. Just in case we need to repeat them for the benefit of those who'd rather raze it and replace it with 20 townhouses, built front to back. Landmarks protection has to mean more than that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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THE VERTICAL LIFE, or Hill-Walking on Staten Island, Part 9

PRECARIOUSLY PERCHED

. . . Or so these hillside houses on Van Duzer Street in Stapleton Heights--just south of the point at which it meets the last stretch of St. Paul's Avenue--seemed to me when I photographed them not long ago on one of my first extended walks of the 2008 spring/summer season.

About a 15-minute bus ride from the ferry and about an hour from downtown Manhattan, this group of houses appears to have been assembled randomly during the mid- to late 19th century and into the early 20th. The question is why, at the turn of the last century, when there was hardly a shortage of buildable land in Richmond County, a group of families chose to settle in this steep hillside cluster, some of which was accessible only via a steep and irregular hillside stair.

Several among this group of modest hillside are well cared for, as here:

While the appearance of this sorry hillside hanger-on gives new meaning to the term 'deferred maintenance.'

Careful––You Might Like It

NOT HOT: Postcard view (dated 1910) looking south on Westervelt Avenue from Richmond Terrace, St. George, Staten Island. Because this hasn't been a hot neighborhood for slightly more than a century, every building shown in this image is still intact and in a moderately good state of preservation. A portion of our house is shown in the upper left section of the image (notice the double-windowed gable and the spire to its right).

LIVING WHERE THEY WOULDN'T BE CAUGHT DEAD

Despite the sneering disdain of metro journalists who pay two grand a month for a closet in a renovated tenement on Avenue C and Houston Street, it's possible to live where they wouldn't be caught dead and actually like it. On Staten Island, I mean. Specifically, in one of the older neighborhoods on the north shore, near the ferry.

After a while, the plucked-from-the-Midwest streetscapes of Staten Island's north shore stop looking quite as foreign as they did. It starts to seem normal to be able to see the sky without craning your neck. Or to be the only person walking down the street, utterly alone with your thoughts, and not feeling in the least unsafe. You even get used to the quiet.

What You Give Up and What You Get

Don't get me wrong now. Staten Island is hardly Valhalla. We live in a place everybody's heard of but very few actually know--a place routinely overlooked, underserved and dismissed. But there are times when going unnoticed, unacknowledged and underrepresented pays off.

Leaving Manhattan for places like New Brighton, St. George, Tompkinsville and Stapleton gets you twice the space for half the price, give or take a hundred or two. And maybe a view, a garden or a fireplace as well. There's always a seat on the FREE Staten Island Ferry. Always a chair at the barber's. Always a table at a decent restaurant; no reservations required. At public parks, even on the weekend, it can often seem like everybody's left town. Though the north shore's hilly streets are challenging for cyclists, they're one of the best non-park environments I've found so far as a walker.

My neighbor Martha, who moved to St. George from Battery Park City with her husband and two children, is hyper-alert for signs of gentrification hereabouts. She winces whenever she sees positive media coverage of our area, which she's certain can mean only one thing: She and her family, having found a pleasant place to live they can afford, will be forced out by high rents once again.

Given the national economic downturn and the shaky state of real estate everywhere, including Manhattan, I don't think Martha has a lot to worry about for the forseeable.

NYSDOT Public Forum: Beating the Drums for Funds

TOO MUCH SUNSHINE?

Maybe we've taken the Sunshine Law a little too much to heart. Perhaps there are meetings of various agencies of government that it's pointless for someone outside of government to attend. The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) public forum held Wednesday, March 5 at the College of Staten Island was that kind of assembly.

The topical, uh, springboard for the forum--which included a roundtable discussion among a panel of government officials, transportation professionals, and civic leaders--was a presentation entitled "Multimodal Investment Needs & Goals for the Future" in print and Power Point formats.

Basically, the presentation is a pitch for additional transportation funding from the Feds. The goals are to accommodate significant projected local population growth, and to respond more aggressively to seriously deteriorated infrastructure and inadequate public transit services statewide.

PA? MTA?––NOT!

The presentation, delivered by NYSDOT commissioner Astrid C. Glynn and New York Metropolitan Transportation Council Executive Director Joel Ettinger, included the rather startling announcement that the presentation did not include consideration of the services, facilities or operations of either the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, or the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).

Huh? Why invite the public, when the transportation services we use most are outside the bounds of consideration and, thus, discussion?

Following the presentation there was a completely unfocused and inconclusive roundtable which kept returning to the possible impacts, pro and con, of Congestion Pricing; and the public health disaster that is the Cross Bronx Expressway. If not for the commentary of Jonathan Peters, College of Staten Island Associate Professor of Finance--probably the most informed spokesperson for progressive transportation policy in the borough--the forum could as easily have been held in Far Rockaway or Spuyten Duyvil.

ABSTRACTIONS PREFERRED

And when it came time for the public to speak at this public forum, we were instructed not to address specific projects or policy matters but to speak only in the sort of broad, abstract terms--think 'multi-modal,' 'regional' and 'statewide'--NYSDOT used in its presentation. I spoke of the need for a truly functional Staten Island transportation system--adding that such a system can come about only if we stop thinking of Staten Island mass transit as a commuter service.

One panelist checked her watch. Another barely stifled a yawn. I know there's a lesson here, somewhere . . .

State DOT Public Forum on Staten Island Transportation Needs Tomorrow (Wednesday) Night

DON'T BLAME ME

If you're exasperated, as I am, at having to scramble your schedule, with one day's notice, in order to attend what could be an important public hearing, let me assure you, I know the feeling well. Happens all the time.

It's 6:10 p.m. as I write this; the announcement e-mail was received here only hours earlier, at 3:15 p.m. I'm grateful to the Campaign for New York for informing me; I would have heard nothing otherwise.

Here's the e-mail message in its entirety. I will attend and hope as many Staten Islanders as possible will join me.

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NYSDOT TO HOLD PUBLIC FORUM
ON TRANSPORTATION NEEDS IN NEW YORK CITY

Public Meeting and Roundtable Discussion to Focus on Traffic Congestion

New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) Commissioner Astrid C. Glynn will host a forum Wednesday, March 5, in [sic] Staten Island to focus attention on transportation needs in New York City over the next 20 years.

The forum will bve held in the Williamson Theatre at the Center for the Arts, College of Staten Island, 2800 Victory Boulevard. The public meeting will be from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The forum will focus attention on the next authorization of Federal Transportation programs that fund almost half of New York's transportation investments in highways and transit. Commissioner Glynn will oen the public session with a presentation on NYSDOT's 20-Year Needs Assessment and 5-Year Capital Program.

New York Metropolitan Transportation Council Executive Director Joel Ettinger will then follow with an assessment of local impacts. A roundtable discussion by New York transportation experts will then expand on these issues, with a spotlight on the subject of traffic congestion. The panel will be moderated by NYSDOT Chief Engineer Robert Dennison.

Participants include:

•Daniel Albert, President, Queens Independent Living Center; •Linda Baran, President and CEO, Staten Island Chamber of Commerce; •Majora Carter, Executive Director, Sustainable South Bronx; •Cate Contino, Campaign Coordinator, NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign; •Allison de Cerreno, Director, NYU-Wagner Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management; •David Ewing, Eastern Regional Conference, Council of State Governments; •John Galgano, President, CommuterLink ride-matching service; •Josephine Infante, Executive Director, Hunts Point Economic Development Corporation; •Gary LaBarbara, President, Teamsters Joint Council 16; •James McGowan, Honorary Director, New York State division, Automobile Association of America; •Jonathan Peters, Associate Professor of Finance, College of Staten Island; •Sam Schwartz, NY Daily News columnist and president and CEO, Sam Schwartz PLLC.

The roundtable will be followed by a public comment session, giving attendees an opportunity to have a dialogue with the panlists, have questions answered, and raise locally significant transportation issues.

The campus can be reached via several MTA bus routes, including the S62/S92, S61/S91, S44/S94 and S59.

Congestion Pricing, Take 3

Attic window transoms with stained-glass insets, St. George, Staten Island

LATER TODAY, Thursday, January 24, 2008, the New York City Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission will hold hearings in each of the 'outer' boroughs on five plans designed to reduce vehicular congestion in Manhattan's Central Business District while generating revenue for major mass transit improvements citywide.

I have submitted to the Commission written testimony about the plans, which appears later in this entry.

GO AHEAD, CALL ME A FLIP-FLOPPER

I know; I know.

First I supported Mayor Bloomberg's original Congestion Pricing plan and testified in favor of it at a hearing of the New York City Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission (TCMC) late last fall.

But even as one of the plan's ardent supporters, I had to admit it sounded awfully complicated and seemed pretty expensive just to implement.

Then I thought I liked the sound of tolling the East River bridges--a simpler means of discouraging private car commuting into Manhattan's Central Business District. Not only was the bridge tolling plan projected to yield greater income than the mayor's plan; it was also projected to yield greater reductions in traffic congestion as well.

But like the original, this plan had some serious flaws.

The bridge-tolling plan charges for all trips into and out of Manhattan all the time. So it cannot distinguish between trips when traffic is light from trips that occur when congestion is heaviest. And it fails to charge for trips that start and end within Manhattan, where congestion is greatest. Further, how ever unintentionally, the bridge-tolling plan tends to penalize particular classes of drivers and particular locations, some of them small commercial vehicle operators and many of them low- and moderate-income motorists, disproportionately from Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.

I SUPPORT THE ALTERNATIVE CONGESTION PRICING PLAN

Of the three remaining plans being considered by the Commission, one fails to reduce traffic congestion adequately; the other fails to generate income for mass transit improvements. So neither of these can be considered viable. The remaining proposal, called The Alternative Congestion Pricing Plan, is a streamlining of the mayor's original PlaNYC proposal with significantly lower capital and operating costs. It also satisfies the revenue and traffic reduction mandates upon which funding by the Federal Department of Transportation depends.

Here's a profile of the Alternative Congestion Pricing Plan, taken from an interim report of the TCMC:

"The alternative congestion pricing plan is a modified approach to congestion pricing that eliminates the intra-zonal charge [$4] . . . charges inbound trips only, and moves the northern boundary of the charging zone to 60th Street [NOTE: The original plan's northern boundary was 86th Street.] Cars would be charged an $8 fee to drive into the zone on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Trucks would pay $21, except for low-emission trucks, which would pay $7. Under this fee-based plan, drivers would pay once upon entering the charging zone and would be able to make additional trips in and out of the zone at no additional cost. For E-Z Pass users, the value of all tolls paid on MTA or Port Authority bridges and tunnels would be deducted from the fee up to $8." [The alternative plan includes three additional measures affecting taxi/livery service vehicles, parking rates, and parking tax exemptions.]

MY WRITTEN TESTIMONY TO THE COMMISSION

Greetings to the Commissioners.

I appreciate the opportunity to share my views on this important topic. My name is Dan Icolari. I'm a 30-year resident of Staten Island; the founder of Walking is Transportation.com and a co-founder of the St. George Civic Association and the Preservation League of Staten Island. I've served on Community Board 1 and am a member of numerous Staten Island civic and cultural organizations.

As I did at an earlier hearing, I would like to declare support for the concept of congestion pricing as an approach with many benefits to offer residents of every New York City borough. Chief among these are (1)
Reduction of negative health and conduct-of-business impacts of traffic congestion; (2) Development of a new funding source for mass transit improvements; and (3) Positive impact on climate change--a global
problem with potentially life-threatening consequences for our city.

Of the several plans proposed by the New York City Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission, I support The Alternative Congestion Pricing Plan. I base my support on the alternative plan's reduced complexity
lower cost and greater ease of implementation. I believe these attributes offset the alternative plan's various weaknesses, as enumerated by the Commissioners in their interim report.

Thank you for your consideration.

The Vertical Life, or Hill-Walking on Staten Island, Part 8

View of south side of Victory Boulevard between Cebra Avenue and Jersey Street, Ward Hill, Staten Island

AS THE RETAINING WALL CRUMBLES . . .

I had passed the forlorn stretch of Victory Boulevard shown in the photo above countless times, and each time wondered: Where does that double stairway lead?

I speculated that the stairway might provide seldom-used access to a secondary street at the top. Or that there might be a grand old house up there, or the remains of one. But this time, unlike those other times, I didn't have to speculate. I was prepared not only to look for and find the answer, but to document it. I had a digital camera in my pocket, walking shoes on my feet, and time to spare.

So, after I took the picture above, I crossed Victory Boulevard and made my way through the tangle of weeds and refuse to the stairway. Both the concrete stairs and the cast-iron stair-rail were in surprisingly good condition. I took very firm, deliberate steps, both to establish the stability of each stair-tread and to attach myself as firmly as I could to each one.

A DUMP WITH A HARBOR VIEW

What I found when I reached the top of those stairs was a concrete sidewalk that extends, where it survives, to several other, narrower stairways to the west. This modest attempt at neighborhood-building suggests that two or more dwellings were at least planned, if not built, here.

MOLDERING ON

Other remnants--construction debris and piles of young maples--indicate that this harbor-view lot on a Ward Hill hillside has also been used as a dump. But how? Other than the stairs up from Victory Boulevard, there's no street access. Maybe somebody did somebody a favor through somebody's back yard.

Until fairly recently, given Staten Island's plentiful supply of unimproved land, developers had little reason to pursue problem parcels such as this one, with its lack of vehicular street access. Once the current slump ends (and it will; I've lived through three since 1977), and given the increasing attractiveness of the St. George area as a safe, attractive and affordable place to live, it's likely developers will be more willing to seize whatever opportunities they can find, even if it means applying for a variance and meeting other requirements.

In the end, compromises will be reached. Variances will be granted. Profits will be made. In the meantime, these Staircases To Nowhere in Particular molder on.

The Vertical Life, or Hill-Walking on Staten Island, Part 7

Corner of Scribner and Westervelt avenues, Tompkinsville, Staten Island, looking west toward Bismark Avenue, January 5, 2008

NOT BECAUSE THEY'RE QUAINT, BUT BECAUSE THEY WORK

I guess the collapsed plastic sawhorse-ends shown in the photo above are supposed to dissuade you from clambering up what remains of the stone stairs on the southwest corner of Scribner and Westervelt avenues, Tompkinsville. But as Scribner Avenue resident Richard Wonder wrote me, the stairs aren't as bad as they look.

That's not to say, however, that the stairs should be permitted to deteriorate further--or that they should be replaced by some dreary lump of poured concrete, as on the south side of Corson Avenue at Westervelt, one block south.

As the photo above shows, the retaining wall on the south side of the Scribner Avenue roadbed is solid and straight. What's not shown in that photo is the slate sidewalk laid above that retaining wall, which is perfectly serviceable as well.

Like the stairways connecting York Avenue to Highview Avenue and York Terrace just a few blocks west (you'll find photos of them in the October, 2007 archive of this blog), these distinctive pedestrian paths are unique, not only on Staten Island, but in New York City. They deserve to be saved not only because they're charming and quaint but because they're sensible pedestrian amenities that could last another century with adequate investment now.

The Vertical Life, or Hill-Walking on Staten Island, Part 6

PRIVATE STEPS TO 2 PUBLIC STREETS

Situated at the front of a large, street-to-street property that faces New York harbor, the steps seen in the photo above lead to one of the very few surviving pre-Civil War buildings in St. George.

The path straight ahead, on the right side of the house, leads to a second set of exterior stairs, at the rear of the property, that ascend to the street above. The odd little two-story outbuilding next to the right of those stairs is a garage at street level and a potting-shed at garden level.

Fortunately, this property is protected as part of the St. George/New Brighton Historic District and cannot be altered or demolished without detailed review and approval by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The Vertical Life, or Hill-Walking on Staten Island, Part 5

A FAVORITE RETURNS

Whether they're Staten Islanders or not, Walking is Transportation.com readers wrote to say how much they enjoyed "The Vertical Life," a series posted here last October, showing and telling how residents of the island's North Shore negotiate the peaks and valleys we live on, in, under or near.

There were omissions, of course, and readers were quick to point them out--for which I'm grateful.

Tompkinsville reader/neighbor Richard Wonder appreciated the photo and description I posted of the stair/walkway on the north side of Scribner Avenue, going west from Westervelt to Bismarck. But he wondered why I hadn't included the stair/walkway on the south side as well.

Other readers wondered why there was no mention of stairways that used to go somewhere but don't anymore. Still other readers simply wanted to see more of same.

So here goes--the first few of what I hope will be a continuing series. If there's a hillside walkway or stair I've missed, please e-mail me at [email protected] and let me know. Thanks!

The Two Rectories

This hand-colored postcard, postmarked 1911, shows St. Peter's R.C. Church on St. Marks Place near Westervelt Avenue, St. George, Staten Island, prior to the addition of the building's towering campanile, now capped with a gold cross. The Gothic-style frame building to its right was the then-rectory.

This digital image, taken January 9, 2008, shows the much larger rectory that occupies the same site today, set well back from the street, with lawn, plantings and devotional statuary on either side of a central path leading onto the property from the sidewalk.

St. Peter's Stairs to Nowhere

Looking up the hill from Carroll Place, it's clear that the entry steps that interrupted the expanse of stone retaining wall were filled in and cinderblocked over long ago. Much of the path leading to a St. Marks Place house that's no longer there has already been buried by crabgrass, with more to follow. That's the rear of St. Peter's Rectory to the right, with its massive stone retaining wall and formal stairway.

West of the set of blocked stairs shown above is another stairway, also blocked and slowly disappearing, that led from Carroll Place to St. Peter's original St. Marks Place rectory, demolished long ago and replaced with the structure shown at left, seen from the rear.