Seen & Heard: Bright Red Bus Lanes

••• The Department of Transportation decided to uglify Broadway by painting the bus lane Jungle Red.

••• Today from 11 a.m to 2 p.m.: Lower Manhattan Community Church’s Back to School Block Party, on Murray between W. Broadway and Greenwich. Expect bounce houses, obstacle courses, music, snacks, carnival games, and more. Everyone is welcome.

••• And everyone is also welcome at tomorrow’s Chabad of Tribeca street fair (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.). It’s on Reade between Church and Broadway. There will be arts and crafts, glitter tattoos, music, bounce houses, and more.

••• Opening today at Lubov: Kricket Lane’s Prepositions All the Way Down. “In Kricket Lane’s surreal visual world, it’s in a series of half-Imperative, partly-cooing ask-commands: sculptural portmanteaus of nature- and human-made, inspired by her love for and interactions with her dog.

••• The eight-story building at 8 Beach is for sale. From the announcement: “The approximate 14,176 SF asset is currently configured with commercial tenants on the first three floors, and residential tenants on floors four and above. The second and third floor units can be converted to residential as per zoning. Lease roll overs begin 6/30/2018 until 3/31/2021, not including the AT&T antenna on the roof that has a lease until 2021 and the ground floor retail tenant [Yaya Nails] who has a lease until 2028. All residential units are fair market besides a rent stabilized tenant on the seventh floor. The second floor commercial unit is currently vacant.” PDF with more info.

••• And a broker sent me a message that 9 N. Moore [where Sapar Contemporary gallery is] is also on the market: “A unique opportunity to own a live/work space with incredible sidewalk frontage. Is zoned for commercial—the possibilities are endless with sidewalk frontage for this price!” Asking price is $4.75 million.

 

4 Comments

  1. So the aesthetic discomfort of a red bus lane trumps the possible improvement in bus service? Seems myopic.

    • Leaving aside the absence of enforcement, the red paint is not going to solve the basic problem that it leaves exactly one traveling lane on Broadway. IIRC this red paint treatment was tested in areas with at least two travel lanes. With one travel lane, a single double-parked vehicle forces everyone into the bus lane to pass by.

    • Red will be of dubious transit improvement value, not to mention dubious aesthetic value.

      More important would be to enforce the exclusivity of the bus lanes. Even better, make them bus rapid transit lanes with timed lights. Even better still, implement modern streetcars in those lanes.

  2. Red for notice and safety – I’m ok with it.

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