West Side Rag » A New Bike Lane, Smoking Restrictions and Homelessness are Hot Topics At Community Board Meeting

Posted on September 2, 2020 at 2:45 pm by Carol Tannenhauser

CB 7 September Full Board Assembly.

By Carol Tannenhauser

Greater than 200 folks logged in to the Group Board 7 assembly on Tuesday night time to speak bike lanes, liquor licenses, smoking legal guidelines and probably the most heated matter of the day — homelessness.

Early within the assembly, Captain Neil Zuber, commander of the twentieth Precinct, logged in to induce locals to report crimes.

“Please, once you see one thing — drug use, public lewdness — it’s a must to report it, name 911. If we’re not conscious that one thing’s taking place and when and the place, we will’t presumably tackle it. Please name 911. It really works. Yesterday, primarily based on elevated reporting and our investigation, we had been able to make 12 arrests of dealers and people buying drugs on the street. This root trigger of what’s driving a lot of the standard of life points was addressed in a really massive method, because of the partnership with the folks of the neighborhood. Lots of people are afraid in the event that they name 911, it’ll clog up the system. That’s not going to occur. In case you’re not sure what to do, name 911. By all means, err on the facet of warning.”

Subsequent up was the enterprise session:

Two liquor licenses had been authorized — one for a spot known as Bonita, at 483 Columbus Avenue, the outdated Bellini spot.

Six constructing renovations got the go forward, involving a rooftop air conditioner, a ramp, a door and a bay window.

Extended consideration was paid to the decision offered by Howard Yaruss of the Transportation Committee in favor of a two-way protected bike lane on West 72nd Road.

”I don’t like to consider it as solely a motorbike lane decision,” Yaruss mentioned. “It’s calling for the Division of Transportation and consultants to give you one thing that can make 72nd a greater avenue – safer, extra nice and, after all, with a protected bike lane, connecting the north/south lanes and Central Park West with Riverside Drive.” The decision handed.

The final order of enterprise concerned smoking on the perimeter of metropolis parks, for instance, on the benches that sit exterior Central Park. Apparently, in 2002, when laws authored by Gale Brewer to make NYC parks smoke-free handed, an exemption was made for the sides, in addition to parking tons and medians. Final night time, CB 7 handed a decision banning smoking on the perimeter of parks and in parking tons and medians, however marijuana was not included.

Subsequent got here the general public session. Unsurprisingly it centered on the problems surrounding the folks experiencing homelessness who’ve been moved to motels within the neighborhood. A number of audio system spoke up in favor of motels getting used as shelters; a lot of the proponents mentioned they had been from neighborhoods apart from the UWS.

The same quantity spoke towards the shelters, although they had been all from the neighborhood. The opponents argued that the shelters serve neither the homeless purchasers nor the neighborhood properly.

If you wish to see and listen to for your self — and also you’ve acquired 5 hours — try the total September neighborhood board assembly beneath.