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Top Priority Should Go to the Subways
By ROBERTA BRANDES GRATZ
Bravo to the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. for proposing
as a first big step in the rebuilding of the World Trade Center
site a truly functional, efficient underground transit hub
as well as the re-creation of the area's former street grid.
But there is still a major problem to be resolved: Whose needs
will be put first in the transportation hub — city subway riders'
or suburban commuters'?
Good mass transit and reasonably short blocks are the best
combination for the creation of a lively, economically
vibrant urban place. Unfortunately, life-deadening superblocks
have been the overarching fact of life in most American cities
in the last half-century.
Small blocks, long avenues, frequent intersections, varied
building sizes and styles, diversified economic uses,
street-level variety and serendipity everywhere are what make
vibrant districts. In other words, the qualities enjoyed almost
everywhere else in lower Manhattan except on the former
World Trade Center site where 200 years of urban evolution
was wiped out in the 1960s.
It took 20 years for an interesting commercial life to emerge
around the twin towers and humanize the site. So it's good news
that the development corporation wants to avoid putting the area
through that experience again.
The transit plan requires a cautionary note, however. Connecting
all existing transit routes in a hub that makes transfers easier
is obviously a worthy goal. But part of the proposal is to connect
the Long Island Rail Road to lower Manhattan, eliminating the need
to transfer to the subway at the Atlantic Ave. terminal.
This would be expensive. More important, it apparently would
involve LIRR trains sharing track space with the A train, which
would impinge on service for more than 100,000 A train riders.
Instead of making the suburban commuters' trip more convenient,
the primary aim should be to improve the subway commuters'
access to downtown. City residents should be the priority,
not suburban commuters who choose to live out of the city while
making their living in it.
Every available dime should be spent first on subway improvements —
including the Second Ave. line — before worrying about eliminating
the suburbanites' transfer from commuter rail to subway.
The last two decades of subway upgrades have improved the livability
and economic health of many once-faded neighborhoods. Ask people
in Brooklyn's Park Slope, Fort Greene and other areas how much
better their lives are and how much more appealing their neighborhoods
are to newcomers who once considered a move to the suburbs.
If the G train saw similar improvements, neighborhoods along its
path would enjoy new life. The G runs through the heart of
working-class and industrial New York, an area that is already
the spine of an emerging arts district where art and industry
combine to incubate innovative businesses. Improved transit
would go far to spur even greater activity in such neighborhoods.
So as the plans for rebuilding lower Manhattan move forward,
let city residents and new entrepreneurs be the No. 1 priority.
Maybe more suburbanites would consider moving into the city,
just as so many young families are opting to stay.
Gratz is the author of "Cities Back From the Edge:
New Life for Downtown."
Original Publication Date: 4/29/02
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