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Transportation & Environment
Application by the New York City Department of Transportation to install a valet bicycle parking concession on the sidewalk of Broadway, between 41st and 42nd Streets
WHEREAS, The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) seeks to implement a pilot program to gauge the demand for valet bicycle parking at three (3) locations in the City: Broadway between 41st and 42nd Sts, University Place at 14th St, and Myrtle-Wyckoff Plaza; and
WHEREAS, DOT seeks to locate these experimental facilities near transit hubs or major destinations so that cyclists have a place to securely store their bicycles during the day; and
WHEREAS, DOT proposes to fashion the facilities from solar-powered, re-purposed shipping containers, each 25 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 8 feet tall; and
WHEREAS, The facilities would each store up to 29 bicycles at any given time; and
WHEREAS, The proposed concession would operate from at least 7am until at least 7pm; and
WHEREAS, The proposed concession would run from April of 2018 until mid-November 2018, with the option to extend service, should the concept prove successful; and
WHEREAS, DOT would select a concessionaire to manage each proposed location via the RFP process; and
WHEREAS, The Applicant proposes to require the concessionaire to charge only a nominal fee, such as $1/day for the storage service; and
WHEREAS, DOT envisions the concessionaire providing bicycle-related retail and repair services in addition to securely parking the bicycles; and
WHEREAS, DOT proposes to allow the concessionaire to also sell other, unrelated items in order to be commercially successful; and
WHEREAS, Although CB5 recognizes the value of pilot programs that collect valuable data for application to future projects, the Applicant's proposal requires an extremely large footprint on the sidewalk of one of the district's most heavily trafficked blocks; and
WHEREAS, The proposed facility would remove valuable public space and create a large obstruction and cause an unnecessary and significant burden on pedestrian flow; and
WHEREAS, CB5 believes the proposed fee of $1/day would be insufficient to support the operation without forcing the operator to sell non-bicycle-related concessions; and
WHEREAS, CB5 traditionally opposes the creation of new newsstands (which often have even smaller footprints than the proposed facility), as they take valuable sidewalk space from pedestrians; and
WHEREAS, CB5 believes DOT's proposed fee of $1/day would fail to provide any usable data for the future; and
WHEREAS, CB5 believes the small number of bicycles that could be stored at any given time would fail to provide any usable data for the future; therefore be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends denial of New York City Department of Transportation's Application to install a valet bicycle parking concession on the sidewalk of Broadway, between 41st and 42nd Streets.