9/23/01: REPORT FROM THE FRONT #2

<< 

So I’m back in my apartment.  It’s eerie and depressing and inconvenient and will take some getting used to.  Many of my 9,000 Battery Park City neighbors will never return or are trying to get out of their leases.  Some landlords are fighting them on this.

The residents who have been displaced are feeling a little forgotten and guilty about being angry and impatient to get home.  After all, being temporarily homeless is nothing compared to the thousands of people killed across the street from us.  Of course, it grates on us that hotlines for things like discounted Broadway Show tickets were set up before anything was done for us.

Residents are organizing to get some action.  Our neighborhood will never be the same, but we have to figure out how to make it habitable now.  Below is a message I posted on the Battery Park City emergency message boards, hosted by the Battery Park City Authority, where there is heated discussion about moving forward… and moving out.  Most of it will be uninteresting to you, but it will give you an idea of how things are down here.  The BPCA is the Battery Park City Authority.  Rockrose is my building management company, they manage three other apartment buildings Downtown as well.

<< 

posted 09-23-2001 01:12 AM            

This note started as a building / neighborhood update specifically for 22 River Terrace residents, but ended up with ideas for moving forward that are relevant to all of Battery Park City, the BPCA and to the City/State govs. So I'm starting a new topic for re-planning ideas.

It would be great to consolidate all of our ideas for BPC re-planning which reconcile the clean up effort, the new environment we're now facing and our daily lives in BPC.

I've been back at 22 River Terrace for three days now. As of yesterday, there were about 30 apartments occupied. I didn't check the status today.

The Food Emporium is open (not taking credit cards because phone and network connections are still down over there), as are other restaurants and stores on that section of Greenwich Street. It's a little hike to get there (up Westside Hwy, across Harrison to Greenwich). The closest open subway is the 1/9 at Franklin. The nearest a cab can get to date is Canal on any of the North/South streets.

The maintenance and door staffs of 22 RT have been here all along. The building, streets and sidewalks are clean. The back park/field is still littered with office papers blown from the WTC, however. Very intense to be up close and personal with remnants of strangers' daily lives that ended so unexpectedly -- and right in front of my eyes.

A cleaning crew came by my apartment yesterday offering to vacuum fallout dust. The air testing crew is going through apartments of 22 RT tonight and tomorrow.

NYPD is using the Rockefeller Park lawn as a helicopter landing pad. The helicopters come in and out about once an hour. It's 12:30 AM and there's one firing up out there now. NYPD Canine units are stationed on River Terrace in front of 22, but they're slowly moving out as the rescue effort turns to recovery & clean up.

Parked on Warren is a large trailer generator, which I guess is powering 22 RT. If you live on the North side of 22 RT, it is probably fairly loud.

There has been no mail delivery yet.

Here are a few things that I think would make life much easier here -- and for some, make it possible at all. Some of these actions would be the responsibility of Rockrose, some of the BPCA, some of the City/State Governments. In all cases, Rockrose would be of great assistance by taking direct action to promote and support:

1. TRANSPORTATION

A. Implement a BPC Shuttle Bus from Chambers/Westside Hwy with 3 stops: 1st at Greenwich & Harrison; 2nd at Franklin Street Station; 3rd at Canal and Broadway. I haven't timed and mapped the route, but I estimate that 4 shuttles could service each of these stops at 30-45 minute intervals. If they run from 8a-Midnight, 4 daily shifts of 4 part time drivers each shift would suffice to cover 7 days a week. All buses should be disabled equipped.

B. Implement BPC "Shuttle Carts" from Chambers/Westside Highway with 5-7 stops at strategic points near all buildings, to move people and their stuff. Four of these would probably suffice, with a fifth dedicated to people who aren't as mobile and need to be dropped directly in front of their buildings. Our disabled residents should also be able to call and request an appropriately equipped Shuttle Cart to pick them up and take them to the Shuttle Bus stop.

C. Open Westside Highway or Church & Hudson all the way down to Chambers for cabs and private cars. At least for cabs and cars with residents in them. As soon as possible, route traffic from Chambers down River Terrace to North End to circumvent Clean Up City and eventually get to South End.

2. IDENTIFICATION
First Priority: Open Battery Park City to everyone!! Build the gates around Clean Up City and let us live freely!!! IF, however, the checkpoints are going to remain in effect for longer than one month, here are some suggestions for better facilitation:

A. Someone mentioned on these boards the idea of building-issued IDs. This would be very useful and easy enough for either the BPCA or building management to do. (Personally, this would save me having to explain 6 times on every trip out and back why my California drivers license has my New York address on it. It's not a long story, but I admit it does look suspect and I'm starting to feel like I'm doing something wrong!)

B. Assign permanent and consistent NYPD Officers or Park Police at all checkpoints so that we can become familiar with each other and it's slightly less like entering hostile, occupied territory when returning from work or the store.

C. NYPD and Park Police should be gently reminded that this is our home, we live here and we will rebuild it -- we're not criminals. I respect and admire our law enforcement but being scrutinized repeatedly each time I come home will start to wear on me. Soon.

D. VISITOR PASSES
Build 2 or 3 guard houses for BPC, install phones in them and give every BPC resident the number so they can call and inform the guard of expected visitors or employees, etc. that will be entering. Or give the building managers guest passes to issue to residents.

3. CLEAN UP CITY
As it becomes practical, the City should restructure Clean Up City to co-exist peacefully and productively with Battery Park City as follows:

A. NYPD Helicopters should not need to land on the Rockefeller Park lawn much longer. VIP's land at the 30th Street heliport and military choppers land else where. I assume there are excellent reasons why NYPD is landing here, but they probably won't apply much longer.

B. Buses and vehicles parked on the West side of Westside Hwy should be moved slightly and a permanent, safe walkway created so that pedestrians can stay out of the way of the barges and cranes removing WTC debris, but also out of the center lane of the Highway.

C. Neighborhood stores should be re-opened as soon as possible. Issue passes for vendor and delivery trucks if necessary. This would be useful not only to residents, but to our newest resident work force, the Clean Up Crews, Rebuild Crews yet to start and Law Enforcement people who will be with us for months or years to come.

D. Re-open the movie theater as soon as possible. I for one would find comfort sitting in "my" theater during these trying times.

4. BUILDING EMERGENCY STRATEGIES
Rockrose should formulate emergency plans and make them known to tenants of all their buildings. As someone from Tribeca Pointe pointed out to me today, there are many things they could have done to facilitate our return better. In future emergencies, I'd feel better if I knew they were going to be present, prepared and fully committed to helping us survive. Emergency strategies might cover evacuation and emergency transportation; food, water, first aid supplies and radios / battery-powered televisions on hand; communication methods for instantly communicating with every apartment; lists of important numbers and emergency contact info for tenants; etc.

***

I have no prior war experience from which to judge Rockrose's performance in this situation. The building and my apartment, as far as I can tell, are as clean and safe as within their power to make them. Nothing was stolen from my apartment. Every time I've come here since 9/11 the building staff has been here. Most importantly, they evacuated us quickly.

I don't know how I feel about the rent issue yet. There must be a way to ease all BPC landlords' financial pain without exploiting their already traumatized tenants. With billions in aid money circulating, maybe there is a way to subsidize life in Battery Park City that will keep landlords afloat until better times and also support and incent the brave residents who are willing to resume life here.

I do know that the quicker this neighborhood returns to some semblance of normalcy, the better I'll feel about writing that huge rent check every month. I hope to see Rockrose step up to lead Battery Park City re-planning with the BPCA.

I also hope to see you all home soon. I don't know you personally, but I miss seeing you walk your dogs and play with your kids outside my window.

Finally, I would ask the Battery Park City Authority to continue developing Tear Drop Park, but to consider dedicating it to the Tears we all now shed.

best,
Mary Bourke

[responses from neighbors on Battery Park City Authority Message Boards:]

BPC Rebuilding Supporter unregistered	posted 09-23-2001 09:33 PM               Here are the 2 closes Food Emporiums: 316 GREENWICH ST (Duane St.) NEW YORK,NY 10013 Phone:212.766.4598 Hours:Mon 7am - Sat 12am Sun 7am-12am 1 miles away 10 UNION SQUARE (14 St. & Park Ave.) NEW YORK,NY 10003 Phone:212.353.3841 Hours:Mon 7am - Sat 12am Sun 7am-12am 2 miles away IP: 168.191.120.109
Sharon Junior Member	posted 09-23-2001 08:33 PM             hi mary, thanks for your ideas! where is The Food Emporium you refer to? thanks- sharon IP: 207.237.234.25
Resident unregistered	posted 09-23-2001 08:30 PM               M.Williams and all others with great ideas. Please come to the Battery Park City Resident's Association Meeting that is being held tomorrow, monday at 7:00pm ont he basketball courts at Canal and 6th. IP: 64.152.169.126
BPC Rebuilding Supporter unregistered	posted 09-23-2001 06:22 PM               I agree. Mary you have great ideas. We should also think of ideas for helping people get access to medication especially since the cold and flu season is right around the corner. It will be difficult especially for the families with small children, elderly and disabled. IP: 168.191.122.27
Rick of BPC unregistered	posted 09-23-2001 06:05 PM               There are Great Ideas here - please remember there are people in the South of BPC too. I also have been a bus shuttle - we really should address the needs of north and south. In the South - we have no grocery stores or pharmacies at this point - I think a grocery delivery service would greatly aid all residents of North and South given the difficulty to walk in - especially the elderly and those with health problems. The delivery service could use one of the Grocery Web Sites but it is the delivery which is important. Hope this helps IP: 199.50.26.139
M.Williams Junior Member	posted 09-23-2001 05:46 PM             Hi...You must be the Mary I met the other day who helped me with my suticase. This is an amazing list of detailed ways to help, now what we need is the city officials behind us and Rockrose. The park and the espalande are open to all of us that are past that check point on West side Hwy. I would also love to see more people out taking a walk .....what few there may be of us. I just finished from a walk there (It is Sunday afternoon) and it is beautiful out there. Mary....pls email me at michelle41rt@aol.com if you are also interested in getting our needs heard by whomever we need to get in front of to help this community. I don't know all the answers either but I am sure we can find others who will help as well. IP: 64.12.104.177
treanort unregistered	posted 09-23-2001 02:41 PM               Mary, you have excellent ideas, and as a resident of 22 Riv as well I support them, and I hope we can help to implement them as well. I have also been back for 3 days and I see improvements each day. IP: 207.237.241.76
22 river terrace unregistered	posted 09-23-2001 11:09 AM               Great collection of ideas. Maybe we should start a topic about rebuilding and have people add to the list? IP: 207.237.241.38
David Sterling Member	posted 09-23-2001 08:25 AM             Great letter! It seems to me more and more from what I read here and what I'm sensing from other reports is that the best chance we have of mobilizing on these issues is to work with our building Boards or managing agents or both. Our Board will be meeting Wednesday morning and I'll make sure they have a copy of your ideas. I need to review a map, however, regarding your shuttle stop suggestions. I can't remember where Harrison is . . . but it seems to me that none of your stops consider the south neighborhood of BPC, which is where I live. Your ideas are great, but we might need to add some stops or smaller shuttles to come north from southern tip via Battery Place or some such . . . IP: 216.172.242.51
Tammy M. unregistered	posted 09-23-2001 08:12 AM               Thank you for an insightful and hopeful posting. If the BPCA and the Mayor can get working on ideas like this, we may be able to save our neighborhood and the quality of life we used to enjoy. Without these measures, I know that overwhelmed neighbors will begin leaving in droves because they cannot tolerate all of the other aspects. For me it will be hard enough to go back to Gateway, so much has been lost.. job, my coworkers, my friends, my neighbors, my wedding location, and for all of our neighbors it includes our way of life, our shopping areas, our entertainment, our corner stores, our local coffee/ice cream shops and dog walking areas. Your ideas bring great hope to of trying to reestablish some of the fabulous feelings of our neighborhood, warmth, friendliness, a sense of belonging and a sense of community. Thank You.