Kips Bay Public Plaza
The redesign of an access road as a public plaza. Implementing a plaza in this space will provide a gathering space for residents, beautify the neighborhood and address current safety and traffic concerns.
Leader
Erica Rand Silverman
Location
between 33rd and 30th streets on 2nd Avenue New York, NY 10016
About the project
KBNA and DOT are working together to establish a temporary public plaza in the Kips Bay neighborhood as our area is one that has the least amount of public open space in the city. The plaza is proposed for the access road on 2nd Avenue between 33rd and 30th streets, in front of the Kips Bay movie theater, new Fairway store and other retailers. It is our hope that the public plaza will
1. serve as an intergenerational gathering space for neighborhood residents and customers of neighboring retail spaces
2. beautify the neighborhood by replacing an access road/parking strip with greenery and park-like furnishings
3. improve safety and traffic concerns
See Kips Bay Public Plaza facebook page by clicking here for images, etc
See Kips Bay Neighborhood Alliance tumblr blog by clicking here
The Steps
1. KBNA and NYC DOT have been meeting with neighborhood residents in community workshops to receive feedback on proposed plaza design, loading issues, as well as traffic and parking concerns.
2. DOT and KBNA are working together to garner support from the neighborhood as a whole, as well as residents and commerical retailers who will be most affected by the implementation of a plaza.
2. DOT will use the feedback to deveop a final proposal to present at the Community Six Board Meetings.
3. KBNA is working to raise funds to pay for the mainenance of the plaza, which would be run by the DOE Fund.
4. Once the appropriate funds have been raised and the DOT has made their recommendations to Community Board Six, the board will vote on whether or not to implement the plaza.
5. If a plaza is passed, DOT will begin to make improvements to the site during Summer 2013
Previous steps have included: a trial plaza period for three weekends in Summer 2011 and three months in Summer 2012, extensive research by DOT on traffic patterns of the access road and surrounding streets, as well as various community meetings with Community Board Six and the neighborhood residents
Why we‘re doing it
Kips Bay neighborhood is identified as one of the neighborhoods in NYC with the last amount of open public space. The neighborhood has a few playgrounds, but no space that can be used as an intergenerational gathering space.