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Volume 17, Number 45 | April 1 — 7, 2005
Street bill signed
Downtown Express photos by Elisabeth Robert
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Downtown Express is published by |
Written permission of the publisher |
Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed the “Park Row Bill” into law on Monday at City Hall. City Councilmember Alan Gerson, left, introduced the legislation last spring in reaction to post-9/11 security closures on Park Row near Police Plaza and near the New York Stock Exchange. The law requires the city to file a Community Reassessment Impact and Amelioration Statement and hold a public hearing for any streets closed for more than six months, although city officials can get a six-month extension. City Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall, center, and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who did not attend the ceremony, agreed to support the bill after Gerson dropped provisions requiring the city to study street closures sooner. Before Bloomberg signed the bill, Chinatown residents who are suing the city over Park Row told Bloomberg about incidents of police mistreatment connected to the Park Row closing and the mayor said he would look into the matter. State Judge Walter Tolub has said police have acted like a “heavy-handed occupation” force in the area. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation has proposed a series of traffic and street improvements to alleviate the problems caused by the street closure. 
