Somehow this gets lost in the development news about the 2,500 new very expensive apartments being built in White Plains. The numbers are a rough estimate. The point is that for each new apartment, at least one new, private parking space is also created.
- The Continuum rental building is already open at 55 Bank Street: 550 units
- Construction has begun at 60 South Broadway: 700 units
- Hamilton Plaza, site of the decades long pathetic mini mall: 900 units
- something between Franklin and Westchester Avenues: 300 units?
- 440 Hamilton Ave., the long time AT&T office building will convert to apartments when its business tenants vacate: how many?
2,500 new downtown apartments looks like a low estimate. No matter. Tom, Tom (mayor Roach, traffic commissioner Soyk) can clarify as White Plains officials speak yet again to the Battle Hill Association April 19 in a classic White Plains example of the tail wagging the dog.
So what happens on a Saturday morning when a significant percentage of new residents with new parking spaces decide to join the incumbents and drive to a supermarket, Bloomingdale's, a golf course, ...? Remember, these spaces are ALL downtown, not even in the suburbs of White Plains, you know, where the decision makers like Common Council members and commissioners live.
Or do decision makers think these new residents will all walk? Or take the county Bee-Line buses? Or maybe the regional buses and shop in the Adirondacks or in Babylon, L.I.? Those buses have few passengers. I recently rode the Bee-Line 63 bus in early afternoon and was the only passenger for much of the trip to/from Scarsdale. Why is there an ever increasing number of HUGE, mostly empty, buses driving through downtown. Ask Mayor Roach April 19. Ask Traffic Commissioner Soyk April 19. Ask the Battle Hill Association meeting organizers if any of that is on their radar.
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
I was the only passenger on Bee-Line 63 on a Sunny afternoon.
I got the 63 at about 1:05 PM Tuesday March 13, 2018 at the bus terminal across from the train station. For most of the trip I and my companion were the only passengers. We went to a house in Scarsdale. After about an hour, we got the 63 back to White Plains. Again for much of the trip we were the only passengers.
This personal experience confirms my observation over many months and documented in this blog, that Bee-Line buses mostly drive in White Plains with almost no passengers during the day. And White Plains is both the county center and in the center of Westchester County. What a waste. Why does the county legislature spend so much money on the Bee-Line bus system?
This personal experience confirms my observation over many months and documented in this blog, that Bee-Line buses mostly drive in White Plains with almost no passengers during the day. And White Plains is both the county center and in the center of Westchester County. What a waste. Why does the county legislature spend so much money on the Bee-Line bus system?
Monday, March 19, 2018
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks: the Transit District model.
Say what?
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) were two rounds of bilateral conferences and corresponding international treaties involving the United States and the Soviet Union, the Cold War superpowers, on the issue of arms control. The two rounds of talks and agreements were SALT I and SALT II...
The talks led to the STARTs, or Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties ... which proposed limits on multiple-warhead capacities and other restrictions on each side's number of nuclear weapons.
___________________________
Instead of reducing the number of nuclear weapons, a new higher limit was agreed to. That's what the City of White Plains is doing with its expansion and especially with the planning being done in the new Transit District near the train station and bus terminal.
The final report of the Transit District emphasizes lots of environmental stuff along with lots of growth, much of which is the addition of thousands of new high rent apartments. What's lost in all this is that the number of new parking spaces will exceed the number of new apartments.
DOWNTOWN WHITE PLAINS TRANSIT DISTRICT FINAL REPORT Sunday, March 18, 2018
Fewer parking spaces will reduce the number of cars downtown. So why add thousands?
____________________________
So rather than reigning in traffic and pollution, the City of White Plains is establishing big increases. No there's no other interpretation. But it's being presented as responsible planned growth. And it continues to ignore:
1. Decades of the City of White Plains allowing rush hour traffic to go through downtown streets, especially Hamilton Avenue. Those cars don't stop to pay sales tax, they just drive through.
2. Regional buses driving on downtown streets to/from the train station without any real explanation of how that is good for White Plains generally and downtown specifically. Most passengers are probably simply getting on a Metro North train into Manhattan. Are most of the rest getting on private buses taking them to jobs in the corporate parks along 287? That would be ironic, since the buses just got off 287, many having crossed the new bridge over the Hudson River.
Part of the problem is that proposals to have light rail along 287 went nowhere, in part, because White Plains did little or nothing to promote it. Now under the guise of public transportation, White Plains is mindlessly allowing HUGE regional buses to come all the way to the train station. It sounds like a nice regional plan but what's in it for downtown White Plains other than for politicians who live in houses in the suburbs of White Plains to feel like big shots?
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) were two rounds of bilateral conferences and corresponding international treaties involving the United States and the Soviet Union, the Cold War superpowers, on the issue of arms control. The two rounds of talks and agreements were SALT I and SALT II...
The talks led to the STARTs, or Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties ... which proposed limits on multiple-warhead capacities and other restrictions on each side's number of nuclear weapons.
___________________________
Instead of reducing the number of nuclear weapons, a new higher limit was agreed to. That's what the City of White Plains is doing with its expansion and especially with the planning being done in the new Transit District near the train station and bus terminal.
The final report of the Transit District emphasizes lots of environmental stuff along with lots of growth, much of which is the addition of thousands of new high rent apartments. What's lost in all this is that the number of new parking spaces will exceed the number of new apartments.
DOWNTOWN WHITE PLAINS TRANSIT DISTRICT FINAL REPORT Sunday, March 18, 2018
Fewer parking spaces will reduce the number of cars downtown. So why add thousands?
____________________________
So rather than reigning in traffic and pollution, the City of White Plains is establishing big increases. No there's no other interpretation. But it's being presented as responsible planned growth. And it continues to ignore:
1. Decades of the City of White Plains allowing rush hour traffic to go through downtown streets, especially Hamilton Avenue. Those cars don't stop to pay sales tax, they just drive through.
2. Regional buses driving on downtown streets to/from the train station without any real explanation of how that is good for White Plains generally and downtown specifically. Most passengers are probably simply getting on a Metro North train into Manhattan. Are most of the rest getting on private buses taking them to jobs in the corporate parks along 287? That would be ironic, since the buses just got off 287, many having crossed the new bridge over the Hudson River.
Part of the problem is that proposals to have light rail along 287 went nowhere, in part, because White Plains did little or nothing to promote it. Now under the guise of public transportation, White Plains is mindlessly allowing HUGE regional buses to come all the way to the train station. It sounds like a nice regional plan but what's in it for downtown White Plains other than for politicians who live in houses in the suburbs of White Plains to feel like big shots?
Sunday, March 18, 2018
DOWNTOWN WHITE PLAINS TRANSIT DISTRICT FINAL REPORT
Fewer parking spaces will reduce the number of cars downtown. So why add thousands?
Hidden at the city website:
http://cityofwhiteplains.com/DocumentCenter/View/2351
It insists in various ways that the city is determined to reduce traffic, reduce pollution, save the planet, blah, blah, blah. Oh, also encourage use of public transportation, I guess through those HUGE buses like the Trailways buses to the Adirondacks and another bus to Babylon, presumably the one on Long Island, not in Mesopotamia. Are people really commuting to White Plains from far away places? Or are they simply connecting to MetroNorth on their way to Manhattan?
The report states five goals:
1. Create multimodal transportation opportunities and promote use of public transit
2. Catalyze economic development and opportunities for transit-oriented development
3. Create the civic role of the station and create a great place
4. Ensure that public infrastructure improvements and investments are environmentally sustainable and resilient
5. Develop a plan that is financially feasible and can be phased in over time
Wow, sounds great. Wonky but great stuff, right. Except White Plains has a long record of talking a good game but not doing it. Look at old renderings of the City Center plaza. No traffic. No road. Yeah, right.
Here's the rub. Thousands of new apartments are planned, each with at least one parking space. The Continuum has 550 units and about 600 spaces. The proposed Hamilton Plaza will have 900 units and over 1,000 parking spaces. Both are a block or so from the train station. There will be another 700 units at the 60 South Broadway development, which is under construction. And another 300 or so spaces between Westchester Avenue and Franklin Avenue. So what's with all those additional parking spaces? Aren't millennial renters going to live without cars?
How the heck does any of that meet the stated objectives? And factor in the BUSES, which never seem to have many riders. The regional buses are a mystery but the Bee-Line county buses seem absurd. Last week on a sunny afternoon I took the 63 from the train station bus terminal to a residential street in Scarsdale. I was the only rider for much of the trip in both directions. The county could save money giving chits for Uber.
This Transit District thing lacks credibility. It could be the urban planning debacle of this millennium, reviled in 50 years as is that of 50 years ago.
You want fewer cars in White Plains? REDUCE the number of parking spaces.
Explain how regional buses coming over the new Hudson River bridge help White Plains.
Explain how all the rush hour traffic that's been driving through White Plains for decades, especially on Hamilton Avenue, is good for White Plains.
This type of use is like allowing strangers to use your bathroom. It may be good for them but what do you get out of it?
How about intra-city transportation, i.e., a White Plains bus or trolley system or equivalent that gets residents around White Plains? Stop the civic self aggrandizement with HUGE regional buses driving into downtown White Plains on downtown streets, you know, the downtown streets on which few of the decision makers live. They are doing grand planning that does not effect them.
Hidden at the city website:
DOWNTOWN
WHITE PLAINS
TRANSIT DISTRICT
FINAL REPORT
http://cityofwhiteplains.com/DocumentCenter/View/2351
It insists in various ways that the city is determined to reduce traffic, reduce pollution, save the planet, blah, blah, blah. Oh, also encourage use of public transportation, I guess through those HUGE buses like the Trailways buses to the Adirondacks and another bus to Babylon, presumably the one on Long Island, not in Mesopotamia. Are people really commuting to White Plains from far away places? Or are they simply connecting to MetroNorth on their way to Manhattan?
The report states five goals:
1. Create multimodal transportation opportunities and promote use of public transit
2. Catalyze economic development and opportunities for transit-oriented development
3. Create the civic role of the station and create a great place
4. Ensure that public infrastructure improvements and investments are environmentally sustainable and resilient
5. Develop a plan that is financially feasible and can be phased in over time
Wow, sounds great. Wonky but great stuff, right. Except White Plains has a long record of talking a good game but not doing it. Look at old renderings of the City Center plaza. No traffic. No road. Yeah, right.
Here's the rub. Thousands of new apartments are planned, each with at least one parking space. The Continuum has 550 units and about 600 spaces. The proposed Hamilton Plaza will have 900 units and over 1,000 parking spaces. Both are a block or so from the train station. There will be another 700 units at the 60 South Broadway development, which is under construction. And another 300 or so spaces between Westchester Avenue and Franklin Avenue. So what's with all those additional parking spaces? Aren't millennial renters going to live without cars?
How the heck does any of that meet the stated objectives? And factor in the BUSES, which never seem to have many riders. The regional buses are a mystery but the Bee-Line county buses seem absurd. Last week on a sunny afternoon I took the 63 from the train station bus terminal to a residential street in Scarsdale. I was the only rider for much of the trip in both directions. The county could save money giving chits for Uber.
This Transit District thing lacks credibility. It could be the urban planning debacle of this millennium, reviled in 50 years as is that of 50 years ago.
You want fewer cars in White Plains? REDUCE the number of parking spaces.
Explain how regional buses coming over the new Hudson River bridge help White Plains.
Explain how all the rush hour traffic that's been driving through White Plains for decades, especially on Hamilton Avenue, is good for White Plains.
This type of use is like allowing strangers to use your bathroom. It may be good for them but what do you get out of it?
How about intra-city transportation, i.e., a White Plains bus or trolley system or equivalent that gets residents around White Plains? Stop the civic self aggrandizement with HUGE regional buses driving into downtown White Plains on downtown streets, you know, the downtown streets on which few of the decision makers live. They are doing grand planning that does not effect them.
Hamilton Plaza project.
| from: | Ken | ||
| to: | aley@akrf.com, hanqing.wu@rwdi.com, edyta.chruscinski@rwdi.com | ||
| cc: | planning@whiteplainsny.gov, "transitdistrict@whiteplainsny.gov" | ||
| date: | Sun, Mar 18, 2018 at 9:49 AM | ||
| subject: | Microsoft Word - 200 Hamilton Avenue_Final Scope_05012017 |
http://www.cityofwhiteplains.
Walking down Hamilton Avenue in recent days has been VERY difficult because of the wind. Unfortunately, for 50 years it has been one of many desolate, wind-swept mega streets in downtown White Plains. It's good that wind is being considered in design. I hope it's not too late to mitigate the existing problems.
In the last two years the City of White Plains has allowed bus traffic to/from the bus terminal adjacent to the train station and the train station itself to increase dramatically. Are you aware of that and has it been factored into your design?
On a more fundamental level, has the City of White Plains even considered, much less explained, how this increased bus traffic benefits the City of White Plains? The only benefit would seem to be the sad little coffee shop at the train station that these commuters pass.
And you're adding another 1,000 parking spaces? What happened to the presumption that millennials will forgo cars? You can never have enough lanes or enough parking spaces. Try something different. Don't continue to compound the problem.
Just try walking around that area. Just try it. Try walking to the walking path on the west side of the tracks from say 4 Martine Avenue after 4 PM. Experience the impediments and danger.
White Plains is pedestrian hostile in the extreme. It's Motown on steroids. All that matters to its decision makers is for it to be convenient for them to drive and park in downtown for their amusement: shopping, restaurants, etc.
Friday, March 9, 2018
Open space is needed DOWNTOWN, not at the city border.
Thursday 6:34 AM, March 8, 2018, the day after the snow storm:
The roof of the Galleria parking lot is not cleared of snow even though the adjacent streets and sidewalks are. It's now Friday 2:40 PM and it's still not cleared. That's because no one parks there. It's that valuable White Plains commodity: open space.
During a recent Common Council meeting a member was discussing a current city shakedown of a developer for open space but it's near Liberty Park, which is near Silver Lake, which is in a bordering municipality. In other words, it's a farce and waste of time for city officials to be pretending that they are doing anything meaningful by trying to add open space on the borders of White Plains.
Open space on roofs of apartment buildings and municipal garages. Saturday, January 30, 2016
With just a little imagination we can substantially expand the amount of open space in urban downtown White Plains.
The City of White Plains should require all new residential apartment buildings to have green and recreational roofs. Any existing regulations that might inhibit such addition of this to existing buildings should be reviewed and reconsidered...
The City has many municipal parking garages scattered around town to serve the many multiple lane roads that slash through downtown. Obviously each garage has an open top level, which could be made into a green roof at the very least or more imaginatively into a public open space, some with recreational elements.
Yes, the City would lose parking spaces but it cannot sustain continual increase in cars driven and parked. There can never be enough roads and never enough parking. People need to move around in different ways. And, no, the Bee Line is not the answer. That county bus system is a ridiculous option for people moving around White Plains. The City needs to step up its efforts on this.
Downtown White Plains will not magically have any real increase in ground level open space at this late stage of its irregular development. It can, however, start to transform its abundant top level space from something forgotten into something to remember.
________________________________
Open space on Galleria parking lot roof could be a park. Saturday, February 17, 2018
With a little imagination, not even a lot. Photo below taken Saturday Feb. 17, 2018 at 2:30 PM. In other words in the middle of the afternoon on a cold overcast winter day: perfect for shopping. And even then the garage roof of the Galleria indoor mall has no cars, ZERO. Could that space be put to good use?
________________________________
The roof of the Galleria parking lot is not cleared of snow even though the adjacent streets and sidewalks are. It's now Friday 2:40 PM and it's still not cleared. That's because no one parks there. It's that valuable White Plains commodity: open space.
During a recent Common Council meeting a member was discussing a current city shakedown of a developer for open space but it's near Liberty Park, which is near Silver Lake, which is in a bordering municipality. In other words, it's a farce and waste of time for city officials to be pretending that they are doing anything meaningful by trying to add open space on the borders of White Plains.
Open space on roofs of apartment buildings and municipal garages. Saturday, January 30, 2016
With just a little imagination we can substantially expand the amount of open space in urban downtown White Plains.
The City of White Plains should require all new residential apartment buildings to have green and recreational roofs. Any existing regulations that might inhibit such addition of this to existing buildings should be reviewed and reconsidered...
The City has many municipal parking garages scattered around town to serve the many multiple lane roads that slash through downtown. Obviously each garage has an open top level, which could be made into a green roof at the very least or more imaginatively into a public open space, some with recreational elements.
Yes, the City would lose parking spaces but it cannot sustain continual increase in cars driven and parked. There can never be enough roads and never enough parking. People need to move around in different ways. And, no, the Bee Line is not the answer. That county bus system is a ridiculous option for people moving around White Plains. The City needs to step up its efforts on this.
Downtown White Plains will not magically have any real increase in ground level open space at this late stage of its irregular development. It can, however, start to transform its abundant top level space from something forgotten into something to remember.
________________________________
Open space on Galleria parking lot roof could be a park. Saturday, February 17, 2018
With a little imagination, not even a lot. Photo below taken Saturday Feb. 17, 2018 at 2:30 PM. In other words in the middle of the afternoon on a cold overcast winter day: perfect for shopping. And even then the garage roof of the Galleria indoor mall has no cars, ZERO. Could that space be put to good use?
________________________________
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