14TH STREET LITIGATION: AN EFFORT TO PROTECT THE WELLBEING OF GREENWICH VILLAGE, CHELSEA AND FLATIRON RESIDENTS
This is a lawsuit brought by several block associations and resident groups seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, addressed to two separate but inter-related plans by the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT). These plans will (a) reconfigure 14th Street in Manhattan so as to eliminate passenger car traffic and prohibit left turns from the eastbound and westbound lanes, as well as right turns from some eastbound intersections; and (b) make permanent what were originally described as “temporary”, “protected” bike lanes on 12th and 13th Streets. The Petitioners take the position that neither plan has been properly vetted under the NY State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) or the NY City Environmental Quality Review Act (CEQRA), the DOT has refused to release any studies or date supporting its decisions, and both plans are arbitrary and capricious actions by government. These actions threaten the wellbeing of residents of the Greenwich Village, Chelsea and Flatiron districts and threaten the character of these neighborhoods.
The lawsuit seeks to stop implementation of the 14th Street Plan and to restore the 12th and 13th Streets to their former condition unless the plans are properly evaluated in accordance with SEQRA and CEQRA, until all FOIL requests are lawfully responded to and unless the plans demonstrate some modicum of rationality. The DOT actions were originally envisioned in 2017-18as part of a mitigation plan to remedy what was expected to be a lack of subway service on the 14th Street line at a time when the MTA was planning to shut down L Train service from Brooklyn and across 14th Street for a 15-month period. That plan was designed to accommodate a projected massive increase in crosstown bus service and crosstown bike riders. The subway shutdown will no longer occur; service will only be slowed down on the L Train on evenings and weekends. However, the DOT has come up with a new “rationale” for the Corridor Plan (faster bus service) since the original rationale was no longer viable. The Petitioners contend that the Plan will result in increased vehicular traffic on all eastbound and westbound streets between 12th Street and 20th Street, bringing with it air pollution, noise and vibrations endangering the 19th Century buildings which line these blocks, challenging the character of the Greenwich Village, Chelsea and Flatiron communities, as well as causing delay to the crosstown transit of emergency vehicles.
The lawsuit seeks to stop implementation of the 14th Street Plan and to restore the 12th and 13th Streets to their former condition unless the plans are properly evaluated in accordance with SEQRA and CEQRA, until all FOIL requests are lawfully responded to and unless the plans demonstrate some modicum of rationality. The DOT actions were originally envisioned in 2017-18as part of a mitigation plan to remedy what was expected to be a lack of subway service on the 14th Street line at a time when the MTA was planning to shut down L Train service from Brooklyn and across 14th Street for a 15-month period. That plan was designed to accommodate a projected massive increase in crosstown bus service and crosstown bike riders. The subway shutdown will no longer occur; service will only be slowed down on the L Train on evenings and weekends. However, the DOT has come up with a new “rationale” for the Corridor Plan (faster bus service) since the original rationale was no longer viable. The Petitioners contend that the Plan will result in increased vehicular traffic on all eastbound and westbound streets between 12th Street and 20th Street, bringing with it air pollution, noise and vibrations endangering the 19th Century buildings which line these blocks, challenging the character of the Greenwich Village, Chelsea and Flatiron communities, as well as causing delay to the crosstown transit of emergency vehicles.