BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC | A yearlong survey conducted to figure out community needs in Lower Manhattan yielded some surprises, including that optimism resides in Battery Park City.
When asked what they would change about their neighborhood, the number one response was “not one thing: it’s nice here!”
“From Battery City Park, we heard people saying that it’s wonderful here, no changes at all, we love it the way it is,” said Michael Levine, Community Board 1’s planning consultant, in a phone interview.
The Seaport/Civic Center was the only other area to garner the same response, but it was only two percent there, compared to almost 11 in Battery Park City.
Levine, who also teaches urban planning at Pace University, enlisted his students to conduct the survey. One class with 30 students would tackle one of C.B. 1’s four neighborhoods — Battery Park City, Tribeca, Seaport/Civic Center and the Financial District. Each student was required to do ten surveys, Levine said.
There were 1,187 people interviewed, which included businesspeople, tourists, students and residents. From Battery Park City, 366 people participated in the survey, 239 from the Financial District, 235 from Tribeca and 347 from the Seaport/Civic Center.
Levine said this was the first time a survey of this kind had been undertaken for C.B. 1. It was inspired by another professor who had done something similar for community boards in Brooklyn and Harlem, he said.
In addition to the 120 students, there were two volunteers from Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer’s office, two students from the City College of New York and the board’s urban fellow who also worked on the project.
“It was a massive effort,” said Levine.
The students stood at 40 intersections, Levine explained, and asked those passing by if they would be interviewed. Catherine McVay Hughes, the board’s chairperson, picked the intersections.
The locations were chosen so that they were spread out roughly evenly within C.B. 1, Hughes explained in an email last week. She looked for areas where residents live or frequent.
The results of the survey showed that the most serious problems in C.B. 1 are overcrowded streets and sidewalks, dirty subways, too much noise and a lack of affordable housing.
“These are things that we suspected we would find,” Levine said when he presented the results to the full board at their monthly meeting on Tues., July 28.
Respondents said the top problem at both the Seaport/Civic Center and the Financial District was too much construction. Earlier this year, Hughes said there were 95 major construction projects going on in Lower Manhattan.
The Financial District was the only neighborhood that cited poor air quality as a problem.
Many respondents said too much garbage and overcrowded sidewalks were two of Lower Manhattan’s biggest problems as part of a yearlong survey by Community Board 1 and Pace students.
For Tribeca and Battery Park City, the top concern was the lack of affordable housing.
The survey’s last question asked about quality of life issues that need to be addressed. Overall, the number one issues were less garbage and pollution and to improve air quality.
“Living here in Lower Manhattan through all the years of reconstruction after 9/11 we knew very well we would get this answer,” said Levine. “It’s good to know that 49 percent of those we spoke to gave us the same answer — less garbage, garbage everywhere, pollution and of course, lack of proper air quality.”
The second issue was the lack of affordable housing.
“This community board has said this year after year after year at every committee meeting, and every board meeting, and those who live and work in our community are confirming exactly what we’ve been saying,” he said.
People also said that they would like to see more parks and open spaces, less construction, garbage and air pollution, and better public transportation.
Those interviewed in Battery Park City and the Seaport/Civic Center also said they would like to see more shopping, restaurants, bars and nightlife.
The top quality of life issue in the Financial District was less construction while in the Seaport/Civic Center, less garbage and pollution, and to improve air quality. In Tribeca, it was overcrowded sidewalks, streets and more parking.
Levine, in the phone interview, noted the similarities in the four districts concerning problems and quality of life issues.
“We really thought we would see big differences [between neighborhoods], we didn’t,” Levine said in a phone interview. “But the unanimity of opinion about crowded sidewalks, crowded streets, too much construction, too much garbage — what we didn’t expect that it would be so unanimous.”
In her email, Hughes wrote “one surprise was that the shortage of school seats for local children did not make the top of the list, but we all know that is a hot button issue for families with school age children.”
The survey results will be incorporated into the board’s district needs statement, which is done every year and precedes its budget requests, for fiscal year 2017.
