This section is a running log of the conversations we participated in or discovered online. No hearsay here. It is updated when time permits.
Date: March 1, 2021
To: Ed Pincar, Manhattan Borough Commissioner
Ed – Thank you for taking the time to talk Friday.
To recap, my issue is the lack of transparency and community involvement in the selection of Citibike dock expansions and new locations in Tribeca.
As such, over the course of the last 6 months, we have been developing a tool for selecting Citibike dock locations (and expansion) in Tribeca. With your support, perhaps it can be used in CB1 and possibly other Communities.
The tool has 3-inputs:
Dock usage data: rides per dock over a 4 -year period
Rank-choice voting site for dock locations preferred by local stakeholders
Citing criteria provided by the DOT
1. DOCK DATA: For example in Tribeca, we see that the busiest Citibike docks (by far) are around CitiHQ at N. Moore & Greenwich and around BMCC (Murray & Greenwich). We also see the dock on Duane Street is among the least busy in Tribeca (for 4 years). See appendix and attached for additional detail.
2. COMMUNITY VOTING: We scouted and documented alternative locations for the Duane Street dock (location and/or expansion). We launched a website (TribecaDocks.com) to feature those choices, provide a mechanism to rank preferences, and feature all the ways the community could register their opinion (including promotion of the DOT’s own ‘alternative location’ survey page).
3. DOT CITING CRITERIA: We are missing significant factors here, like distance from manhole covers, curbs or fire hydrants, etc. Need help to complete the picture.
This tool points to several conclusions:
The docks around Citi HQ and BMCC/Whole Foods should be expanded first.
Per-dock ridership there is multiples higher than any other location in Tribeca. Also, an expansion of the docks there would not cover manhole covers, building entrances, etc. The community is for it (born out by our survey results).
The Duane St. dock should not expand, nor should it be moved to Duane Park.
Per-dock ridership is among the lowest in Tribeca – why add more docks there? Also, upon recent review of the 600+ comments left by the public on the DOT’s ‘alternative location’ page, not one mentions Duane Park. We have data pointing to other locations that are preferred over Duane St. Can you share any data supporting Duane Park as both the most preferred and viable location to Duane Street?
Suggested Next Steps:
We would love to help provide transparency and community engagement in what is clearly a challenging decision making process. For example, some next steps:
1. We quickly write, publish and promote together a brief white paper with:
· The per-dock ridership data, the number of docks the DOT still needs to infill/add in Tribeca.
· A link to a website with the DOT’s siting requirements (TribecaDocks)
· A link to the DOT’s “alternative location” form to receive community suggestions
2. The DOT publishes to the community the top 10 requested locations submitted on their form, annotated with why any of them are not suitable.
3. We post the list and invite the community to vote on the viable locations.
4. We post the results, and the DOT proceeds with transparency and support of the community.
Thank you again, Ed. If this makes sense, we look forward to a follow-up conversation. Also, we hope you can take a moment to review the data in the appendix below. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on moving forward.
Appendix:
Neighborhood Voting:
We produced options for the community to vote on alternative locations to Duane St. You can see the survey at https://www.tribecadocks.com/survey
72 people voted (only about 20 of whom live on Duane St). Those results are attached. In light of the DOT’s siting criteria, we understand that the location on Greenwich in front of Best Market is not good because it cannot be expanded.
The DOT’s Planning Process has not been well managed in CB1/Tribeca.
Community Feedback: Not one comment on the DOT online feedback portal mentions Duane Park, and yet that is the #1 expansion location on Duane St? By what measure is the community advocating for any docks on Duane Street/Duane Park?
Station Siting: Ridership data clearly indicates stations should first be significantly expanded around CitiHQ and BMCC (first and often, for some time to come).
Community Notification: Unsupported by ridership data or community engagement, decisions made by the DOT about large hardware installations do appear to be opaque and unilateral. So “community notification” feels more like an impending threat to individuals than anything resembling meaningful engagement.
There is a better way.
“The community must be prepared with the information we need to share our feedback. Community members have been very clear…in their ask to be provided this information prior to a town hall. It is unacceptable that we still have not received this information. I call for the City to create a comprehensive community engagement process that sets clear benchmarks for accountability….”
Council Member Margaret commenting on the DOT for CB3”
