A parking lot at the Cooper Park Houses is set to be replaced by a high-rise building, and residents of the East Williamsburg housing development aren’t happy about it. Several dozen people showed up to express their outrage Tuesday at a meeting where the New York City Housing Authority unveiled its plans.
(Photo: Citi Bike on Instagram)
The operators of Citi Bike are set to open facilities in the Jacob Riis Houses in Alphabet City, a move that they hope will bring more low-income riders to the bike-share program and make it easier for existing users to score a ride.
The new base of operations is located in what the New York City Housing Authority describes as “an existing facility in an underutilized space,” at 152-154 Avenue D. Motivate, the operators of Citi Bike, hope it will lead to a more balanced system, meaning no more showing up to stations to find there are no bikes to rent. Citi Bike general manager Kris Sandor also hopes it will help with community outreach. “We are again looking to support and engage with everybody, especially for ridership, but then also for our hiring practices,” Sandor said. “We’re really looking to make sure that we’re engaging with lower-income communities.”
All week, we’re bringing you a series of deep dives into the surprising histories of storied addresses. Back to our usual after the New Year.
First Houses, on the corner of Avenue A and East 3rd Street. (Photo: Lindsey Smith.)
The sleet beating down on East 3rd Street in January 1935 didn’t stop any of the hopeful applicants from standing in line for hours between 1st Avenue and Avenue A outside the office of the New York City Housing Authority. During the Great Depression people had gotten used to life in the queue. They did it for jobs, for public benefits, and for food. But this time the reason was altogether different.
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Dorothea Knox, President of the Tenant Association at Berry Street- South 9th Street Houses (photo: Nicole Disser)
Last month the city finally allocated $50 million to security upgrades and “anti-violence initiatives” in its ailing public housing complexes. But of the 15 developments that will see the long called-for funding, just one (Bushwick Houses) is in the Bedford + Bowery coverage area. Meanwhile, several developments in downtown Manhattan and North Brooklyn remain without any security cameras at all.
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