CB8 Reverses Approval of Open Street for School on E. 77th St. After Residents Object

The Birch Wathen Lenox School, a high-end private school located between 2nd & 3rd Ave. on the Upper East Side, is seeking final approval from NYC’s DOT to partially shutter its chunk of E. 77th St. for student usage on a daily basis.

This has draw a fair amount of ire from some residents on the block, who believe it will end up disrupting necessary traffic, such as ambulances heading to nearby Lenox Hill Hospital. The private school has countered that emergency vehicles would be allowed through, as well as certain pickups.

Specifically, Birch Wathen hopes to close the street between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., saying it would provide better play space and facilitate parent drop-offs & pick-ups. They’ve also said that the on-site gym they use for recess cannot provide enough recreational space for their students.

Piggybacking off these frustrated locals, Community Board 8 has now shown overwhelming opposition to the “Open Streets” plan, albeit with a few dissenters that believe the DOT and the school are in the right. A “motion to disapprove” vote held at the full board’s Nov. 20 meeting received 36 backers, 2 “nos” or approvals, and four abstentions–a sharp reversal from an earlier approval vote by CB8’s Transportation subcommittee. Community boards only have advisory powers, not binding ones, meaning that they can’t force the DOT to reverse their application approval. However, such a vote might carry a good amount of weight.

Sharon Lustig, a resident of E. 77th St., Zoomed into the CB8 to note that she was “adamantly opposed” to such a street closure. “It isn’t necessary, it’s unfair, and it’s elitist,” she said. “If parents of the students that attend BWL are unsatisfied with the school’s facilities and offerings, for which they pay about $60,000 a year in tuition, then they can opt to send them to any of the public schools in the neighborhood–all of which have ample playgrounds.”

Matt Spiegel, MD, said that he doesn’t find street closures “generally unreasonable.” However, he also finds that the length of the daily closure that Birch Wathen was seeking is “long,” which could impede patient pickups at his practice.

Jeffrey Engel, who pointed out that he had a son graduate from Birch Wathen, nonetheless appeared confused why CB8’s Transportation Committee gave the plan an initial seal of approval. Believing that it had the possibility to hinder essential traffic, he proposed a “middle ground” that could take the form of a “trial period” for Birch Wathen.

Marie Stareck, another E. 77th St. resident that opposed the Open Streets pan, proposed a concrete alternative should it be denied: Birch Wathen could send some students to Robert F. Wagner School on E. 76th St. The latter school has a “tremendous outdoor play area,” she observed.

Kirby Kersels, who was yet another E. 77th resident, stood out as an advocate for the plan’s approval. “I really firmly believe that kids deserve fresh air and to be outside, and I think this is a wonderful opportunity to do that,” he said.

Kersels added that it would be an opportunity to “take back some of the space of the vast majority of us who do not own cars, and who do not use cars, and get around by either walking or biking.”

CB8 members clearly appeared swayed by the testimony of the residents seeking to jettison the application, with some more modest in their arguments for disapproval than others. Michelle Birnbaum called the plan “outrageous,” as well as saying that she’d “like to take it a step further, and call the DOT into account. They are way too freewheeling with this kind of thing.”

Board member Craig Lader countered that the DOT had promised to provide a through-lane for emergency traffic, leading Birnbaum to accuse him of not sufficiently questioning the DOT.

Elisabeth Rose followed up by clarifying that the DOT was merely considering the school’s application, rather than advocating for it. She also said that she generally views the Open Streets program as a means of providing “safety and recreation” for many students. Yet she also openly decided that she would vote no, due to the block’s proximity to Lenox Hill Hospital.

According to the E. 77th St. Block Association, locals that feels strongly about the plan in one way or another should reach out to the the DOT. They can email Manhattan Commissioner Ed Pincar at epincar@dot.nyc.gov, CB8 DOT liaison Colleen Chattergoon at cchattergoon@dot.nyc.gov, or DOT Commissioner Ydannis Rodriguez at Yrodriguez@dot.nyc.gov. They can also send a letter to 55 Water Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10041.

The DOT is also hosting a Manhattan Community Engagement Forum on Monday, Nov. 25, at El Museo del Barrio on 1230 5th Ave. It will start at 6:30 p.m. and run for an hour.