By: Mario Mancini
In an exclusive report the New York Post said of the Tribeca section of Manhattan, “the neighborhood’s iconic cobblestone streets, some of which have been around for more than 100 years, are pedestrian traps in desperate need of repair, residents said. Last week at a forum, they urged the city to take action”.
Bonnie Ryan, a neighborhood resident, told The New York Post, “the whole right side of my body was black and bruised,” after she tripped on Harrison Street between the West Side Highway and Greenwich Street in 2007, catching her foot on an upturned stone. “People thought I was a chemo patient or a physically traumatized wife.”
According to The New York Post, “Croce died four months later, and his wife, Lonni Levy, filed a lawsuit against the city in a personal injury case the next year, which is still pending. The suit says the fall caused Croce “severe, serious and permanent personal injuries.”
Griffin Kelly reported for The New York Post, “I’ll never get over losing John to an accident that was so preventable. I have just gotten used to it,” Levy said at a Community Board 1 Quality of Life Committee meeting Wednesday, where the perilous stone streets were discussed.”
“There are buses and too much weight on the stones that just tear them up constantly, and it is a pain in the neck,” neighbor James Ryan said. “I like the cobblestone, but if [the city] could come up with a better solution that could withstand the traffic, that’d be great.”
Diane Lapson, who’s president of the tenant association of Independence Plaza on Harrison Street, told The New York Post she noticed cracks and divots in the stones only a few months after they were installed.
“It’s very dangerous. It’s been very dangerous for quite a long time,” she said. “You can barely drive on these streets.”
“The situation on Harrison St. is a result of sinking conditions rather than a typical pothole-type issue. This does not allow for a quick patch job, but would require resetting the bricks after the underlying issue of what is causing the sinking issue is identified and repaired,” a representative from then-Mayor de Blasio’s office wrote in an email to Lapson and Levy.
In an email to The New York Post, DOT spokesperson Vin Barone said, “The DOT carefully monitors the condition of New York City’s historic cobblestone streets and will make repairs to protect the safety of traveling public. The DOT also works closely with our sister agencies on full-scale reconstruction projects in the city’s capital program. We look forward to speaking further with Community Board 1 and local residents on these concerns.”
