More Vegetarian Burgers

According to this NY Times story:

The city’s Department of Transportation has declared its pedestrian plaza on the north side of Union Square, the fourth such major street revamping along Broadway, an out-and-out success, despite some early qualms from residents.

The redesign, implemented about a year ago, banned most cars from the block of Broadway north of Union Square, between 17th and 18th Streets, and closed a traffic lane on Union Square North. Tables and chairs were placed on the closed-off areas, and the neighborhood’s green market was able to expand.

The idea was to simplify a particularly tricky intersection where a confusing jumble of traffic signals and two-directional car lanes had resulted in a string of pedestrian injuries.

But the plan initially met stiff opposition from residents and businesses in the area, who complained about traffic jams on residential streets and problems for delivery trucks. A raucous community board meeting resulted in outcry and a mass walkout from protesters.

One year later, the city’s traffic engineers say that the improvements, for cars and pedestrians alike, have been palpable. (Here’s a pdf link to the report.) And no businesses or store managers appear to have registered complaints with local officials.

Radar samples found that about 12 percent of cars on Broadway between 20th and 19th Streets were now exceeding the 30 mile-per-hour speed limit, down from 28 percent of cars before the changes. Pedestrians can navigate a shorter crosswalk at the north end of Union Square, and they are waiting a shorter time for a “walk” signal.

Bicycle riders, who benefited from an additional protected lane along East 17th Street, also appear to be enjoying the changes: the agency found a 16 percent jump in cyclists in the area on weekdays, and a 33 percent increase on weekends.

Still, automobile drivers now appear to be avoiding the stretch of Broadway south of Madison Square, where the street was reduced to a single lane of car traffic and the direct car connection through Union Square was severed.

The number of cars traveling on that stretch has dropped by about half since the plaza was installed, the report said. Some of those drivers may be choosing to take Fifth Avenue or Park Avenue South for southbound trips through the area, slightly slowing those routes. The average speed of taxis along Fifth Avenue fell slightly after the plaza was installed, and southbound trips on Park Avenue South took longer.

But the Transportation Department noted that average speed along West 18th Street, where residents were most fearful of jam-ups, rose by about 14 percent, to 7 m.p.h. from 6 m.p.h. And average speeds on Park Avenue South stayed relatively unchanged.

The Union Square Partnership, the neighborhood’s economic development group, conducted a door-to-door survey of area businesses, and 60 percent of those who responded said they were happy with the new traffic configuration. About 35 percent had no opinion.

Still to be determined: some illegal left turns at the always-dangerous perpendicular intersection of Union Square West and 14th Street. (Initially, the agency had hoped to close off parts of Union Square West entirely, but some businesses objected.) The city said it was working on new street adjustments to tackle the problem.

At long last, L.A. Burdick Chocolate is returning to the City they love!  In late October, L.A. Burdick Café (5 East 20th Street, 212 796-0143) opened featuring their award winning hot chocolate and renowned chocolate mice and bonbons.  The café is open seven days a week serving hot and cold drinks, homemade pastries and a full selection of chocolates. 

The latest gossip from The Villager:

While the fate of two prime-time storefronts on the south side of Union Square has yet to be determined, recent whispers have indicated that more big-box stores could be headed for the space currently occupied by a pair of retail behemoths.

Electronics retailer Circuit City, which filed for bankruptcy late last year, will shutter its location on 14th St. at Fourth Ave. at the end of next month as part of plan to auction off all its properties and leases nationwide.

A sales associate at the store said that Walmart was interested in the space, which is owned by developer The Related Companies, although a New York-based spokesperson for Walmart said the big-box chain currently has no announced projects in the city.

Best Buy, which has a store less than a mile away on W. 23rd St., is another name that has been floated as a future tenant. A company spokesperson said the electronics-and-entertainment retailer does not currently have any plans for the site and could not speculate on potential deals.

Rumors have also swirled for months over the possible departure of the adjacent Virgin Megastore, where Related — which owns a controlling interest of the Virgin stores — is also the landlord.

“We’ve made no decision about that property,” Related spokesperson Joanna Rose told Mixed Use, echoing her statements to this paper from last May regarding Virgin’s long-speculated exit. However, Rose did confirm that brokerage Winick Realty Group continues to handle the leasing assignment for the nearly 60,000-square-foot property.

A spokesperson for the Union Square Partnership did not have any information on who could open in either space, where brokers have pegged asking prices for the marquee addresses at upward of $300 to $350 per square foot.

In honor of Climate Week, a coalition of scientists and activists reset the digital clock with red numbers seen on the side of a building in Union Square and changed it into a “ClimateClock.” The numbers now count down the years, days, hours, minutes and seconds the Earth has left to take action to stop global warming from going over 1.5°C more than the pre-industrial levels.

According to the organization, who aims to put the countdown clock in cities across the world, the clock’s calculation is based on the world’s current rates of emissions and the amount of CO2 that can still be released into the atmosphere. The clock simply counts down to when the “carbon budget” runs out. If the world manages to lower its emissions, more time will be left on the clock.

The clock is based on the carbon clock made by the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) which uses data from the recent IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, ClimateClock says.

The artists responsible for putting up the clock in Manhattan told the New York Times in an interview that the display will be up until the end of Climate Week, Sept. 27. Artists Gan Golan and Andrew Boyd also told the paper that they created a mobile Climate Clock for Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg last year before her appearance at the UN Climate Action Summit.

With the backdrop of recent wildfires and hurricanes, which scientists say show how climate change is magnifying the extremes in weather, protests for climate action are expected all over the world on Friday.