Closed: Scarpina

The annual shareholder’s meeting will take place on Wednesday June 30th at 7PM at the Seafarers’ and Interational House at 123 East 15th St, second floor.

At the meeting, the Board of Directors will be seeking at least one new member. If you wish to become a candidate for the Board and have your name placed on the ballot, please feel free to provide a short biography of yourself via fax (212) 986-0002 or e-mail to ymartinez@akam.com. The Board will also welcome nominations at the meeting itself.

The board is currently searching for a super. It is taking a bit of time, but obviously it wants to make the right decision and find the perfect person. Please stand by.

From the paper:

A new tech hub, which had its land use application approved on Feb. 27, is one step closer to coming to Union Square — between NYU’s Palladium Residence Hall and University Residence Hall. The new facility, currently branded as the Union Square Tech Hub, would replace the recently vacant 124 E. 14th St. address that P.C. Richard & Son formerly occupied.

Mayor Bill de Blasio advocated for the construction of the hub early last year, but approval has been met by opposition from local community groups concerned of overdevelopment.

On one hand, NYU supports the building addition but it has no part in the hub’s construction besides the neighboring walls of two of its residence halls.

“NYU hasn’t had any direct involvement in the project,” university spokesperson John Beckman wrote in an email. “However, we have supported the overall efforts to strengthen [New York City’s] science, tech and innovation economy, from the creation of our own Center for Urban Science and Progress to the development of 370 Jay St. as a tech hub in downtown Brooklyn to Tandon’s [Tandon School of Engineering’s] stewardship of several incubators. The Union Square Tech Hub is meant to advance NYC’s [New York City’s] tech economy, and that’s an objective NYU supports.”

The hub would generate 600 jobs and would feature office spaces for startup tech companies, according to the mayor’s office.

Now taking reservations, the latest location of Serafina, at University and 12th.

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.