Soho Residents Threaten Legal Action Over L Train Shutdown Plan

SOHO, NY — A group of Soho and Little Italy residents fear the fleet of diesel buses rolling through their streets during the 15-month L train shutdown will have lasting health impacts for locals. Now, after months of expressing concern to the MTA and the city's Department of Transportation, at least one community group is threatening to take legal action against the agencies unless they perform detailed air quality and traffic studies on the stretch of road.

A coalition of Lower Manhattan community groups want transit officials to study how dozens of buses per hour traveling along the Soho-Little Italy loop — along Delancey and Kenmare streets, to Cleveland Place and Layfette Street, to East Houston and back around on Allen Street — will impact the neighborhood's air quality. Area advocates also insist the city study traffic impacts on one of the city's most dangerous roadways, the loop, a section of which commuters are three times more likely to be injured or killed.

"We have real concerns and in our opinion the MTA and DOT are doing little to address them," said Georgette Fleischer, the president of Friends of Lt. Petrosino Square, which is mulling over legal action against the transit agencies. "We feel in light of the fact that our communities are bearing the brunt of this crisis, it’s up to the MTA and DOT to do absolutely everything they can to mitigate the issue."

A handful of community groups plan to rally with elected officials Wednesday, Sept. 5, on the southern edge of Lt. Petrosino Square, demanding the city conduct in-depth air quality and traffic studies on the Soho-Little Italy loop, and for select bus service to be beefed up with cleaner, electric buses.

The news conference is set for 8:15 a.m.

Transit officials plan to run four new bus routes linking Manhattan and Brooklyn that are expected to carry 17 percent of displaced L train riders — some 225,000 straphangers rely on the train to travel between the boroughs on a given weekday. Two of these routes will traverse the loop with 48 buses per hour during the morning rush and 39 per hour during the peak evening commute.

Locals fear the uptick of diesel buses spewing a toxic stew of chemicals into the neighborhood. In New York City alone, particulate matter produced from buses and trucks causes 170 premature deaths a year, according to a 2016 study published in the scientific journal Environmental Health. Emissions from cars are linked to 100 deaths per year.

Only 15 electric buses are included in the fleet of 200 additional buses during the L train shutdown — all of which are slated for the 14th Street busway.

"I have a four-month old baby, I'm worried I'll need to invest in an air purifying machine," said Fleischer, who lives on Cleveland Place with all her apartment's windows facing the road. "I'm really concerned that she could develop asthma."

Soho and Little Italy residents have also raised several concerns about the logistics of the routes, including a turn from Kenmare Street onto Cleveland Place. The tight turn directs traffic from Kenmare Street — a two-way, two-lane continuation of the Delancey Street crosstown corridor — onto narrow Cleveland Place running along Lt. Petrosino Square.

Transit officials have dubbed Kenmare "a challenging street."

At a July 10 meeting with Manhattan's Community Board 3, transit officials proposed two ways to reconfigure Kenmare Street with a bus lane. One option includes two traffic lanes traveling in each direction on the southern side of the street, a bus lane and a parking or loading lane on the north side. The second option would axe eastbound traffic entirely with the southern most lane for travel or parking.

Additionally, the Department of Transportation plans to convert the short block of Kenmare Street at Lt. Petrosino Square to one-way for westbound traffic — restricting left turns from Lafayette Street onto Kenmare and adding pedestrian space at the square. The change was in response to community concerns that traffic turning from Lafayette onto Kenmare often swings into the westbound lane for an easier turn, according to the Department of Transportation.

Both Kenmare Street proposals pose challenges, but some advocates fear the second option, and the changes along Lt. Petrosino Square, would make it more difficult for first responders to access narrow streets in that section of the neighborhood.

"Our fire engines already have to pull out against the traffic just to get where they need to go," said Fleischer. "Closing the street off won't solve anything. It'll make things worse."

The Kenmare Little Italy Loop Coalition, which includes a handful of community groups and formed as a result of the city and MTA's mitigation plan, proposed an alternative bus route that would bypass the Soho-Little Italy loop by turning north on Allen Street, traveling west along East Houston and making a loop in the East Village before traversing back to the Lower East Side.

Coalition members presented the proposal to the Department of Transportation and the MTA in July. They have yet to hear back on the route, said Fleischer.

“We have gotten no response to that plan,” said Fleischer. “If they have an objection to that plan fine, but we need to hear it. It's two months later and we have gotten no word."

The Department of Transportation notes that it has worked with residents to address concerns, a city spokesman said.

"We have communicated with local residents and community groups and worked collaboratively on traffic issues," said Brian Zumhagen, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation.

The MTA did not response to a request for comment.

If the Department of Transportation and the MTA decide against performing additional studies, Friends of Petrosino Square aims to appeal their decision in New York Supreme Court.

Lead photo courtesy of Daniel Barry/Getty Images. Secondary image courtesy of the Department of Transportation.