Officials Consider Plan To Limit New Storefronts On UWS
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It was standing room-only at a recent Upper West Side community board hearing as residents, retailers and city government officials debated for hours about a plan to prevent the over-commercialization of the neighborhood. NY1’s Rebecca Spitz filed the following report.Upper West Side residents and officials fear the small shops that have long defined their neighborhood are on the verge of being squeezed out by a glut of bank and chain drugstores.
"My district goes from 54th to 96th Street as an example, and I have 65 banks. I counted them, says City Councilwoman Gale Brewer.
Advocates say the neighborhood is at a tipping point.
"There's a lot of things that go into the character of that neighborhood, but one of the things is some great, unique, independent businesses, and if they can't make it there, if they can't get in the door on the Upper West Side, then there's a potential problem,” says Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future.
And long-time local retailers NY1 spoke with say they've seen the neighborhood's evolution, one in which banks and drugstores seem to be on almost every corner, cutting into their foot traffic and their bottom line.
"We've been here for 30 years and we're losing a lot of money to the big, corporate business, and as a small business guy, that would benefit for us if we could do something about it," says Dimitrios Vezyrakis, owner of Caesar’s Palace Pizza.
Shop owners and residents who want to do something about it jammed a meeting this week of Community Board 7, which is weighing an application from the Department of City Planning to re-zone parts of the area so new storefronts would be smaller.
"What we are doing is trying to promote an active streetscape, and so by limiting street frontage only and not the overall amount of commercial space permitted, we're promoting a continuation of the built environment that you see today," says Laura Smith of the Department of City Planning.
The plan would limit new storefronts to a maximum of 40 feet wide along parts of Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.
On Broadway there would be no limits, but on all three, new banks would be limited to 25 feet.
Existing banks and storefronts would not be affected.
"I think the Upper West Side is just changing and we'll have to deal with it," says Carrie Levin, owner of Good Enough to Eat.
CB7's committees have not yet voted on the city's proposal.
The full board meets next month.