The Neighborhood:
Chelsea, the Village, and
the Meat District

Pier 57, at the west end of 15th Street, is moving
slowly through various planning stages, with
Young Woo Associates as the conditional
developer. Their plan is to renovate shipping
containers to create dozens of small spaces
inside the pier that would be filled with small
artisans making jewelry and other crafts. They
would work and sell in the same place. There
would also be a number of restaurants, especially
at the far end of the pier looking out over the
water, as well as a promenade around the pier
and park space on top.

As always, please ask dog walkers not to let their
dogs into the tree pits, if you see them doing that.

Walkscore.com, which rates neighborhoods
across the country for their walkability, gives
Chelsea a score of 99 out of 100, putting us tenth
among the 117 New York neighborhoods named.

I'm on the Transportation Committee of
Community Board 4, so please let me know of
any problems or suggestions about our streets. In
particular, we are interested in feedback on how
the new bike lane along Ninth Avenue is working.
DOT was pretty high-handed in creating it,
enraging many residents and businesses, but we
are trying to come up with parking rules that work
for both groups.

The triangle just north of 14th Street in the middle
of Ninth Avenue is a temporary arrangement. If
you have ideas or suggestions about what the
permanent configuration should be, please let me
know.

The second segment of the High Line is
scheduled to open in the spring of 2011,
reflecting continuing fast progress.

And yes, the Whitney is still committed to building
a large branch at Gansevoort and Washington,
although this will take years.