I am a long time resident of Murray Hill located on the east side of New York City. I have served on both the Community Board 6 and The Murray Hill Committee and left both as I did not feel they dealt with the quality of life issues that I feel are so important to living in New York and especially living in this very civilized neighborhood. I would like to share with my neighbors my concerns and theirs. I presently serve on a committee of Senator Liz Krueger and have close ties to Councilman Dan Garodnick.
April 7, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Hi there. i find your website quite informative! keep up the good work! i had a question for you about the Jasper, located at 114 east 32nd street (btwn park and lex). it’s a new condo conversion going up in murray hill. i was thinking about buying a 1BR there, but noticed that there is a homeless shelter right next door. do you know anything about this shelter as far as whether it might be shut down soon, etc.? …….. i really like the building, but am just trying to get a sense of the neighborhood. i’ve never really spent time in murray hill, so it’s all quite new to me. thanks for any help you cna send my way. –Paul
April 13, 2008 at 3:50 am
i was wondering do you know anything about the schools in murray hill. is p.s. 116 a good school? thanks.
October 10, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Traffic congestion in the morning on Park Avenue, and especially on Lexington Avenue, has gotten as bad as ATT’s cellular network. Travel time can easily be extended by 15 – 30 minutes due to traffic.
The problem is not too many cars. The problem is the complete lack of enforcement of traffic rules anywhere in the city and especially in midtown.
Every morning, cabs and passenger cars are double and triple parked in front of all the Lexington Avenue hotels in the 40’s and the Citicorp building in the 50’s, while a tourist bus or police car is invariably parked in the right most lane. This leaves only 1.5 – 2 lanes available for moving traffic and thereby creates a major traffic headache every single morning. The situation going cross-town heading west is even worse where a trip from Third Avenue to Seventh Avenue can take 20 minutes. And, politically connected hotels, such as the Loews Regency, regularly block several lanes of traffic during morning rush hour and have never seen a single enforcement agent asking black cars to move out of the path of traffic.
Police and traffic enforcement agents are not to be found anywhere during morning rush hour. I have spoken with the 17thPrecinct which is located on East 51 Street between Third and Lexington Avenues and the community affairs officer has explicitly stated that “traffic enforcement is the role of traffic agents, not police”. This is a marked change from the Giuliani administration. Emails to the inspector who runs the precinct have gone unreturned.
Similarly, Dan Garodnick, the City Councilman for midtown east and most of the east side, shows no interest in traffic or affairs of the Upper East Side, appearing to devote most or all of his efforts to the issues of Stuyvesant Town, where he resides.
It seems clear to most people with whom I discuss this issue, that the lack of interest in traffic congestion and enforcement, and in fact the conscious attempt to further impede traffic throughout Manhattan by the haphazard closing of lanes throughout the city, is a policy of the Bloomberg administration and perhaps a direct response to the refusal of the State Legislature to implement the proposed congestion pricing plan. It appears that by making traffic impossible, the city administration hopes that there will be a popular groundswell for the Bloomberg solution.
The solution is not fancy traffic congestion. It is simple enforcement of double parking rules and the use of traffic agents and police to speed traffic along. Please visit Lexington Avenue between 54th St and 47th Street any morning between 8AM – 10 AM. You will invariably find police cars blocking lanes of traffic and cabs triple parked in front of hotels a block from the local precinct.
If you, as I, find lack of enforcement of basic traffic and parking rules a major bane of life in New York, and a drain on the economy of your district, I urge you to help and use your office to pressure both the police and the city administration to enforce existing traffic regulations.
October 11, 2010 at 2:45 am
I agree 100%.From another point of view with different problems.went from Murray hill to lincoln center on Sunday.no more m104 to go from east side to upper westside.tried to take the 6th avenue bus but there was a street fair.took 45 minutes by subway as no trains since it was Sunday and work on rails. Getting home worse.m04 exists but only to 42 nd street tried to take the cross town but as you say police cars and private cars blocking the bus land so after waiting 20 minutes decided to walk. Even on Sunday the traffic is ridiculous.; street fairs,parades(today hispanic) double and triple parked cars and no one to move the traffic along.good thought about bloomberg getting back about congestion pricing.