West 71st St Block Association: September 2017

Neighbors Working Together for a Safer and More Beautiful Block!

Stay tuned for our Spring Celebration!

at Grace & St. Paul's Church at 123 West 71st Street

at Grace & St. Paul's Church at 4pm

123 West 71st Street

Our next meeting: Saturday March 23rd at 4M. Come meet your neighbors and share and your concerns for our block!

Join us for refreshments,

Block Association T-shirts,

literature, and more.

Children are welcome!

The West 71st St Block Association covers the blocks between Central Park West and Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

West 71st Street is a great place to live and we are working together to make it even better!

Current issues we are looking into are: Stopping the proposed e-bike charging station for the bow-tie intersection (sign petition below!), beautifying the tree wells, rats, trash/litter on the sidewalks, scaffolding, nighttime noise and illegal behavior, working with the 20th Precinct and outreach groups to help the homeless, and replacing the newspaper bins with newer and fewer ones.

We work on the above issues by collaborating with local legislators, city agencies, police, both churches on the block, local businesses, outreach to the homeless, Sanitation and Health Departments, landlords, neighbors.

How to help:

1. Tell your neighbors about our block association and have them e-mail us to add them to our list.

2. Call 311 or e-mail 311 at http://www.nyc.gov/apps/311/about.htm to report block issues. Or call the 20th police precinct at 212.580.6411.

Sunday, September 3, 2017

Update - January 2018

Please join us for our next meeting Sunday January 28th at 4pm at Grace & St. Paul's Church at 123 West 71st Street, between Columbus and Broadway.

We took a hiatus from meetings in November and December but our work continues. Here are some of the activities we have been engaged in:

1. Treewells: Cleaned out tree wells and replaced "Curb Your Dog" signs. Please help us keep these treewells tidy and urge your super to do the same.

2. Pedestrian safety: Reporting dangerous conditions at the bowtie intersection (71 and Broadway),
and working with elected officials to make this crossing safer.

3. Cleanliness: Working with managers and supers to keep front of buildings and sidewalks clean.
Call 311 if you see a sanitation issue on ur block, and please urge your super and building management to keep the sidewalks clean at all times in front of the building including 18 inches into the curb and cleaning out tree wells. This is the law in NYC.

4. Homelessness: The homeless couple and their dog that were sleeping at the church have found housing and have not been sleeping there.

5. Police Meeting: We attend the Police Community Council Meeting several times a year to bring our concerns to their attention. These concerns include homelessness, panhandling, and the dangerous bow-tie intersection. We learned that panhandling is legal and that homeless people can only be arrested if they break a law such as threatening people. We are in touch with many groups who help the homeless and hope that every homeless person on our block can be offered services and housing.

6. Rats: While the situation has gotten better, people continue to report seeing rats on our block.
That is why it is imperative to keep trash contained, and to report sightings of rats to 311.
Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal who has been working on this issue reported that the city plans
to use dry ice to humanely eliminate the rats, and approval is forthcoming.