It wouldn’t have had a shot: The proposed zoning rules would’ve prevented successful restaurant Nice Matin from ever opening. (
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Egged on by leftist reactionaries nostalgic for the 1970s, the City Council is plowing ahead with its scheme to wreck the fragile chemistry of Manhattan’s healthiest retail environment — the Upper West Side.
The council is set to vote Thursday on a destructive bill to regulate how landlords can rent out retail space on the district’s boulevards by imposing sidewalk-width restrictions on new stores and banks. “Big is bad” is the preposterous basis for the measure — which is wildly out of touch with the district’s new demographics and needs.
Today — in stark contrast to most anywhere else in Manhattan — these avenues have nary a vacancy. The rare equilibrium benefits landlords, tenants and especially shoppers, who enjoy a vibrant mix of large and small shops, services and places to eat.
If, a year from now, the Upper West Side is blemished by empty storefronts, thank Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Council Member Gayle Brewer and City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden. (Community Board 7 also irresponsibly pushed for the changes, but its role is merely advisory.)
A valiant campaign by the Real Estate Board of New York, a landlords’ lobbying group, succeeded in “mitigating” the worst aspects of the “Retail Enhanced Commercial District” zoning — but fell short of killing it. The result: a dangerous precedent that might be replicated all over town.
Brewer clearly pines for the Upper West Side’s 30-years-ago mix of typewriter-repair shops and grungy bodegas, while Quinn is a soft touch for bleeding-heart “community” brainstorms.
But Burden’s City Planning Commission has mostly played a pragmatic, constructive and sometimes visionary role in altering the city’s land-use priorities. Alas, the CPC occasionally spots a win to entrenched special interests (as in failing to meaningfully rezone the Garment District) for old times’ sake.
The complex new retail rules restrict the widths of new ground-floor stores to 40 feet and new banks to 25 feet on Columbus Avenue from West 73rd-87th streets and on Amsterdam from West 73rd-110th; on Broadway between 72d-110th Streets, only the bank limits apply.
The goal is to preserve the character of the UWS’s “neighborhood” — whose traditional mom-’n’-pop stores are supposedly being pushed out by larger retailers and bank branches.
Never mind that Upper West Siders love big new “drug stores” which also sell other goods in far greater variety and at lower prices than the area’s old standbys — which is why the Duane Reades are busy night and day.
The rules can only make it harder for landlords to find tenants of any type when current leases are up. One rule requires having two establishments for every 50 feet of frontage that comes onto the market. Well, suppose a store wants to rent a 40-foot-wide space. What is the landlord supposed to do with the remaining 10 feet — turn it into an alley?
As for banks: What “invasion”? True, Broadway has a lot of them. But precious few banks of any size are to be found on Columbus Avenue and exactly one exists on Amsterdam Avenue in the 37-block rezoned stretch.
Moreover, many of the Upper West Side’s most popular establishments — such as restaurant Nice Matin and the Albee Baby store, a fixture since 1933 — wouldn’t exist had the new rules been in effect when they opened.
Sure, the rezoning measure is somewhat less odious than the original. Existing storefronts wider than new rules allow will be grandfathered, and in-place stores wishing to expand beyond the limits can apply for exemptions.
But even at their most flexible, the rules add another layer of time and complexity to doing business. And why stop with the Upper West Side? Other parts of Manhattan have as many bank branches as Broadway, so why not tinker with zoning on Third Avenue, for example?
The CPC swears the idea won’t be applied elsewhere. But the door’s open. Some community boards are so nutty, they might demand rules requiring a bait-and-tackle shop on every block.
If that sounds mad, take a walk on the Upper West Side. See how well it works right now — and gasp at the arrogance and ignorance of elected officials who think they know better.