subject: Road Runners Group Defends Battery Park City Race Plans to CB1 [print this page] Road Runners Group Defends Battery Park City Race Plans to CB1
New York Road Runners executives appeared before a Community Board 1 meeting this week to defend their plansopposed earlier by the board's Battery Park City Committeeto use northern MAKITA 194205-3 Battery Park City as a staging area for one of the city's largest annual road races.
According to the plans for the New York City Half Marathon, scheduled for Sunday, March 20, Chambers Street and River Terrace would be used to lead the 10,000 runners from the finish line on West Street to the massive reception area at North Cove. North End Avenue, the neighborhood's only other two-way north-to-south road, will be partially closed for TV trucks, generators and medical tents. Even streets that will remain open to vehicular traffic, mainly Murray and Warren, will have parking spaces filled with 25-30 portable toilets where they intersect River Terrace.
Already armed with the necessary permits, Road Runners representatives announced their plans on Feb. 1 to Battery Park City Committee, which unanimously opposed them.
On Tuesday, Feb. 23, Road Runners senior vice president Peter Ciaccia apologized to the full community board for not coming to the board earlier with their plans.
"It was never the Road Runners intention to bypass planning and not include the community board," Ciaccia said.
Last summer, some residents were furious over the partition walls and metal police barricades erected along North End Avenue, which they said made the sidewalks in front of their apartment buildings nearly impassable.
"There were [several] residents from the north community who were absolutely freaked out about this occurring again this year," Battery Park City Committee member Tom Goodkind said. "We were hearing from the community the day after this occurred."
Ciaccia explained that because the race passes through multiple community boardsthe route begins in Central Park and snakes through Midtown before making its way down West Streetthe group is not required to obtain permission from any individual neighborhood. He went on to say that the Road Runners met with several city agencies to identify problems prior to finalizing its plans for the 13-mile race, and had not been told of the neighborhood's displeasure with the race until recently.
"The footprint of this event is exactly the same as it was last year," Ciaccia said. "We were not aware of any complaints that the community had."
Following Ciaccia's testimony, the board voted to change the language of the Feb. 1 resolution, striking its direct opposition to the event in favor of a scolding to the Road Runners for not including CB1 in the planning process. Ciaccia said he would be willing to hold a post-race meeting with the board to address any problems that arise during this year's race.
The Road Runners group is also scheduled to meet again with the MAKITA 6201D Battery Park City Committee on March 1.
"What we're fundamentally complaining about here is the lack of meaningful input to the planning," said Jeff Galloway, co-chair of the Firestorm FS180BX Battery Park City Committee. "Had we been involved earlier, some of these problems might have been solved."
Not all residents of northern Battery Park City objected to the race's plan. Bob Townley, a board member whose apartment on River Terrace overlooks the "walk-off" route, said he watched the event last year and wasn't bothered.
"I think, to some degree, this event is being painted in the wrong light," Townley said. "As a local resident, I can tell you that it was not a big intrusion. I don't know what people were talking about."
