Outreach

The team needed the knowledge of experts in every field that could potentially be covered. Our previous work in CityGAP had connected us with several relevant partners in city government and community organizing, and others emerged during our research. With the support of architectural and community partners, we have created a proposed redesign, along with new, community-driven programming, and an implementation plan that places decision making in the hands of the community. We presented our work to the Shore Corps students at RISE Rockaway, and to our partners at Leroy Street Studios for feedback, before preparing our final designs, website and exhibition.

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The team spoke with experts from the Department of Transportation (DOT), directors of Open Street programs in Manhattan and Queens, and participated in a Community Board meeting to spread the word about our project and receive critical feedback from those who have already engaged in projects for Cooper Square and Triangle. 

 

Each interview offered us invaluable perspective into our design process. For example, Monxo Lopez, who serves on the Cooper Square Land Trust Board, underscored the importance of remaining human-centered by reminding us that “Astor Place is at the center of an old Native American trail,” in addition to Stuyvesant and Broadway, where members of the Lenape congregated. Monxo encouraged us to talk to local Native American communities in the area to ask what they want in regards to not only programming but also design. We would hope to pursue this if the project moved forward.

 

Additionally, Monxo suggested that we partner with the three major organizations in our area: CLT, Cooper Square Committee, Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association (MHA) –-which is a co-op that owns the building that resides on the land that the trust owns). He noted that The Mutual Housing Association could be especially helpful because they represent the people that live in those housing units, which make up a good chunk of the community that we are interested in engaging with. 

 

Lastly, Monxo expressed his critique on traditional urban planning practices, saying that “communities are tired of urban planners.” He urged us to think creatively about how to do our work in such a way that isn’t taxing to the community. 

 

We also worked with Laura Sewell, who works on the Loisaida Open Streets Community Coalition. She shared with us her experience helping to establish an Open Street in the Loisaida community. “It was a grassroots effort,” she noted. The local community was responsible for constructing, designing, and maintaining the barracks that blocked the street off at each end. 

 

Laura found this to be a difficult and draining process, because cars would come into the street anyways and would break or misplace barriers, and so the community would have to fix them (if broken) and reposition them to where they were. Eventually, they collaborated with the DOT which allowed for the wooden barriers to be replaced with metal ones. 

 

In our inquiry about the ethics surrounding partnerships, Laura said that whenever  Loisaida Open Streets Community Coalition receives any money, they make sure they are transparent with the community on how the coalition is proposing to use it in addition to accepting feedback for new proposals. Her perspective further proved to us that for our project to succeed, the community must be involved. 

 

An interview with Living City Project partner Jessica Cronstein, of the Department of Transportation, highlighted some of the space's most pressing difficulties as well as some opportunities. While extensions of the paved area on the inner shoulder of the triangle were possible, the difficulty of managing an Open Street in a bus turnaround zone presented challenges. Jessica brought to our attention the continued interest in removing the space’s excessive fences, with the DOT noting there had been previous efforts to remove them.

 

Nuala O'Doherty, who is one of the local activists who runs the 34th Ave Open Streets, advised us to know our audience well and to have our design be “organic to the space.” She suggested for us to lean in on the idea that the space is a transit hub through our design proposals. For example, if the Y bus regularly stops around our space, we make that a theme artistically by incorporating Y’s on chairs and tables, #12 seats (numbers indicating the buses that use the space).