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Background on The Hester Street Property and Board Considerations for its Use
Contributed by Juda Engelmeyer, Board Member
The Hester Street property has been a problem for more than 40 years. We are not zoned to do anything with it and it used to be a drug den for the old Seward Park — some of still remember that wonderful place.
We can't build on it, and we have so much grassy property (albeit not properly used) SPHC felt that just using it for more grassy space was ill conceived. The dog run was seen as a way to solve a few problems at once — get dogs to run free elsewhere — away from easily annoyed neighbors, maybe keep our parks cleaner, and put a noticeable presence in that vacant spot — that would also open a passthrough for folks to walk from Essex right onto SPHC property. It was never meant to be devisive or intrusive, and, actually, when it was debated it was considered a wise idea to solve issues.
Who would have known? We CAN make a garden in the lawn near the library, we can make a sunbathing lawn in that area too. We have lawns, we just don't use them now. Hester Street should be used for something else, and we thought this was a good.
In addition, there are countless folks in #3 and #4 who live facing the park and have been aggravated by the NYC Dept. of Sanitations's unbending schedule that wakes people up at 2:00 AM. Placing the dumpsters on Hester, surrounded by trees and well planned shrubbery, could make lives better for hundreds of our neighbors who've lived like this for years. It won't destroy the Essex Street look as it can be planned well enough to be unintrusive.
For those who did not want the bar because of noise, we know the racket that the garbage collections make, and would change that if given the chance.