Neighbors Tire of Checkpoint Charlie in Chinatown

Much of lower Manhattan has seen a dramatic revival post-9/11. But not a four-block stretch of Park Row in Chinatown. The street has been closed to most traffic and area residents have to present identification just to walk by police barricades.  

"It looks like a police state," said local resident Triple Edwards, who lives in the 421-unit Chatham Green Cooperative, which is entirely enclosed by barricades. "We have to show ID to get in."

The street got an initial uptick in security after the September 11th attacks in 2001, because One Police Plaza —the administrative home of the New York Police Department — is right down the block. Now, 14 years later, New York City Councilwoman Margaret Chin is spearheading a renewed push by Lower Manhattan organizations to reopen the street.

"We're asking the mayor to reopen Park Row" Chin said. "There's no strong reason why it should be kept closed."

The closures have also had a harmful effect on tourism on the street, according to community leaders. Buses hauling tourists to Chinatown once used Park Row as a drop off, but not anymore. Several small shops have been shuttered for years.

"A line of buses, each one with 55 passengers would come here. Just calculate how much they spent on lunch, wine, and on the bubble teas," said Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Partnership.

The Park Row closure also curtails access to Lower Manhattan, where the street grid is a patchwork of tightly knit connections.

"We don’t have a straightforward grid in lower Manhattan, so when you close a major artery like Park Row, it impacts circulation and creates traffic jams," said Jessica Lappin, president of Downtown Alliance.

"This is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City," she added. "We don’t want to make it more difficult for people to get around,"

Chin and other state and federal officials are sending letters to de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, asking them to re-examine the closure. If the barricades cannot be removed, Chin said the the checkpoint should at least be moved so that residents of Chatham Green can access their building without presenting identification.

Aides to Mayor de Blasio did not respond to calls seeking comment; nor did the NYPD.