By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — After months of silence, Midtown's Community Board 5 is weighing in on a controversial plan to transform 34th Street into a one-way bus expressway.
The board's Transportation Committee introduced a new task force Monday night charged with making sure the Department of Transportation takes their concerns seriously. The committee also unveiled a new website where residents and business owners can share their concerns.
"We want to be positive, firm and united," said task force leader Nancy Aber Goshow.
The Transitway plan calls for running two protected express bus lanes along 34th Street from river-to-river, and turning the rest of the thoroughfare into a one-way street.
The DOT hopes the plan will speed buses and improve pedestrian safety along the notoriously grid-locked stretch.
But business owners and residents have complained the bus lanes will block access to their front doors, making deliveries, pick-ups and drop-offs a pain.
"It will land-lock our building," Joseph Jerome, who manages a building at the corner of 34th Street and Broadway, told the task force.
"It will really be a detriment," he said. "It's like taking away your front door."
Thomas Miller, the community board's transportation committee chair, said that while he thinks something needs to be done to improve traffic along the stretch, residents and business owners should be prepared to make concessions.
"What's good for pedestrians may not be good for store owners and what's good for buses may not be better for pedestrians," he said.
The DOT aims to present a final design by the fall of 2011, following months of public forums.
