Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Compromise Moves TriBeCa Sukkah from Duane Park to a Private Lot

By Julie Shapiro | September 27, 2011 11:37am
A sukkah like this one in Bryant Park will be built on a private lot at 70 Warren St. in October 2011, thanks to a compromise brokered by Community Board 1 Chairwoman Julie Menin.
A sukkah like this one in Bryant Park will be built on a private lot at 70 Warren St. in October 2011, thanks to a compromise brokered by Community Board 1 Chairwoman Julie Menin.
View Full Caption
Flickr/Edward Zuniga Jr.

TRIBECA — The Jewish group that hoped to build a sukkah in TriBeCa's Duane Park has agreed to build it on a private lot instead, after residents voiced objections.

Community Board 1 Chairwoman Julie Menin brokered a deal this week to allow the sukkah to rise on a small parking and storage lot at 70 Warren St., just west of West Broadway.

"It's a win-win all the way around," Menin said Tuesday.

The Friends of Duane Park had raised concerns about the sukkah — a temporary hut used to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot from Oct. 12 to 19 — saying it would clog the small park's main pathway during its annual fundraiser Oct. 16.

Several CB1 members also objected to the Chabad of Tribeca/Soho's request to build the sukkah, because they felt religious objects should not be displayed in public parks.

Duane Park will not host a sukkah this fall, after residents and the Friends of Duane Park objected. Instead, the sukkah will be built in a private lot nearby.
Duane Park will not host a sukkah this fall, after residents and the Friends of Duane Park objected. Instead, the sukkah will be built in a private lot nearby.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Julie Shapiro

While sukkahs are allowed in city parks — and Borough President Scott Stringer wrote a letter in support of the Chabad of Tribeca/Soho's application — Menin said she intervened because she wanted to find a solution that worked for everyone.

Charles Karp, who manages the 70 Warren St. lot for an owner whose name he did not disclose, said he was glad to offer a portion of the space to the Chabad. The lot currently houses a few parked cars and some dumpsters, but there is plenty of room for the proposed 12-foot-by-14-foot sukkah, Karp said.

"We try to be good neighbors," Karp said. "I don't like to say no when people ask for help."

The Church Street School for Music and Art, which is next to the lot, will allow visitors of the sukkah to use their bathrooms, and the Friends of Duane Park will pay the several hundred dollars required to have staff secure the lot at night and unlock it in the morning.

Karie Parker Davidson, vice president of the Friends of Duane Park, said she was glad Menin had worked out a deal, because the sukkah would have made it impossible for Duane Park to hold its Inside Tribeca Loft Tour next month. The fundraiser brings in thousands of dollars to support the maintenance of the park.

"There isn't room for both," Davidson said.

The Chabad was scheduled to present its application for the Duane Park sukkah to Community Board 1 Tuesday night but agreed to withdraw it, thanks to the deal on the private lot, Menin said.

Representatives of the Chabad of Tribeca/Soho did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.