Community Rallies to Save a Car-Free Street

Esther Place. (Source: Peekskill Walks.)

For nearly three years, residents of Peekskill, New York, have enjoyed a nook of their downtown closed to motorized traffic. Esther Street—or as it is now referred to, Esther Place—is a 120-foot sliver of roadway that a coalition of residents, nonprofits, and businesses rallied to convert into a pedestrian plaza at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. What began as an adaptation to public health guidelines grew into a beloved community stronghold, though Esther Place’s champions worry its days are numbered.

“It was a real bottom-up effort,” said Peekskill Walks member Frederick Dennstedt. Peekskill Walks spearheaded the initiative to close the street to motorized traffic and open it up to alternative uses, but owes its success to the wider community’s involvement and support. Local professionals, including architects, planners, and traffic engineers, donated their talents and time to fortify the argument that the patch of road would better serve Peekskill if closed to traffic. By the time the idea reached the city council, the attractive renderings, traffic studies, and overwhelming public support made it an easy win. With an assembly of benches, bike racks, and tables donated by local businesses, Esther Street transformed into Esther Place in the summer of 2020.

“We’ve created this great public space,” noted Peekskill Walks co-founder Conor Greene. “With so many of our parks and public spaces, we assume they’ve always been here and we take them for granted, but many of them were fought for, too, and that’s what we’re doing here.” 

Furthermore, the conversion cost the city “next-to-nothing,” with its furnishings, landscaping, and maintenance covered by businesses in Esther Place’s perimeter the city’s only contribution was a handful of concrete barriers. Champions of the new plaza even commissioned a local artist to paint the city-supplied concrete. 

Concrete barriers painted by a local artist. (Source: Peekskill Walks.)

Formerly, the 120-foot-long street fit three parking spots and a loading zone. According to business owners, the latter was regularly illegally occupied for much longer than the posted 15-minute limit. The street itself doubled as a shortcut and pedestrians crossing were left to rely on the vigilance of drivers and observance of the posted stop sign. 

(Above: Esther Street, pre-closing.)

That’s why, for champions of Esther Place, it’s surprising that some want to return to what it was before. Nevertheless, just last month, despite having voted to extend Esther’s lifespan only in December 2022, the city council convened at the request of “numerous complaints” to explore re-opening the short street to motorized traffic through a $20,000 system of scheduled bollards. The bollards would be raised and lowered depending on the time of day, day of the week, and time of the year, according to city officials. The move cited current safety hazards, including emergency vehicle access, maintenance, and illegal parking. 

“If we re-opened Esther [to cars] tomorrow, it would have zero effect on the problem of illegal parking here,” said Dennstedt, who reiterated that Esther Street could, at most, accommodate three parked cars. Other concerns were similarly debunked: Esther Place recently survived its third consecutive winter and he noted that neither snow plowing nor garbage collection have posed a problem, thus far. “There is no safety issue that I have ever been aware of. In fact, when it was open, drivers would use it to try to beat the light—moving way too fast in hopes to shave a few moments,” remarked Sunny Cover, owner of Peekskill Coffee House, located right outside of Esther Place.

The bollard proposal appeared to balance the conflicting interests of lovers and skeptics of Esther Place, but Greene of Peekskill Walks demonstrated that, in effect, it’s an expensive way to kill off a successful, existing public space. “Not to mention, having it open some hours and not others betrays a misunderstanding of how people use it,” he added. “It’s not just a place to go to for a weekend happy hour.”

The move comes not long after Peekskill received a $10 million award as part of New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI). Part of that grant entails projects similar to what had already been accomplished on Esther Street. Residents underscored the irony of supporting one project while actively trying to dismantle another, especially one that comparatively cost the city nothing. 

Similarly, Esther Place won the city of Peekskill a Planning Achievement Award from the Westchester Municipal Planning Federation in 2021. Prior to accepting the award, the Mayor expressed pride in Esther Place, saying it “helped make the City of Peekskill a premier destination in Westchester County as well as the Hudson Valley region." 

That’s why in March, everyone from councilmembers to residents were surprised by the city’s intentions. “I’m really surprised. We’ve always discussed keeping it closed and we just extended it for this year. I don’t like the idea. The New York Times mentioned it in their story about us,” Councilman Ramon Fernandez told the Peekskill Herald. 

Even with little lead time, Esther Place’s supporters mobilized instantaneously. Between rallies and petitions and public comments, nearly a thousand “love letters” to Esther Place made the case for it to remain. 

“The bollards would be up by now if not for our diligence,” Greene remarked. He was not only heartened by the overwhelming support, but by the thoughtful comments people shared. “I had no idea Esther Place meant so much to so many people. Its loss would truly be felt.” Nevertheless, he’s concerned the city may resurface the same justifications by winter of this year, and so making Esther Place permanent is paramount. “If we lose it, we’ll never get it back.”

People enjoying Esther Place. (Source: Peekskill Walks.)

In general, advocates like Dennstedt are not opposed to exploring more structured ways of maintaining the 120 feet of public space, perhaps through the establishment of a Friends of Esther Place organization and fund. However, given the small size and demonstrated ease of maintaining this downtown staple, he doesn’t see the need for more complicated municipal intervention. “We’d love to talk to the fire and police departments and figure out a way to address safety concerns while keeping this corner a permanent fixture of the city,” he added.

For Greene, making Esther Place better necessitates keeping it a permanent fixture of Peekskill. “We’re limited in how much we can invest in a space that might be gone soon. In order to build out a better public space, we need to know it’ll be a permanent public space.”

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