A proposed food delivery workers’ hub on the Upper West Side has sparked outrage among residents, who say the hub will be a magnet for e-bikes and create heightened traffic and fire safety risks.
The proposed hub would be located in a vacant newsstand at 71st Street and Broadway near the 1/2/3 train stop, where around 31,000 straphangers pass through every weekday. It’s part of a $1 million pilot program by Mayor Adams and Sen. Chuck Schumer, aimed to improve working conditions by providing a place for delivery workers to rest, repair their gear and recharge their e-bikes.
But Upper West Side residents are not happy with the plan.
In a three-hour community board meeting Valentine’s Day evening, residents expressed concerns about e-bike lithium batteries, a controversial topic in the city after a rise in devastating fires, the sometimes-risky riding habits of drivers and the mostly unlicensed and uninsured nature of food app-delivery work.
“Introducing a flow of motorized bikes to an already congested area is a recipe for disaster,” Caroline Contiguglia, a representative from the 71st Street Block Association, said in the meeting.
The opposition to the Upper West Side hub is just one example of the challenges the pilot program is facing as the city grapples with how to handle delivery workers. Another proposed “street hub” was recently scrapped after the Daily News reported the hub would replace a popular local newsstand in the Bronx.
The city’s 65,000 app-contracted workers commonly work 12-hour days for less than minimum wage and with few protections, according to Ligia Guallpa, the executive director of the Workers Justice Project, which organizes Los Deliveristas Unidos.
“It’s impossible to ignore that this area would become a magnet drawing more into this intersection at any given time,” Courtney Clark, a member of the community board said. “I have concerns about all the audiences mentioned here, pedestrians, parents, students, the elderly….
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