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| Re: A Stupid Question about a walkway (448306) | |||
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Re: A Stupid Question about a walkway |
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Posted by Broadway Lion on Mon Jun 18 21:54:03 2007, in response to A Stupid Question about a walkway, posted by streetcarman1 on Mon Jun 18 16:40:49 2007. The walkway was under 33rd street, or more exactly under the sidewalk on 33rd street.*They* (who ever *they* are) can do NOTHING because the tunnel is on PRIVATE PROPERTY and was never owned by the city, the transit authority or by PATH. The Tunnel was jointly owned by Gimbles and by the hotel that was just west of Gimbles. This of course is *why* it has shops in it. Properly speaking, the tunnel is in what is called the "Vault Space", which while it is under the sidewalk, is in fact part of the buildings, and is on private property. Most buildings used to use that vault for the delivery of coal. It also makes good access to the cellars. You will see stairways leasing to these cellars out side of many shops. Others will have an elevator that pops up from under the sidewalk. Both Gimbles and the hotel were a full block wide, and so could use the 32nd Street vaults for these purposes, and so they built this tunnel mostly to attract people into their stores. You *will*, I presume, remember "Gimbles Bargain Basement". Obviously, when Gimbles closed, and the new owners did not want to be saddled with the upkeep, maintenance and security of the property, it had to be closed. And because they are a part of these existing buildings the city could not really seize them even if it had a mind to do so. I suppose the city *could* lease the tunnel and pay for its upkeep and security, but it is a very narrow tunnel, it does not have the proper sort of exits from it in case of fire or other disaster, and makes a dandy home for the homeless and for thieves. So do not look for this tunnel to ever reappear, unless the merchants in the old Gimbles building *want* to bring it back. In a few years it will be a moot point anyway, as there will be a new tunnel between NYP and Herald Square compliments of NJT. ROAR |
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