Reimagining 34th Street: A Call for Vision, Care, and Collaboration

Dear Murray Hill residents and New York City neighbors,

As conversations around the proposed 34th Street Busway intensify, let’s pause to embrace the bigger picture: true progress means giving 34th Street the same care, investment, and long-term vision that is looking to transform Fifth Avenue—because every great street deserves a great future.

The redesign of Fifth Avenue isn’t just about traffic or transit. It is a comprehensive, years-long effort that brought together city agencies, elected officials, neighborhood associations, business improvement districts, engineers, urban designers, and the local community. With more than $400 million in planned investments, it is a model of public-private partnership and collaborative planning. The result? A corridor that is looking to be transformed with purpose, beauty, and strategy. You can explore the process at FutureofFifth.com and see the involvement and engagement of all the key stakeholders who are proud and excited for what’s to come.

And yet, when it comes to 34th Street—a street once considered even more iconic than Fifth Avenue—the approach feels strikingly different. There’s been little meaningful engagement with long-standing community organizations like the Murray Hill Neighborhood Association or the 34th Street Partnership. There’s been a lack of shared vision, comprehensive traffic or impact study, or open forum for the kind of feedback and participation that will be shaping Fifth Avenue’s transformation.

This isn’t just a missed opportunity—it’s a disservice to one of the most complex and vital streets in Manhattan. Unlike Fifth Avenue, 34th Street is a convergence point for everything: two-way traffic, access to major tunnels, highways, trains, buses, commercial centers, and hundreds of businesses and thousands of residents who call the corridor home. The design solutions here require more thought, not less. More collaboration, not quicker decisions.

As the city focuses on other busway like 14th Street, let’s not forget what 34th Street represents. Let’s elevate the conversation beyond “yes” or “no” to the Busway and instead advocate for something far more powerful: a shared vision for 34th Street’s future.

We’re not against change—we’re for thoughtful, inclusive progress. Let this moment be an opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to community-driven planning and to offer a meaningful off-ramp—one that’s rooted in transparency, vision, and mutual respect.

We hope NYC’s leaders will rise to meet the moment and we urge our fellow New Yorkers to join in asking not just for a better street, but for a better process—because 34th Street deserves nothing less.

– Jon Harari, President, Murray Hill Neighborhood Association and 20 year resident of New York City in Murray Hill