the permission of cops at the roadblock to get dropped off in taxis, accept deliveries, or get picked up by Access-A-Ride. In a pinch, residents and their guests have to get picked up or dropped off around the corner, outside the secure zone.

"It's less of a big deal if you're able-bodied, and more of a big deal if you're a senior," an owner of an apartment in the complex said, asking that his name not be used because of the sensitive nature of his job.

Downtown Councilwoman Margaret Chin recalled that at one point, a senior couple who lived in the complex and were returning from the hospital were barred from entering by police because they didn't have ID. Chin's office has been in the building since 2009, andwould require the NYPD to go through a contentious and public Uniform Land Use Review Procedure process, subject to approval by the City Council and the mayor, so for the time being the street is officially still closed under the police department's authority to "temporarily" close streets.

"It's been 15 years," Chin said. "How temporary is that?"

After years without movement on the negotiations, staffers for Chin and the Mayor's Office began talking last month about the possibility of broaching the subject with the NYPD once more. A spokesman for Chin said she would like to talk about a range of possibilities, from fully reopening road, to allowing just tour-buses through, to approving a network of "This Way To Chinatown" signs guiding tourists through the federal court and prison complex