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June 4, 2009

Car Crash at Waverly and Willoughby

On the heels of yesterday's post about Berkeley Place residents who don't want speedbumps on their block comes this photo from a reader who lives in the Clinton Hill Co-ops and witnessed the aftermath of a car accident at the corner of Waverly Place and Willoughby Avenue, a location, he points out, that's seen its fair share of accidents in its day. "This happens all the time - cars roar down Waverly Avenue from Myrtle Avenue and blow the stop sign at Willoughby and 'wham,'" he writes. "Why can't we get some of the speed bumps like they just installed on Berkley Place in Park Slope?" For what it's worth, we've got them on Grand Avenue and people still speed down the street.

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That's a beautiful house. Any interior shots???

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 9:03 AM

Funny, we almost bought that house back in 2004. Very cute.

Posted by: brownstoner at June 4, 2009 9:06 AM

Let's get the race and class wars started. One of those cars is black!

Posted by: denton at June 4, 2009 9:06 AM

"Funny, we almost bought that house back in 2004. Very cute."

gentrifying yuppie scum douchebag statement. must be nice to "almost" but multi million dollar mansions.

is that a good class war, denton?

Posted by: randolph at June 4, 2009 9:09 AM

denton, that car is charcoal. Not everything is black and white. The other one is red; why didn't you think Kanarsee Indian????

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 9:11 AM

yeah randy. Obviously you are from the renter class.

Posted by: guest_poster at June 4, 2009 9:15 AM

I hope no one was hurt with that ambulance there. Let's get that out of the way before there is any more snark.

I'm not totally in love with that shade of green on the bay window. And, the planter box on the front window ledge could be a bit larger and have more color in it.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 9:15 AM

good thing you didn't buy it. Only 17' wide. You'd be laughingstock on this blog.

Posted by: Petebklyn at June 4, 2009 9:17 AM

Deep breath, Randi. We bid on this and couldn't agree on price and ended up buying our current house instead. What's your problem?

Posted by: brownstoner at June 4, 2009 9:21 AM

Two bikes got hit by a car on the very same corner last wknd.

Posted by: werner at June 4, 2009 9:23 AM

Mr. B: I think Randolph's comment was tongue-in-cheek

Posted by: heck_of_a_job_brownie at June 4, 2009 9:24 AM

pretty sure that's sarcasm bstoner. time for coffee.

Posted by: eh at June 4, 2009 9:24 AM

According to her profile, randi is a 31 year old female living in a condo in Ft. Greene. Now you should all understand what her problem is.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 9:24 AM

did i just get PWNED by mr b????

Posted by: randolph at June 4, 2009 9:26 AM

It wasn't hard, randi. Neither one of the sentences you wrote were grammatically correct.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 9:28 AM

speaking of speed bumps (im all for them btw) but they put a new speed bump in the parking lot at the TD bank on the corner of 1st st and 5th ave in park slope. guess who was stumbling home one night and decides to take a detour thru the parking lot and falls face first on the ground over the speed bump? me. u think i can sue? i didnt hurt myself tho and im not a big fan of frivolous lawsuits anyway.

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at June 4, 2009 9:37 AM

that house comes with parking.

Posted by: more4less at June 4, 2009 9:39 AM

Dave, you are spot on about the window box and green paint color.

Posted by: mopar at June 4, 2009 9:42 AM

Does anyone know if this Willoughby St. is named after the same Willoughby of Willoughby Coachbuilders from 1898-1938 in Utica, NY???

http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/w/willoughby/willoughby.htm

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 9:45 AM

quote:

"renter class."

please stop pouring the haterade. with the "renter class" a lot of you folks wouldnt even be able to afford your mansions in the ghetto.

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at June 4, 2009 9:45 AM

Thank you, mopar. You've been on here long enough to know that when I post, as infrequent as it may be, that I'm always "spot on", correct, concise and always right. :)

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 9:47 AM

In Philly, I live at the corner of Waverly and 12th Street. Waverly is one of those "in between" streets...not a full two lane street but wider than the very narrow "carriage streets"

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 9:49 AM

please stop pouring the haterade. with the "renter class" a lot of you folks wouldnt even be able to afford your mansions in the ghetto.

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at June 4, 2009 9:45 AM

Though I can't find where anyone posted here about "renter class," rob, I have to admit, as the Alpha Retard who bought in the ghetto at the top of the market and is now dramatically underwater, yet STILL continues to pour money into his home, I am indebted to the "renter class" so that I can still afford truffles and a nice Amarone.

Thank you all.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 9:52 AM

DIBS, the waverly here has a ton of carriage houses; think majority of the houses are carriage houses

Posted by: more4less at June 4, 2009 9:54 AM

I lived in that corner Brownstone. The Super is nuts. He let the crazy lady across the street live in my unit after I moved out. I wonder if she's still there. Other than that it was a nice place...And yes there were always accidents on that corner. My girlfriend and I would often wake up to screeching brakes and the inevitable crash just like a Dane Cook skit. We always feared one day a car would go right through our window as we had the garden apartment. Scary

Posted by: iLikeShade at June 4, 2009 9:59 AM

Do you think possibly this owner had trouble getting renters, because rents have fallen so low with everyone moving back to Manhattan, especially with these car accidents, and maybe that's why the planter box is a little small, doesn't have enough color, and the green bay window is the wrong shade of dark green? They are probably underwater, but I think they should have gone with Fine Paints of Europe.

Posted by: mopar at June 4, 2009 10:10 AM

People still speed with speed bumps... I have them on my street. The cars race to the bump at 50 mph, slam on the brakes, accelerate back up to 45 mph, slam on the brakes, then accelerate back to 45+ mph again to blow through the red light...

I'm actually all for the speed bumps -- it means the real speed racers just avoid my street. But it's amazing how people feel the need to accelerate to top speed knowing there's another bump in a 75 yards.

Posted by: tybur6 at June 4, 2009 10:18 AM

mopar, I've used Fine Paints of Europe and unless the underlying wood has been completely stripped and is perfecttly sanded, you're wasting your money on that finish. Especially with the high gloss finish. The underlying surface needs to be perfect. An oil based primer and a 100% acrylic finish from Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams or any high quality manufacturer is more than adequate at about 1/5 the price of Fine Paints of Europe. Do not use HD's Behr brand, ever. You will not be satisfied.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 10:20 AM

tybur6..it's mostly foreigners who drive like that, taxi drivers would be a good example. People like us that grew up here and have been driving since we were 16 know how to anticipate what is ahead. Those foreigners who never drove in their lives but just raised goats and then came here to the US for the good life and only started driving here, late in life, really don't know how to anticipate the traffic or road conditions more than 10 feet ahead of them. :)

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 10:24 AM

Same thing happened with us Mr. B, with that house on the corner of Willoughby. It was a nice place that needed a fair bit of work, and it has off street parking in a garage our back. Narrow, but being on a corner gave it a lot of light - plus it is five stories. We ended up buying a different place as well as we couldn't agree on a price. Glad someone bought it and have been fixing it up.

Posted by: 1842 at June 4, 2009 10:27 AM

And the Willoughby name comes from the Revolutionary general Willoughby, not the Utica coach manufacturer...

Posted by: 1842 at June 4, 2009 10:28 AM

Mr. B & 1842...what was the asking price and the timeframe that you both looked at it????

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 10:29 AM

Think they were asking in the low $900's...can't remember exactly. Also can't remember if there were SRO/C of O issues...

Posted by: brownstoner at June 4, 2009 10:37 AM

"Why can't we get some of the speed bumps like they just installed on Berkley Place in Park Slope?"

they did? i live on berkeley and haven't seen them. at least not b/w 4th and 7th.

off topic, whats with that smashed up car on corner of Lincoln and 6th that's been sitting there for days? can i legally squat in it and make it mine?

Posted by: goldie at June 4, 2009 10:41 AM

I can't remember, high 800s or low 900s sounds right. Needed a lot of of work as well and it was an SRO I think.

Posted by: 1842 at June 4, 2009 10:47 AM

I am glad those 2 cars hit each other. They are both junk now. Praise the Lord that crappy little cars like that get off our streets.

Posted by: billyboomer at June 4, 2009 10:49 AM

DIBS, I don't know if you have ever been to Amsterdam, but they have this black paint color with a touch of green in it that looks so elegant. Not really black, not really green..

Can't we take those speed bumps and scrape them off to fill in all the new curb cuts?

Posted by: IMBY at June 4, 2009 10:55 AM

Most likely illegal mexican contractors fleeing the scene of some construction accident...

Posted by: IMBY at June 4, 2009 10:58 AM

IMBY...I once painted a car where I mixed an extra quart of black into a gallon of British Racing green. It really looked great.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 11:02 AM

NOTICIA:

I will provide "shelter" for any hot young illegal Mexican guys fleeing any construction site.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 11:03 AM

I believe an even better approach than speed bumps would be to not maintain the streets very well, so that they are barely passable--something like the people in Fieldstone (Bronx) do with their privately owned Streets. Letting the streets get as bad as those in Willets Point, Queens would be going too far. In addition to improving safety, think of how much money the City would save.

BTW, I'm a car owner, but since I drive slowly and carefully on city streets, I wouldn't mind at all. The idiots, many native-born, in addition to those DIBS wrote about, would be forced to slow down (and for those REALLY stupid, their cars would quickly be rendered unusable, thus getting them off our streets).

Posted by: Bob Marvin at June 4, 2009 11:04 AM

Speeding on Waverly isn't a joke - I kind of resent all of the sarcasm about window box color and pretend race wars because this is a serious issue.

I live near the next intersection on DeKalb and there are frequent bad accidents. The most recent one I witnessed a few weeks ago wrecked several parked cars as well as seriously injuring at least one of the drivers.

The problem is not only cars speeding down Waverley, it's also the hugely increased speed on DeKalb since they've removed the parking lane on the right (north) side of the street. In the morning there are 3 lanes of super fast traffic tearing down to Flatbush causing cars inching out from Waverly and pedestrians to play a giant game of Frogger.

Pedestrians have been hit by cars speeding down DeKalb and it is only a matter of time before someone is killed.

Posted by: Stonergut at June 4, 2009 11:08 AM

Bob...you weren't here yesterday and I gave you a shout-out in the HOTD. What year do you think it was built???

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/06/house_of_the_da_700.php#comments

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at June 4, 2009 11:08 AM

Dave.

I WAS here, but confess to usually only reading HOTD items when they're houses in PLG--I'm SO parochial :-)

I'd guess 1850s--shortly before the Civil War. What a beautiful house!

Posted by: Bob Marvin at June 4, 2009 11:17 AM

the problem at that intersection is that there is a stop sign on waverly but there isn't one on willoughby. there needs to be stop signs on both corners and in addition, cross walks. as for grand avenue, the bumps do not work because they are not large enough and there needs to be more than just one.

maybe the local councilperson could do something about it, since she refuses to do anything about the drug dealers.

Posted by: witchdoctor at June 4, 2009 11:59 AM

Maybe the cops should set up speed traps. DIBS, I have seen Behr on walls and it is absolutely terrible. Thank you for the confirmation.

Posted by: mopar at June 4, 2009 1:05 PM

If Waverly was northbound only from Atlantic Ave. to Gates and also from Myrtle to Park, leaving the current southbound direction from Myrtle thru Gates, the thru traffic would stop. No thru traffic would mean less speeding.

I've wondered about running DeKalb Ave. in two different directions also. perhaps changing direction at Ashland or Cumberland, but the B38 would suffer from that. OTOH, now that developers have declared Albee Square their own personal front yard, the B38 is slower and more ganged up than ever.

Developers - ya gotta love em. : P

Posted by: Stonergut at June 4, 2009 1:57 PM

"they did? i live on berkeley and haven't seen them. at least not b/w 4th and 7th.

off topic, whats with that smashed up car on corner of Lincoln and 6th that's been sitting there for days? can i legally squat in it and make it mine?"

Goldie:

Check out the thread on it from yesterday.

Posted by: 11217 at June 4, 2009 3:10 PM

Funny, I missed getting hit by a car accident on Washington and Greene on Tuesday by about 10 seconds. My foot hit the curb and I heard a crash behind me -- two minivans collided. Looked like one was speeding and one was turning, although I'm not sure. Same day I also watched a car doing about 60 down Willoughby.

What's weird is, I expect a ton of traffic on the main avenues -- Vandy, Clinton, Washington, but those little perpendicular side streets... which are of course nice alternates to the BQE... well yeah, it's an issue.

Posted by: Heather at June 4, 2009 8:04 PM

« Thursday Links Open Thread »

June 4, 2009

Car Crash at Waverly and Willoughby

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