November 19, 2009

Closing Bell: Crash Time in Williamsburg

Local blogger New York Shitty took a stroll through South Williamsburg the other day and was struck by some of the decidedly ungentrified pieces of furniture she saw on the street.

November 17, 2009

City Planning Targeting Curb Cuts

Better late than never! The Department of City Planning announced the start of the 60-day public comment period on the proposed Residential Streetscape Preservation text amendment. The effort addresses long-standing concerns by many people about the inconsistent standards and application of rules governing curb cuts in residential neighborhoods. (The recent dust-up over a proposed cut at 97 St. Marks Avenue leaps to mind.) We've cut-and-pasted the press release with all the details about curb cut restrictions below; the language also includes rules governing front-yard planting. "Many neighborhoods have been blemished as front yards have been turned into parking spaces, interrupting the pedestrian experience,” said Commissioner Burden. “This proposal will require planting in front yards, move parking to where it belongs and prohibit inappropriate curb cuts." Bravo.

Continue reading "City Planning Targeting Curb Cuts"

November 9, 2009

Navy Yard Entrance Opens, With Bike Lane!

The new entrance to The Brooklyn Navy Yard at Sands Street and Navy Street opened this morning. While this is big news on its own, it's extra exciting for bicyclists. The Navy Yard has been a very bike-friendly place in recent years so it should be no surprise the new road inside the Yard contains a shared bike lane that will become a formal lane when the road is expanded in coming months. Another nice touch: The bike lane inside the Yard connects up with the recently-installed bike lane that runs down the middle of Sands Street from the Manhattan Bridge. Well done! Now we'll just have to wait for the gate houses to be fully restored.

November 6, 2009

New Kosciuszko Bridge Won't Come Cheap

In October, a Department of Transportation panel narrowed the list of potential designs for the new Kosciuszko Bridge down to three finalists, including what The Brooklyn Paper calls the front runner, above. In addition to a new look, the bridge of the future will have nine lanes instead of six (yay!) as well as a bike and pedestrian lane; the whole thing will be set at less of an incline than the current structure because tall boats no longer go underneath. All this good stuff won't come cheap though: We're looking at a $1 billion price tag. Sounds like a lot of dough to us, but apparently that's what it takes to get bridge builders out of bed these days. “For a bridge that is a mile long in New York City, $1 billion is the going rate,” said DOT spokesman Adam Levine. The Feds will pay 80% of the freight, leaving the state with the rest. But the state is now talking about slashing its transportation spending, so it remains to be seen of the bridge, over which 160,000 vehicles pass every day, makes the cut.
The Billion-Dollar Bridge! [Brooklyn Paper]

November 5, 2009

Mrs. B Side-Swiped In The Heights

A few minutes ago Mrs. B was side-swiped on Pierrepont Street in a hit-and-run by a yellow cab with medallion number 3Y65; there were three small children in the back of the car. No one was hurt but we're out a side view mirror. We reported it to TLC but don't have a lot of faith they'll do anything about it. It will be interesting to watch the slow wheels of bureaucracy turn though. Anyone have any relevant experiences to share?

November 4, 2009

Closing Bell: Columbia Street Traffic Petition

There's a petition movement afoot in the Columbia Street Waterfront District to get public officials to do something about the dangerous traffic along Columbia Street. The petition is available for signing at The Coffee Den at Union and Hicks and at Everyday Athlete Kids on Columbia between Carroll and Summit. In this day and age, we a little surprised they're not making it available online.
Photo from Word on Columbia Street

November 3, 2009

Squadron Helps Drivers Get Off (The FDR)

Most Brooklynites are familiar with what a mess it can be to take the Brooklyn Bridge exit from the southbound FDR drive. Well, State Senator Squadron just worked out a deal with State DOT to make some changes, including new painted lines and EXIT ONLY signs, by the end of the year. Think it'll help?

October 28, 2009

Makeover of Ocean Parkway Mall

A portion of the mall that runs alongside Ocean Parkway in the Midwood section of Brooklyn is getting a new look. Council Member Simcha Felder, who in other instances has displayed a philistine's concern for matters of aesthetics in neighborhoods outside his own district, has ponied up $1.35 million to redo the pavement and bike path while sprucing up benches, railings and law areas. The work began recently, reports The Brooklyn Eagle, and is expected to be finished before summer. If anyone's nearby and can snap a photo of the work, we'd love to see it.
Beautification, Restoration for Ocean P’kway Mall [Brooklyn Eagle]
Photo by Urch

October 27, 2009

CB2 Parking Holiday Almost Over

For the past couple of months, drivers in parts of Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene have not had to deal with the hassles of moving their car twice a week for street cleaning—or dealt with the tickets for forgetting to do so. But now the free ride is set to end on November 9, reports The Brooklyn Paper. The good news (for residents) is that in most locations cars will only have to be moved once a week going forward; the bad news for non-locals running errands or paying a social visit is that parking turnover is likely to be less than it has been.
Alternate Side Parking Returns to Parts of Heights [Brooklyn Paper]
More Alternate Side Suspensions in CB2 [Brownstoner]

October 8, 2009

Corn Porn in BoCoCa

You know those new corner sidewalk extensions that DOT's been creating in recent months? Their utilitarian raison d'etre's pretty clear but the vast expanses of concrete aren't much to look at so a local artist has an idea to pretty them up. One word: corn. Yes, corn. According to the brand-spankin'-new Boerum Hill Blog, Christina Kelly has floated a plan to the city to plant native corn on five street corners throughout Boerum Hill. The first spot she wants to do it is at the northwest corner of Bergen and Smith Streets. Fun idea, but we'll be a-maized if she can pull it off.
Native Corn May Grace Smith St. [Boerum Hill Blog]

Collision at Grand Army

There were at least half a dozen emergency vehicles filling the road near Grand Army Plaza last night around midnight, blocking traffic between the arch and the park. At the center, there were two cars in terrible condition from what looked like a head-on or perhaps side-impact collision. Despite some improvements to bicycle and pedestrian paths around Grand Army Plaza, the roads there are still some of the busiest and most dangerous in Brooklyn. When passing this particularly nasty accident scene, we didn't have the time to stop and talk to the police, but we hope that everyone involved survived unscathed.

October 1, 2009

Contractors Group Lists Saddest El Roadways

The Kosciuszko Bridge, which connects Brooklyn and Queens along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, is the most deteriorated of all the city's elevated roadways, according to the General Contractors Association of New York, a labor and advocacy organization. The Daily News reports that yesterday the group made a public plea for funds to remedy the city's saddest elevated roadways, which include second-worst candidate, the Gowanus Expressway, and eight others in the Bronx. The GCA states that current funding for the roadways is insufficient to repair and maintain them. It seems to us that the August 2007 collapse of the 35W bridge in Minneapolis should have been a warning sign to cities everywhere of the importance of regular testing and maintenance—since the GCA's list is based on structural integrity, not just surface failures, hopefully someone in the city government is listening.
Kosciuszko Bridge Is Worst Elevated Roadway [NY Daily News]
Photo by jag9889

September 30, 2009

Updates for Manhattan Bridge Bicyclists

Workers have been, um, at work at the base of the Manhattan Bridge bike lane in Brooklyn for a while now. We stopped to talk to them over the weekend, and they said they are building a barrier wall for the bike lane, separating it from Sands Street as well as the grassy hill on the north side. They also said they are making slight improvements to the lane itself. In other news, automobiles are still confusing the new elevated bike lane along Sands Street for parking:

September 29, 2009

Bikes and Bodies on the Brooklyn Bridge

In the weekend New York Times, Robert Sullivan tackles the nightmare that we all know and many avoid: the Brooklyn Bridge elevated path. Designated half pedestrian walkway, half bike lane, the white line separating the two is never enough. Tourists often wander across the line with cameras glued to their faces, unaware of the cyclists zooming towards them; and cyclists, well, sometimes they zoom too much. Sullivan's solution: instead of signs and bollards, just separate the two—give bicyclists a protected lane on the lower level, among the cars. This suggestion will surely sound unpleasant to many bicyclists: they will lack the scenic views of the upper level and it sounds like a bad deal for anyone who enjoys breathing oxygen. Sullivan resisted the idea as well, but argues that "if we bicyclists cede the Brooklyn Bridge walkway, then it might be a step toward winning the public’s respect. Then, just maybe, pedestrians would call a truce and recognize that their real enemy is the car ..." It's a respectable argument, one definitely worth mulling over, but we still voted no on the Gothamist poll asking whether bikes should be banned from the upper level (64 percent said yes at the time of writing this post).
Bicyclists vs. Pedestrians: An Armistice [NY Times]
Vote: Ban Bikes from the Brooklyn Bridge Walkway? [Gothamist]

September 22, 2009

CB1 Criticizes Truck Traffic in Williamsburg

At the meeting of Community Board 1 last week, residents of North 11th Street in Williamsburg raised their hackles over the parade of truck traffic that has marched down their street ever since a portion of Kent Avenue became northbound-only as part of the Kent Avenue Improvement Plan. David Wolloch, from the Department of Transportation, said: "We’re not going to be trying to divert more trucks to North 11th Street. We’re going to monitor the truck traffic on North 11th, open signal studies, and route more trucks directly to North 14th.We have not been doing what we should have been doing for decades." The DOT also hopes to divert traffic to Greenpoint, McGuiness, and Meeker avenues, but, as feared, trucks are currently taking routes through residential streets. While many residents don't oppose bike lanes (a major part of the improvement plan), they did express frustration at their exclusion from the planning process. “I’ve been screaming for one and a half years that they were not going to the community and now everyone is suffering,” CB1 member Simon Weiser told YourNabe.com.
Truck Troubles on North 11th Street [YourNabe.com]
Truck Troubles on North 11th Street [Brooklyn 11211]
Kent Traffic Shifts to Wythe [Brownstoner]
Photo by mikequozl

Flatbush Streetlamp Project Draws Criticism

A $4.7 million project to replace 500 working streetlamps in Flatbush with antique bishop's crook lamps has met with local resistance, reports the Daily News. Some residents do not understand the utility of spending $10,000 per lamp (standard streetlamps cost $4,000 each) when the current fixtures work just fine and when the neighborhood could spend the money elsewhere, such as streets and sidewalks in disrepair. "It's ridiculous," Kent Thomas, 24, told the News. "The lights we have work fine. There are hungry people in this neighborhood who need help; we need shelters and soup kitchens." The project, which is half complete, received funding from the borough president's 2007 capital budget. In contrast, Brooklyn Heights has launched a similar, $2.7 million campaign to install bishop's crook streetlamps, with support from the Brooklyn Heights Association. Whereas opponents of both projects decry the waste of funds, the BHA defended the new street lights, saying they are beautiful, they enhance the neighborhood, and they are historically significant.
Flatbush Street Lamp Replacement a Dud [NY Daily News]
Brooklyn Heights' Lights [Brownstoner]

Sleepless on Livingston

According to the Livingston Street resident who sent in this video, it's been hard to get any sleep the past couple of nights. After watching, we can see why!

September 21, 2009

What to Do with the BQE Ditch

The Columbia Waterfront Association mentioned last week that a primary concern for the land use committee this fall will be the fate of the one-mile stretch of the BQE, known as The Ditch, that separates the Columbia Waterfront from Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens. The Brooklyn Paper reported in 2008 that Representative Nydia Velazquez (D–Gowanus) had obtained $300,000 in public funds for a study to explore possible solutions. Ideas being thrown around at the time included the mayor's call for housing decks above the highway, or parks and pedestrian bridges. The Paper reported again last June that the Economic Development Corporation had much less ambitious concepts for The Ditch: planted buffers, new street furniture, sidewalk repairs, and other primarily aesthetic improvements. What would you like to see?
Fix the Ditch [Columbia Waterfront Association]
Locals Want BQE Cover-up [Brooklyn Paper]
City Plan for BQE: Less Clean, Less Green [Brooklyn Paper]
Image of early proposal by dlandstudio

September 18, 2009

Park(ing) Day on Fulton

We stopped by Fulton Street near Marcy to help Gabe Willow and Eric Adler with their park-for-a-day, an installation they built for Park(ing) Day, an international event of guerrilla parking space reclamation. Eric and Gabe opted to create a miniature park in their space complete with a mountain, pond, native plants, and wildlife (the turtle hadn't arrived yet at the time these photos were taken). The second-most-common question they received: "What's going on here?" The first-most-common question: "How much are you charging for those plants?"

September 16, 2009

Money Starting to Flow to Fulton Street

A double-shot of cash injections announced this week means that things may be looking up for Fulton Street. Next month, the City Council will provide more than a million dollars in funding to two recently-created Business Improvement Districts on Fulton Street stretching from Flatbush to Nostrand Avenue. The Central Fulton Street BID (which will also be known as the FAB Alliance) is getting $400,000 in funding via Council Member Letitia James while the Bed-Stuy Gateway is receiving $675,000 for its first year in operations. Both BIDs are expected to focus on design and other quality-of-life issues like safety, lighting, trees and street furniture. “We want to create an aesthetically sound district,” Bed-Stuy Gateway's chairman, Edmon Braithwaite told Crain's. “With a cleaner shopping district, we will be able to attract merchants and increase business.” The Crain's article also mentions two affordable housing projects being done in partnership between BRP and Goldman Sachs that together should bring 183 units of housing as well as additional retail space to Fulton Street. All good!
Bed-Stuy Biz District to Get an Upgrade [Brownstoner]
Photo by nrvlowdown

September 15, 2009

Street Clutter in Brooklyn?

City Room, a New York Times blog, published a rant from Julia Willkie over the weekend about the cluttered streets and sidewalks in Manhattan. She cites sidewalk vendors, superfluous "honor boxes" for free publications, and an excess of phone booths among her primary woes. She quite dramatically writes: "The center of the Upper East Side is beginning to resemble a hardened hooker of the night." What we would like to know is if street clutter has become a problem for any of us in Brooklyn. Readers, what do you think—do the crowds of Seventh Avenue in Park Slope or Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg get you down? Is there a Brooklyn equivalent to Ms. Willkie's slightly overwrought description of Manhattan's crowded streets?
Complaint Box: Street Clutter [NY Times]
Photo by makemusicnewyork

September 9, 2009

Possible Perils of the Sands Street Bike Path

The Sands Street bike bath, the slick new route for bicyclists entering or exiting the Manhattan Bridge, only opened this summer, and already there are problems. Last week, Gothamist rreported that the raised portion of the bike bath between Navy and Gold has proven to be irresistible to illegal parkers; in addition, Transportation Alternatives notes bicyclists often make dangerous diagonal crossings when dealing with the double crosswalks at Sands and Jay where the bridge path lets out. The project isn't complete yet, and the DOT told Streetsblog that they are working on both of these issues. GMAP
Double Parkers Gravitate into Sands Street Bike Path [Streetsblog]
New Sands Street Bike Lane Perfect for Cable Guy Parking! [Gothamist]
Photo by Gothamist

September 4, 2009

Adventures in Advertising

Has a hot new broker set up shop in Carroll Gardens? Nope. ABC is just getting creative in marketing its new Courtney Cox sitcom Cougar Town!

September 3, 2009

Dumping on Vanderbilt Avenue

The Local brings us the bizarre story of the vacant building at 384 Vanderbilt: yesterday afternoon, a swath of garbage and debris lined the avenue between Gates and Greene, where construction workers had been cleaning out the building. It turns out that the waste, which caused damage to at least one of the cars lining the street, was the result of a $900 dispute between the workers and a contractor hired to remove the waste. But the refuse lining the street wasn't the only stinky aspect of the work at 384 Vanderbilt: one resident and one employee of the neighboring Brooklyn Veterinary Hospital pointed out that the people behind 384 Vanderbilt have been running renting fraud schemes and are currently developing 384 in violation of landmark regulations. Luz Santiago, the Brooklyn Vet employee, said: “There was a hustle there. That’s a ten-dollar job on a three-million-dollar brownstone. Even if you hustle, you gotta do things proper.” GMAP
The Day: Dumped [The Local, NYT]
Photo by Matt Lieber/The Local

September 2, 2009

Calming Traffic at Bergen and Smith

The folks over at Streetsblog pointed out the sidewalk extension at Smith and Bergen, part of a larger DOT traffic-calming program begun last spring, and gave a well-deserved nod to the residents, protesters, and advocates who have been fighting for over a decade to improve safety and traffic conditions in the area. We spoke with several passersby about the sidewalk extension at Bergen and Smith, and the reaction was mostly positive: it increases visibility between cars and pedestrians, shortens the crossing distance, and moderates vehicle speeds. It is, however, a lot of empty pavement, one person said—it could be more attractive with trees, benches, or public art. What do you think, readers? Are you satisfied with the changes at Smith and Bergen or any other traffic-calming measures in your neighborhoods?
Now That's What I Call a Neckdown! [Streetsblog]
Legacy of Traffic-Calming Advocates [Streetsblog]
Brooklyn Traffic-Calming Project: 10 Years On [Streetsblog]

Streets