Car-Free Prospect Park? Blech!
Well, that’s not exactly the position of Community Boards 7 and 14, but they do have some reservations about the three-month trial of a car-free zone in Prospect Park. Fearful that neighborhood streets will clog with traffic if cars are turned out from the park’s circular drive, they’re asking for an environmental impact statement to…
Well, that’s not exactly the position of Community Boards 7 and 14, but they do have some reservations about the three-month trial of a car-free zone in Prospect Park. Fearful that neighborhood streets will clog with traffic if cars are turned out from the park’s circular drive, they’re asking for an environmental impact statement to be prepared. “A car-free park ‘could have a major environmental impact,'” said Assemblyman Jim Brennan at a press conference yesterday. According to Streetsblog, “he co-signed a letter with the CB chairs asking DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan for the EIS.” They prefer that the park not be closed to traffic, even for a trial period. Needless to say, this isn’t sitting well with bike advocates, including Transportation Alternatives, which has been working to rid the park of cars for many years; the move by Brennan et al also comes on the heels of a petition in favor of the car-free park signed by 10,000 that was delivered to City Hall two weeks ago. This move brought out the warm and fuzzy side of CB7’s Randy Peers: “”We abhor the tactics of the bicycle advocacy group,” he said.
Foes Car-Free Prospect Park Trial Demand EIS [Streetsblog]
Photo from A Year in the Park.
this might be useful to the discussion, albeit a 10-year old study
http://www.transalt.org/campaigns/prospark/study_comments
as well as:
http://www.transalt.org/campaigns/prospark/faq
How about some speed bumps?
Why are bicyclists taking all the heat and anger that more properly belong to car and truck drivers? The drivers are the ones polluting the environment and endangering the lives of pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as other drivers. When was the last time a bicyclist killed a driver? Why is driving a more respected right than walking or bicycling? Especially in New York?
That being said, the Community Boards’ desire to understand whether closing the Park to vehicular traffic will inundate local neighborhoods with frustrated drivers is a reasonable one. The EIS seems to be a smoke screen, but it would study a legitimate question. We can all hope that blackstoner’s prediction is correct, but if it isn’t, we should know so we can judge whether the vehicle-free experiment was a fair trade.
sorry i hurt your feelings sam
blackstoner, your post was very insulting and demeaning.
The people in the photograph look like perfectly nice, responsible Americans who are involved in the community. Why do you think they look like losers? Because they are over thirty? Honestly, whatever your point of view is, you sabotage it with your arrogance and rudenss. You better stick to blogs because in the real world, you could get punched in the nose.
boxermonkey, as EIS is not required for trials, so this is just attention-grabbing bs
the streets wont get flooded…many drivers will realize that this route sucks and will go back to using the roads that were meant for high volume…prospect expressway/bqe/flatbush ave/etc
we need to stop bending over backwards for car drivers in this city
nice photo…what a bunch of winners, huh?
love how they had a press conference on a weekday afternoon, when most residents of the community they
(mis)represent, who strongly favor a car free park btw, are at, um, WORK
i know…why dont we just get rid of the park?
its so annoying how its right smack in the middle of everything…imagaine how nice life would be if we replaced it with a twelve lane highway
Its a park! And cars don’t belong in parks.
If it’s going to a permanent change in the traffic pattern, DOT is required to do an environmental study.
The question isn’t only bikers vs. drivers, it’s autos vs. residential streets in the area that might get flooded with traffic if the park is entirely car-free all the time.