The Fight for Prospect Park's Roads
When new driving restrictions in Prospect Park go into effect on April 27, CB 7 won’t be cheering. The board started making noise last year when the plan was floated, agitating for an Environmental Impact Study before any changes were made. Now, according to the Brooklyn Paper, it’s a matter of pride: “No one was…
When new driving restrictions in Prospect Park go into effect on April 27, CB 7 won’t be cheering. The board started making noise last year when the plan was floated, agitating for an Environmental Impact Study before any changes were made. Now, according to the Brooklyn Paper, it’s a matter of pride: “No one was contacted on this before it was a done deal,” said CB7 District Manager Jeremy Laufer. Opponents fear that Park Circle will be overwhelmed by the rerouted cars, a charge both DOT and TA pooh-pooh.
Gee, Bob Marvin, that’s great that as a retired guy, you can run in the park when cars are not allowed. Or that before you retired, you ran at 6AM when there are scarcely any cars. Good for you. However, for many of the rest of us, 5pm-7pm is PRIME park time, especially in the warm weather, and cars on the drive, even if it’s half the drive, are unpleasant and potentially dangerous.
There’s a big, big difference in the experience of going into the park when cars are on the drive than when they are not. You have to venture much farther in to get away from automobile noise. Cars on the drives effectively shrink the park.
For goodness sake, all of the streets of our city are given over to cars. Is it so very much to ask that our parks be car-free???
Actually WOG, the signals are there because of the auto traffic, added when they started allowing cars. I’m not excusing any rude cyclists, and as an occasional biker/runner/stroller pusher myself, I sympathize, but they do not have to obey those traffic signals. Unfortunately, you can’t enforce common sense, and more people in the park should use it, no matter what they are doing.
“I think American Drivers are the safest drivers in the world – they might not be the best, but we know how to use roundabouts”
are you kidding me? i ride a motorcycle and the most dangerous part of my ride BY FAR is the roundabout…where MANY drivers turn right from the left f#@%ing lane…daily. idiots.
Now if we could only get the cyclists to respect the traffic signals INSIDE the park. Many times I have attempted to cross the road at a crosswalk with the light only to have these self-righteous idiots scream and yell that I am cutting them off. These signals are there for cars AND cyclists alike to protect the pedestrians – by running through them the cyclists become exactly what they are fighting against.
If the chairlift were like an escalator so you didn’t have to wait for one, that would be fine. Maybe just a very simple overhead tram – you grab a handle & swing across.
um sorry but I think American Drivers are the safest drivers in the world – they might not be the best, but we know how to use roundabouts – NY is comprised of drivers from ALL OVER THE WORLD – UM HELLOOOOO!
Cab drivers are NOT american born -need I say more
I’m in the park on foot three or four days a week. I cannot remembe the last time I was there in a motorized vehicle – I’m sure it’s been at least three years. But it seems the anti-car people have lost all sense of proportion.
Right now I think cars are allowed on one half of the park drive (inbound in the a.m., outbound in the p.m.) for two hours a day, 5 days a week. So the other 580-something acres of the park are always car free, and everything, including the entire park drive, is car free for 148 hours a week.
But I also think that if they’re successful in getting a comprehensive ban, motorists will adjust and life will go on.
Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament…
Tybur, awesome idea! But in NYC it would take like 20 years to build it. The MTA is rebuilding a staircase at the Ditmas Avenue station on the F train and the sign says it will take one year to complete.
(btw I really like roundabouts – when I lived in the UAE I found them quite thrilling after I got used to them…)