The Transformation of Fourth Avenue
Watch out, 4th Avenue. Marty Markowitz has a dream: “I have imagined this bleak stretch of road transformed into something reminiscent of the beautiful, tree-lined portion of Park Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. And my hope is that this community-based process will lay the groundwork for a stunning thoroughfare reaching from Atlantic Avenue to…
Watch out, 4th Avenue. Marty Markowitz has a dream: “I have imagined this bleak stretch of road transformed into something reminiscent of the beautiful, tree-lined portion of Park Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. And my hope is that this community-based process will lay the groundwork for a stunning thoroughfare reaching from Atlantic Avenue to the Atlantic Ocean.” The Borough President enlisted urban planning students from NYU Wagner to help create the Vision Plan for the Fourth Avenue Corridor, which involves “traffic-calming measures, streetscaping, placemaking and wayfinding improvements, and community partnerships” — that could eventually transform the industrial avenue into “Brooklyn Boulevard.” Any thoughts on this?
Vision Plan for the 4th Avenue Corridor [Brooklyn Borough President’s Office]
YEAH! Now Marty can give the contract to Ratner, and pocket himself another multi million $ “finder’s fee”
I wish Markowitz or Bloomberg or Amanda Urban or Joe Chan or somebody would intervene with the residential developers to attract better retailers to 4th Ave. It really annoys me that big buildings like the one behind the 3rd St playground (Boymelgreen?) has their air conditioning mechanicals and a medical office on the ground floor. This goes such a long way to killing the street life on 4th Ave. What a lost opportunity. I’m also ready for some up-market chains to move in, like CB2 or Crate & Barrel, Borders, Whole Foods (this is where they should be, not 3rd Ave) etc etc. Would be an amenity for all local residents and even boost property values.
fuplease, we residents of PS and WT already deal with the edges of our neighborhood congested and unpleasantr and on some days overflowing b/c of rush hour traffic–fewer lanes will make it worse. “This is about people upset because their drag race to Boro Park is slowed from 65mph to 55mph” –not relevant and creepily prejudiced. I made the point that there is a bus on PPW–and its number and frequency of stops have already been cut, making a non-car option less practical and attractive. For reducung car traffice and making bike use more practical and pleasant, mass transit is the best option. Cutting MTA budgets while reducing car lanes is not going to make life easier for those of us who do bike. There has to be a holistic approach.
fsrg, just checked out their website…amazing. In most of the country, 1 train per day wouldn’t even be noticed. Guess what, you bought a house near train tracks. The tracks were there before your house. So, because like 10-20 houses whine about train noise, 10 million people suffer. Or, more acutely, 10-20 houses in Middle Village vs. how many hundreds of houses along 3rd Ave, 4th Ave, and the Gowanus/BQE…
cmu, there are tons of trees on the medians of Broadway in Manhattan.
I think the city should restore the subway bridge over 4th ave at 9th st, and get rid of the billboard. They could hire Spencer Finch to create a glass work like the one he did for The High Line and it would look amazing! Instead of the colors coming from the Hudson, he could take them from the Gowanus, which are bound to be more vivid–probably glow the dark:)
It looks much cooler in person, but you can see some pics here.
http://www.thehighline.org/about/public-art/spencer-finch
This is a hopeless argument. as long as we expedite traffic 5th Ave will be a horrible environment. And there’s no way a federal truck route is going to be calmed unless hell freezes over.
You can’t have trees in the median because of the subway ventilation shafts, or even a lot of greenery.I
“Any thoughts on this?”
Dream on.
***Bid half off peak comps***
lf2009:
If you are worried about rush hour traffic on PPW then, by definition, you don’t live there because you’d already be home.
This is about people upset because their drag race to Boro Park is slowed from 65mph to 55mph. The only car congestion on PPW is from people driving 15 mph in the outer lanes as they look for parking spaces.
Also, have no idea what connection you see to MTA budgets and job creation. There’s a bus on PPW, if you want to take it, and traffic goes up with employment. Sounds like you’re just one of these Robert Moses-era bike haters Brooklyn unfortunately is still full of.
lalaland “Also, for the truck-traffic; some truth, but a shame that there’s no way for the cargo to get from Port Elizabeth without driving it from Jerz. So many ways the infrastructure is lacking – used to come straight to BK.”
Part of the blame for this issue is the NIMBYS known as the Juniper Park Civic Association – they helped kill the most recent push for a cross-harbor rail tunnel -theres is you “community input” for you. Millions of NewYorkers will get to endure endless pollution and traffic cause those self-centered suburban idiots were only worried about themselves.