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March 16, 2007
Big Crowd of Park Slopers Turns Out to Jeer One-Way Proposal
Gowanus Lounge attended Department of Transportation's presentation at last night's Community Board 6 Traffic & Transportation meeting and filed a report.
Highlights from the article:
Summary of the DOT presentation:
The DOT plan was presented by Deputy Commissioner Michael Primeggia. He faced a sometimes hostile and mocking crowd and presented the rationale for making Sixth Avenue one-way northbound between 23rd Street and Atlantic Avenue and for making Seventh Avenue one-way Southbound between Flatbush Avenue and Prospect Avenue. "First and foremost it improves safety," Mr. Primeggia said to jeers from the skeptical audience. Under the plan, he said, "half of all pedestrian crossings will be unopposed and conflict free." The B-67 bus would also have to be re-routed because of the change. The DOT Deputy Commissioner listed added benefits adding parking spaces where bus stops are eliminated, introducing muni-meters, giving more "green time" to lights on cross streets. (There is an overall perception in the community that the proposal is being made to eventually ease the flow of traffic through Park Slope to Atlantic Yards.) Another proposal, to eliminate a lane of traffic in each direction from Fourth Avenue and to use them as turning lanes we greeted more openly by the audience.
The bizarro Deal-or-No-Deal moment came in reply to a question posed by City Councilmember David Yassky:
Mr. Yassky asked if DOT was open to pursuing non-controversial parts of the proposal like installing muni-meters and, even, creating the turning lanes on Fourth Avenue. Mr. Primeggia flatly rejected the idea, saying "We believe this is a nice package. All of the elements complement each other."
A representative from Methodist Hospital, which hosted the meeting and just redesigned and rebuilt the emergency vehicle reception and 7th Ave. entrance based on the current traffic plan, expressed the hospital's concerns:
Opposition was also voiced by Methodist Hospital's Lyn Hill, who said the hospital was opposed to the proposal and that it is "nearly intolerable to the hospital" because of the negative impact it would have on emergency medical vehicles and the increased safety risk for patients coming to the emergency room.
Though the feelings of the community were clear, the meeting resolved with a vote on a very confusing motion. Gowanus Lounge left out the part about the motion thanking the DOT, though the rest sounds about right, sort of:
The meeting ended abruptly when the Community Board's Transportation Committee took a vote on a muddled motion to voice opposition on the one-way proposal for Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue and to ask the Department of Transportation to work with the Community Board on changes to Union Street and to lowering speeds on Eighth Avenue and Prospect Park West.
Posted by lumi at March 16, 2007 2:03 PM