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June 28, 2008
Ikea has meatballs, couches and … jams
The Brooklyn Paper
By Ben Muessig
Guess what's in store for neighborhoods around Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project if the developer builds the 19,000-seat arena next to the "temporary" surface parking lot for 1,400 cars.
Check this coverage of the opening weekend at Ikea and the 1,400-car overflow parking lot.
Quiet Red Hook streets became bumper-to-bumper traffic jams when hordes of furniture-crazed shoppers flocked to the newly opened Ikea on its debut weekend.
Once-dreary roads that connect the Beard Street big box with the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway saw such a big uptick in traffic that cops from the 76th Precinct rushed in to police the area and bolster the efforts of 17 off-duty officers hired by Ikea to handle traffic.
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Red Hook residents say that the influx of cars made Columbia Street look more like a parking lot than a thoroughfare.“It was unreal. I’ve never seen so much traffic in my life,” said Jay McKnight, co-chair of the Red Hook Civic Association. “I was fearful of crossing Columbia Street — it was bumper to bumper and everyone seemed like they were in a hurry, trying to inch up between cars.”
To handle traffic, Ikea built a 1,400-spot primary parking lot and acquired a temporary overflow lot on the neighboring site of the former Revere Sugar refinery, which it has secured at least until Labor Day.
Before opening, the furniture giant also paid to put up new signs directing drivers to the store, and hired 17 off-duty NYPD cops to form a “paid detail unit” that would help direct traffic.
But even with Ikea’s preparations, cars clogged Red Hook roads.
NoLandGrab: Atlantic Yards supporters will note that Ikea is not convenient to public transportation, while Ratner's arena would be located above one of the area's largest transporation hub, which begs the question, why does the developer need so much parking?
Posted by lumi at June 28, 2008 6:13 AM