There was a lot going on at the Community Board meeting Tuesday night so let's jump right in... EMPIRE/OCEAN/FLATBUSH TRAFFIC CALMING The most exciting news to my mind is that the Empire/Ocean/Flatbush intersection is getting a revamp to make it safer for pedestrians. We've been calling for this for two years now and are pretty impressed with the Department of Transportation's response:
- 3 of the 4 crosswalks at the intersection will get new splitter islands: raised platforms with trees and other plantings placed in-between north- and southbound lanes. The islands will slow down traffic and give pedestrians a refuge in case they get stuff between lights.
- Left turns from northbound vehicles on Flatbush (onto Ocean) are now banned. The DOT found that no one was doing left turns here, anyway, so it won't hurt traffic flow.
- Ocean Avenue will get a a new curb extension, which will slow down turning vehicles and shorten the distance pedestrians need to travel to cross the street.
- Alignment of traffic lanes will be improved.
Our neighbor, Dynishal, raised the point that the traffic lights for cars on Flatbush are out of sync, so DOT Rep Hillary Poole said she would look at that. Plans to remake the intersection should begin in a couple of weeks or so. Fire up!
NOSTRAND AVENUE SELECT BUS SERVICE
The improvements to bus service will also have a direct impact on our neighborhood, whether you ride this bus or not: faster buses means more riders, fewer cars, and better air quality.
The Select Bus Service (SBS) will replace the limited bus on Nostrand. There will be two stops in PLG, one at Empire and one at Clarkson. A few highlights from the meeting:
Continue reading "Notes From Community Board Meeting: Safe Streets, Rapid Buses and Scary Water" »
Remember last week how we mentioned the nightmare intersection at Empire/Flatbush/Ocean? It turns out that the Dept. of Transportation (DOT) has already mapped out a solution and will be presenting it at the Community Board 9 public meeting next week!
There are several other interesting items on the agenda as well:
Reps from the DOT will be discussing its proposal for the Nostrand Avenue Select Bus Service
The Department of City Planning will discuss the Car Share Text Amendment, which will allow services like ZipCar to do more business in our neighborhood
NYH20 will do a presentation on to the threat to New York City’s drinking water from companies proposing to use Hydraulic Fracturing/Horizontal
Drilling to drill for gas.
Per usual, the meeting is Tuesday (June 22) at 7 pm at the Middle School 61 Auditorium, 400 Empire Blvd. (between Nostrand and New York Avenues). Contact CB President Pearl Miles in advance if you'd like to speak a few words about any of the agenda items: 718-778-9279 or bk09@cb.nyc.gov. Hope to see you there!
 Congratulations, PLG. The city's long-awaited study of Flatbush Avenue is now reality. The Department of Transportation has begun analyzing traffic between Empire and Nostrand to see what can be done to alleviate congestion, improve air quality, and make the road safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers. The study will focus on several Flatbush intersections; the key spots in our neighborhood are Empire Boulevard/Ocean Avenue, Lincoln Road, Washington Avenue, and Parkside Avenue. If you have any thoughts about specific intersections — whether as a pedestrian or driver — please leave them in the comments. I'd like to collect feedback from the community here and send it to DOT officials to make sure they don't miss anything. Photo: According to Crashstat, the intersection of Flatbush and Parkside is one of the most dangerous in Prospect Lefferts Gardens.
PREVIOUSLY
Traffic Calming Plans for Empire
Public Meeting for Church Avenue Improvements
I wish I had good news about eyesore in residence, 195 Hawthorne. The lot remains a festering pile of garbage and neglected scaffolding. I called in a sanitation violation to 311 last April, to no avail. But, hey, if at first you don't succeed.... welcome to 311 Online, where a handy web page makes it easy to send in sanitation complaints. (The form for abandoned lots is here.) Last time I complained anonymously (or at least, as anonymously as possible given that I also blogged about it). But this time left my contact info. Hopefully that will help. Also, it's worth noting that the Department is allocating log numbers for these kinds of litter requests now, allowing complainants to follow up — it wasn't doing that when I called in April. Fingers crossed!
 We've been waiting well over a year to get a speed hump on our block and chances are we'll be waiting a good while longer. One of the main advantages of speed humps is that they deter large trucks from blazing down the block. But even without a speed hump, there's a way to try to curb illegal truck traffic: report it!
How do you know when truck traffic on a block is illegal? The only legal thoroughfare that large trucks can use in PLG are Rogers, Flatbush, Nostrand, and Empire. Trucks with 6 or more tires (and even large trucks with only 4) cannot travel along residential streets such as Rutland, Fenimore, and Hawthorne, except in the cases where they are making deliveries on those streets (such as a Home Depot flatbed delivering bricks for a home renovation).
If you notice trucks regularly using your block as a through-street, note the time of day and license number (a description of the truck may also be helpful). Then report the incident to the Department of Transportation via calling 311 or using the DOT web form. If possible, copy me on any emails you send (brooklynite282@gmail.com); photos would also be helpful.
(Photo taken from an British source because I'm too lazy to wait by my window: by t1mmyb)
 Standing in the rain waiting for the B41 bus last weekend got me thinking: Why is it that only one of the B41 bus stops around here has a bus shelter? The B41, which goes up and down Flatbush, is one of most heavily used bus lines in Brooklyn. Yet Park Slope's B71, whose ridership is so low it's been slated for extinction, has new bus shelters in several spots along Union Street. RIGHT: The bus shelters along Parkside Avenue have no shortage of
customers. Yet the most heavily used bus lines in PLG lack such
shelters. The B41 isn't the only heavy-lifting bus line in PLG that doesn't have bus shelters. The B44 along Nostrand—which has the fifth highest ridership of any bus line in the city—has none within the PLG boundary either. In fairness, the MTA/DOT may be waiting until after the planned bus rapid transit line is in to install shelters along Nostrand. And before launching into a conspiracy theory, I should check whether the site specs along Flatbush would even allow for a shelter. If B41 stops don't fit the specs, it would be because the sidewalk along Flatbush Avenue is too narrow. But if the sidewalk is too narrow for a bus stop, that suggests another kind of problem: passengers clogging the sidewalks as they wait for one of the most crowded buses in the city. (I can attest to this happening at the Parkside stop.) One of two B41 express stops in PLG—at Empire Blvd.—has a bus shelter from a previous era, but there is no shelter at Parkside, nor are there shelters at Grand Army Plaza, an area with much wider sidewalks. I asked Community Board 9 President Pearl Miles about this, and she responded with a request for suggested stops. I'm going to recommend Grand Army Plaza and Parkside for the B41, and the B44 stops along Nostrand and New York Avenues. The B49, along Bedford and Rogers, has less than half the passenger load as the other buses, and I haven't checked for shelters along these roads (though I'm pretty sure there are zero). So if anyone has any other suggestions for Ms. Miles, do let her know: bk09@cb.nyc.gov.
 Remember when we told you about the bus rapid transit project slated for Nostand Avenue? Well, Streetsblog is now reporting that the Obama Adminstration's 2011 budget includes $28 million to make the dream a reality:
Nostrand Avenue SBS would ply the B44 corridor in Brooklyn, a route where ridership is already high, demand is higher, and bus service is currently the most unreliable in the city... The FTA's announcement should help turn this project into reality. "That funding helps assure everybody that the project is going to move forward in these difficult times," said Joan Byron of the Pratt Center for Community Development, which has been a major advocate for bus rapid transit in New York. Byron highlighted the fact that the design for the route is still very much an open question and that secure funding will make the public outreach process more effective.
More here from Streetsblog. (Photo: NYCDOT)
Previously:
PLG buses lose again; Nostrand Merchants protest bus upgrade
Update to Nostrand Avenue bus service
 Those of you who read this blog know how we feel about the intersection at Ocean and Parkside Avenues. (Hint: hate it.) You probably also know that, under the aegis of PLG Public Works, our "sister" activist group, we've asked the DOT to find a way to fix it, to make it safer for pedestrians, cyclists and all users.
I am happy to report that we've received a response. According to a letter from Borough Commissioner Joseph Palmieri, the DOT's Division of Traffic Planning is investigating the location and will recommend appropriate action soon. The letter states that they'll respond to us directly by March 29, 2010.
So there you go. Fingers crossed!
 Earlier today, Gothamist lauded the residents of Maple Street for their respect for the bike lane during alternate side hours.
It is a great thing to see, and I am glad that Maple Street has learned to coexist with the bike lane in their midst. I'm surprised, however, that nobody has jumped into the Gothamist comment section to remind them that the compliance is likely due in no small part to the 71st Precinct's policy of ticketing cars parked in the bike lane during alternate-side hours, as kicked off by the notorious September 2007 Ticket Blitz. Image via Sholom Brody
 I can't read about the MTA budget crisis (no more free students passes, service cuts, etc.) without feeling violently ill, but Daily News writer Michael Daly managed to say what I would have liked to say without turning blue or shouting obscenities.
Daly points out how Speaker of the Assembly Sheldon Silver has screwed over school kids and other transit riders by letting congestion pricing die last year. Welcome to Shelly World, where school kids pay full fare on the subway, but motorists pay nothing to cross bridges and even park for free if they want to shop in his 'hood....The income from placing tolls on the East River crossings would have covered much if not all of the MTA's $383 million budget shortfall. Just the three untolled bridges serving Silver's Lower Manhattan district would have generated more than enough to keep school kids riding the subway for free as they have since 1948.
Subway fares aren't the only toll on kids. The New York City Health Department has just published an air quality study that shows how traffic congestion is poisoning the air. Area of the city that have higher levels of traffic have "higher levels of particulates (27 percent greater), elemental carbon (45 percent greater), and nitrogen dioxide (37 percent greater) than those in areas with less traffic." [Streetsblog]
Eliminating the free fares for students (particularly when coupled with the service cutbacks) could even make the air quality problem worse: anything that makes public transit more expensive and less safe and convenient is likely to encourage more driving.
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