Brooklyn Community Board Supports DOT’s 9th Street Plan
Last night, Brooklyn's Community Board 6 narrowly voted in favor of a resolution supporting the Department of Transportation's plan to put Park Slope's 9th Street on a "Road Diet."
So, that's that. After two months of fighting it's all over but for the Thermoplast. We would enjoy saying that the group of 9th Street residents who so intensely and irrationally opposed this plan "lost" last night but, in fact, they won because come July, their street is going to be a safer, more pleasant and functional place. Nevertheless, expect them to be out in force and going ballistic the first time there is a fender bender or the cops come around with parking tickets.
In the end, after nearly two months of wrangling and angry debate, the plan to install bike lanes and other traffic calming measures on Ninth Street in Park Slope was narrowly endorsed by Community Board 6 last night. The vote was 17-14 with two abstentions. In April, CB6 had referred a motion endorsing the plan back to its Transportation Committee, which held another meeting and produced another motion in support of the bike lanes. The support is conditioned on efforts to direct bicyclists to Prospect Park's 15th Street entrance, to study traffic calming measures on Prospect Park West and to examine the impact of the bike lanes after they are installed.
The Board's vote, however, was largely a formality, as the Department of Transportation has indicated it would go ahead with the plan regardless of Community Board backing. There was a final burst of debate before the vote last night, with opponents again speaking out against the measure as supporters held up signs in favor of the bike lanes. DOT intends to begin installing the bike lanes shortly.
