A protected bike path will soon wrap around the circumference of Park Circle. Some segments are bi-directional.

The DOT plan [PDF] got a thumbs up from Brooklyn CB 7 back in June. Here's a look at the wide open sea of asphalt Park Circle used to be, seen from Coney Island Avenue:

The best thing about the project is that motor vehicles are now channeled into a tighter space. Traffic is noticeably calmer -- the circle doesn't feel like an extension of nearby speedways anymore. Here's a tighter shot of that same angle today, zoomed in on a fairly huge new traffic island:

More pics after the jump.

A bi-directional approach to the Ocean Parkway Greenway -- much, much easier to use than the overpass you see in the background.

It's also much easier to cross Prospect Park Southwest where it meets the circle. Technically, there's separate space for pedestrians and cyclists at this crossing, but I think we'll see a lot of sharing here.

The exit from Prospect Park. Yes, that is a "multi-lane" bike path heading toward Park Circle.

Not pictured in this post: The terrible TD Bank building on the opposite side of Prospect Park Southwest from the park. Its curb-cutting driveways, parking lot, and drive-through window are a real blemish on this much-improved urban space.

We have a few still shots for now, and some archival footage of the old Petrosino from the Streetfilms vault, featuring Streetsblog publisher Mark Gorton and Project for Public Spaces' Ethan Kent. Yes, they filmed this just four years ago:

After the jump, a shot from Robin showing the square's spiffy new bike parking.

A view of the new Petrosino from Spring Street.

Before and after: Fulton St. and Marcy Ave. Image via DOT.

• Brooklyn: Fulton Street & Marcy Avenue; Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, applicant. Just off the bustling commercial corridor of Fulton Street, the Marcy Avenue plaza will narrow the width of Marcy Avenue between Fulton and MacDonough Streets to create 8,000 square feet of new pedestrian space in the heart of Bedford Stuyvesant. This project dovetails with the Bedford Stuyvesant Gateway Streetscape project by the Mayor’s Office of Comprehensive Neighborhood Economic Development and the NYC Economic Development Corporation, which is redesigning Fulton Street from Bedford Avenue to Troy Avenue.
• The Bronx: Boston Road & E. 169th Street; South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, applicant. By removing a slip lane this project will expand McKinley Square by 8,000 square feet.  This will allow the community to enhance a farmers market and create a town center for the neighborhoods of Morrisania and Clermont. The removal of the slip lane will allow children arriving by bus to walk to nearby PS 63 without having to cross a street, reducing conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles.
• Manhattan: Forsyth Street (between Canal Street and Division Street); Renaissance Economic Development Corporation, applicant. The Forsyth Street plaza will provide additional sidewalk space along the western portion of Forsyth Street to enhance the street environment currently alongside and underneath the Manhattan Bridge. In addition, the project will create an upper plaza on a vacant portion of property adjacent the bridge’s off-ramp so that residents and cyclists traveling off the bridge can enjoy public open space that looks down upon Forsyth Street and the surrounding neighborhood. In total, the project provides up to 10,000 square feet of new public space.

DOT, along with the Department of Design and Construction, will work with the applicants to develop site plans. Construction is expected to begin in 2011, as funding allows.

Off-duty police officers have been using the Pelham Bay Park walking/running trails in order to avoid traffic. They barrel through the park at a high rate of speed. Twice I was almost run over while jogging, and once I was cursed at when I put my hands up. My friend asked a Parks Dept. employee about it. She told us that they were off-duty cops and that there was nothing that they could do about it. Couldn't they install bollards or something?

Streetsblog has a message in with NYPD. The Parks Department had no comment.

Anyone else witnessed this?

Photo: E. Kuzina/Flickr

From Streetsblogger Urbanis:

[The] West Harlem Piers bicycle path, connecting the Hudson River Greenway between 135th and 125th Streets, has not still opened (after a promised opening of May or June this year). The completion of this link will allow cyclists an entire off-street route from Dyckman Street to Battery Park; currently, cyclists must exit the Greenway at 135th Street and ride in traffic along Riverside Drive to 125th Street. Even worse, while there is a bike lane provided for southbound commuters (which is a favorite parking spot for unloading trucks), no bike lane exists for northbound commuters.

The site remains fenced off but it has looked completed for months -- why the delay?

We put in several calls and e-mail messages to DOT and Parks, but no one we've found can tell us when the fencing will come down. A September story in the Columbia Spectator says the project is on hold due to "problems constructing a railing."

"Canopy," a plan submitted by a team of French designers, took people's choice in the "Reinventing Grand Army Plaza" competition, sponsored by the Design Trust for Public Space. It was also selected last month by competition jurors as one of two top designs.

"Canopy" is one of few submissions that actually connects the plaza with the park. Like last year's Grand Army Plaza Coalition proposal, it at least takes a stab at dealing with area-wide traffic management issues -- a major consideration for any workable redesign.

While raising the profile of the project and drawing the attention of thousands of Brooklynites, it's unknown how much of an impact the competition will have on the eventual design. The Brooklyn Paper reports:

"The contest wasn’t intended for a design to be constructed," sniffed Scott Gastel, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation, which is conducting traffic studies as a first step in its own plan to fix the plaza.

"The competition has produced some very interesting concepts, which we will bear in mind as we continue to think about the future of Grand Army Plaza," he said. "We’re still looking into the designs [to evaluate their feasibility]."

Court personnel have again appropriated downtown Brooklyn parkland for their own private cars.

The saga of the Brooklyn judges who just can't stand to part with their parking spots inside Columbus Park turned into a case of whack-a-mole last week. First, the judges finally agreed to stop parking in a pedestrian walkway, backing down from threats to sue the city in order to preserve that privilege. Under the compromise, however, a much bigger swath of the park has been turned over to the judges' parked vehicles, a supposedly temporary giveback while a new permanent configuration is implemented.

Borough blog McBrooklyn posted photos of how the arrangement squeezes out pedestrians, and the Brooklyn Eagle picked up the story:

Many pedestrians appeared to assume that the blockaded park was just a one-day disruption, due, perhaps to a water main break or a bomb scare. When the actual purpose was explained to one man, however, he was incredulous: "No, you're joking, right?" he said.

"I'm really pissed off," said a woman who works at City Tech (New York City College of Technology) on Jay Street. "I don't think that they should take the park. I hope it's temporary -- and I hope they discontinue it."

The Parks Department approved the new arrangement despite the fact that court personnel already have access to a courthouse garage at 330 Jay Street and 150 placards for free use of on-street spots. "They have all these spots on the street, they can go to 330 Jay, and they're just taking advantage," says Irene Janner of the Brooklyn Heights Association. "We're not happy with their decision to just come in and take up half the park."

Administrative Judge Abraham Gerges says the blockade will last one or two months. But prior "temporary" measures have left pedestrians out in the cold for far longer. In fact, judges were first allowed to store cars in the Columbus Park pedestrian walkway while the city constructed the courthouse at 330 Jay Street -- including a garage for court employees -- in 1999. When the garage was completed, some court personnel refused to use it and insisted on keeping their newly acquired parking perk.

"We have very little confidence in their willingness to uphold this arrangement," says Wiley Norvell of Transportation Alternatives. "They've broken faith before with the community."

Norvell criticized the Parks Department for acceding to the judges' demands. "Their job isn't to find parking spaces," he said. "It's inconceivable that at every turn, the convenient parking of the judiciary takes precedence over public space."

Photo: McBrooklyn

As part of Mayor Bloomberg's vision for far West Side redevelopment, the streetscape between 10th and 11th Avenues from 33rd to 42nd Streets is to be transformed with four acres of park space, linking to new commercial and residential high rises. Five designs have been submitted, with the winner to be chosen in October. The Post reports that, according to the Hudson Yards Development Corporation, phase one of the project is scheduled to be completed in 2013.

CHEKPEDS wants to ensure that the finished product addresses neighborhood considerations, such as:

• Will it be mostly for cars or for people?
  
• Will it be mostly for workers or for residents and neighbors?
  
• Will it be mostly shaded and green or more like a plaza?
  
• Will it be open 24 hours a day?
  
• What should it bring that the neighborhood lacks?

Designs will be on display tonight at 6:30 at Hudson Guild in the Dan Carpenter Room, 441 West 26th St. between 9th & 10th Avenues.

Image via New York Post

Local residents turned out to give their opinions on the renovation of the malls early last summer.

Residents of the Lower East Side and Chinatown have been fighting for improvements to the Allen and Pike Street pedestrian malls for more than a decade. Now, with the city's Parks Department set to begin a $5.4 million renovation of the malls below East Broadway, their wait for meaningful action might be nearing an end.

The Hester Street Collaborative has just released a final report on the community's visioning process (download the full study), which was coordinated by United Neighbors to Revitalize Allen and Pike (UNRAP) and will be used to inform the upcoming work.

The malls, which run along the center of Pike and Allen Streets from the East River to Houston Street, have long been in a state of disrepair. The pavement is cracked and uneven. There's little vegetation. The roar of traffic is ever-present. "There's a tremendous need for more viable open space here," says Annie Frederick, executive director of the Hester Street Collaborative. "This neighborhood has one of the lowest rates of public space in the city."

This April, a "demonstration mall" was completed on the block between Broome and Delancey, with new planter beds, benches, and sculptures. This summer, UNRAP invited neighborhood residents and organizers to a series of "Take Back Your Park" events to provide feedback and suggest improvements to the project -- like raised planters to better buffer traffic noise, and a meandering path instead of a straight one.

The new report incorporates comments and suggestions from those events, as well as the ideas of students from the New Design High School who studied the malls as part of an intensive summer program.

Among the priorities that emerged were green space, improved buffers from street noise and traffic, connection to the East River waterfront, and events and art exhibits that highlight and preserve the cultural history of the area. Known as "Avenue of the Immigrants," Allen Street is at the heart of an area that is rapidly changing due to gentrification (the malls themselves, constructed in the wake of slum clearance, occupy space where tenements once stood).

Support also emerged for traffic-calming measures and a bike lane that would connect to Manhattan Bridge access. The city DOT has said it is looking for funds from the state DOT to implement that type of improvement.

"What we're hearing over and over again is that Allen Street is over-engineered as a road," said Frederick. "It's not safe." She added that her experience working with the current DOT makes her optimistic about changes, although budgetary constraints will be a factor. "I'm very hopeful," she said. "There has been a real sense of inter-agency collaboration and willingness to listen to the local community. There's been a shift in culture."

Photos: Hester Street Collaborative

This morning officials announced the winners of the "Reinventing Grand Army Plaza" competition, a contest that drew 200+ proposals for transforming the gateway to Prospect Park into a public space worthy of its landmark status. A jury composed mainly of designers, planners and community advocates selected four designs to receive cash prizes, while winnowing the entrants to a field of 30, to be displayed on-site through October 13. Members of the public will be able to vote for their favorites via text message, with results announced on October 8.

After the exhibit, the Design Trust for Public Space and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition, along with NYC DOT and the Parks Department, will participate in a series of public workshops based on the top 30 designs, with the ultimate goal of composing a new plaza master plan.

Prize-winning designs are "Canopy" and "Please Wake Me Up!" (pictured) in a tie for first, "Urban Stripes" was awarded second place, and Brooklyn's Garrison Architects took third with "A Center for Brooklyn." Unfortunately, not every finalist made a serious attempt to address GAP's complex traffic issues, which will be essential to creating a lively and inviting public space. On the other hand, the guidelines do indicate that entries "did not have to be realistic."

According to the Project for Public Spaces (PPS), Portland, Oregon's Pioneer Courthouse Square is one of the Top 10 greatest public spaces in the U.S. & Canada. I couldn't agree more. Affectionately referred to as the city's "living room" the charming and versatile block was once slated to be a parking garage in the 1960s. Thankfully the residents didn't let that happen.

Recently while grabbing lunch in Portland, I wandered into the "Festival of Flowers" - a beautiful urban meadow installation that was so pleasant and comforting, I just had to shoot some video. Ethan Kent from PPS has often said to me that the key to the success of Pioneer Courthouse Square (and many public spaces) is its amazingly diverse programming. He's right, I've been to Portland a dozen times and there always seems to be something wonderful going on there.

A couple of weekends ago, FIGMENT, a non-profit art and culture festival, held its 2008 event on Governors Island. Streetfilms contributor Nick Whitaker was there.

Partnering with Governors Island, the producers of FIGMENT hope to increase the enjoyment of art by placing it in an under-utilized public space just minutes from downtown.

FIGMENT is free to the public. More info, including submission guidelines and volunteer opportunities, is available here.

Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan unveiled the Department of Transportation's New York City Public Plaza Program last night at the Pratt Institute in Manhattan. Through the program, DOT aims to transform "underused streets into vibrant, social public spaces" throughout New York City. To create and run these new public plazas DOT is seeking to partner with local non-profit organizations.

The initiative is "the first community-based planning program that has capital funding attached to it," Sadik-Khan said. DOT has allocated $43.1 million in capital funds over three years (about $14 million per year) for planning, design and construction of the new public spaces. Additionally, Commissioner of Small Business Services Rob Walsh said that his agency has allocated $50,000 per year over three years to pay for the programming and maintenance of plazas in neighborhoods with no business improvement district (BID).

DOT is accepting applications from community groups through Tuesday, August 19. Applications can be downloaded here. There will be an information session on Wednesday, July 16th, from 9:30-10:45 a.m. at 40 Worth Street, Rm. 814.

Sadik-Khan is urging New Yorkers to be creative in coming up with public plaza partnership ideas. "Partners don't just have to be BIDs," she said. Community development corporations, public hospitals and civic organizations would all be considered as long as they can show they have "some organization and maintenance capabilities." Sadik-Khan also noted that that low- to moderate-income neighborhoods that currently lack parks and open spaces will be given priority as a part of PlaNYC's commitment to create a park or public space within a 10 minute walk of every New Yorker.

If you spend much time in upper Manhattan, you know it's blessed with hundreds of acres of parkland, much of which serves to showcase the area's naturally rugged terrain. To help bring attention to this sometimes overlooked resource while promoting public health, an organization called CLIMB (City Life is Moving Bodies), in conjunction with Creative Arts Workshops for Kids, hosts an event called Hike the Heights, an "urban safari" through parks from Morningside Heights to Inwood. Streetfilms correspondent Mark Read has the lowdown.

Manhattan Community Board 2 member Ian Dutton reports that this morning city officials held a groundbreaking for the renovation of Petrosino Square. As part of the project, the square, which lies on Lafayette Street between Kenmare and Spring, will be expanded, as one of Lafayette's two southbound travel lanes will be turned into park space. Writes Dutton:

Interestingly, the loudest round of applause from the crowd of local residents, many elderly Italian citizens, appeared to come during [Council Member] Alan Gerson's remarks regarding freeing up useless road space on Lafayette St. for community use. "Today is an historic day as we transfer a lane of pavement to more space for an expanded park -- space for the people who appreciate the neighborhood and space for public art."

Though long-time Little Italy residents might not appreciate the impact of crowd- and traffic-attracting street festivals, the value of proper use of public space hasn't been completely lost on this audience.

A study released this week by Transportation Alternatives undercuts the claim that closing Central Park's loop drive to cars would increase traffic on the streets of Harlem. To the contrary, findings indicate that loop entrances on 110th street at Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevards "act as traffic magnets," drawing vehicles onto neighborhood streets from more appropriate routes like the FDR, Harlem River Drive and the West Side Highway.

During a series of driver interviews conducted in the spring of 2007, T.A. found that 57% of private car trips into the park through Harlem originate outside Manhattan, and that private cars -- not taxis -- make up the majority of traffic (two-thirds) on the loop drive. Reads a T.A. media release:

Much of the traffic clogging Harlem streets only enters the neighborhood because the Park drive is open to cars. This is consistent with NYC DOT's own findings that predict at least 3,107 private vehicles would be removed from Harlem streets each week during the morning commute if the drive was closed to car traffic. Armed with this information, T.A. and more than 100,000 Car-Free Central Park Campaign supporters call on the Mayor and City Hall to support a three month car-free trial in the park this summer.

T.A. initially presented its data privately to city decision-makers, hoping it would confirm the city's own analysis and provide the final impetus for a three-month trial closure. That didn't happen, so T.A. is publicly releasing the report [PDF] in hopes that New Yorkers will take up the issue with their electeds -- Mayor Bloomberg in particular -- and urge them to make good on this long-overdue improvement.

T.A. and other car-free park advocates are joined by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer in pushing for a summer trial. Says Stringer: "This action has the potential to achieve real and immediate benefits for our city, and to send an unequivocal message that New York City is serious about achieving its green priorities."

Photo: Frodrig / Flickr

Rendering of the preliminary design for Lakeside Center in Prospect Park.

A new Prospect Park skating rink and recreational facility will come with a smaller parking lot and improved bike access, reports neighborhood blog Hawthorne Street. The plan to re-design the southeast area of Brooklyn's flagship park, unveiled at a public meeting this Monday, will also restrict car access at one entrance, but stops short of doing away with the current rink's parking lot altogether. It remains to be seen whether the re-design will address the hazardous entrance at Parkside and Ocean.

A full report on how streets may be altered, courtesy of Hawthorne Street's Carrie McLaren, comes after the jump.

• The Ocean/Parkside entrance to the park is currently open 24 hours a day to cars, as the access point to the (free) Wollman Rink parking lot. Under the proposed changes, the entrance will only be open to cars during the morning rush hour commute, a total of two hours. Drivers wishing to avail themselves of the parking lot will instead enter at Lincoln Road.

• The parking lot will be moved from its current location to nearby Breeze Hill. The new lot has 150 parking spaces. The old lot has about 300 spaces in theory, but, according to Thomas, so many of those spaces are unusable (due in part to park containers and trucks taking up space there) that there will be little-to-no net loss of parking spaces.

• The DOT, working with Sam Schwartz, is currently conducting a traffic study to reconfigure the Lincoln Road entrance. The plan is to add two bike lanes -- one for entering and one for exiting -- alongside pedestrian paths and the new car entrance. The bike paths will connect to bike paths on Lincoln Road, which (listen up, DOT!) need to be more clearly marked. The Park plans to install a traffic light, and is working with the traffic engineers to come up with traffic calming methods to reduce the likelihood of collisions with pedestrians and cyclists.

McLaren also notes that some key concerns have yet to be resolved:

• The Lincoln Road entrance is right next to a playground. What steps will the Park take to insure that increased car traffic there doesn't jeopardize the safety, health, and pleasure of kids using the playground?

• Will the DOT execute a comprehensive plan that not only provides safe pathways for cyclists and pedestrians inside the park, but makes it easier to cross Ocean and Parkside to enter the park as well?

• Will parking spaces be metered to discourage park-and-ride commuters and others exploiting the park as their own private parking space? (Hope so.) Will the Lincoln Road entrance be open to cars 24 hours.
  

Image: Prospect Park Alliance

Last week, Hawthorne Street showed us the pedestrian nightmare that is the southeast entrance to Prospect Park at the corner of Ocean and Parkside. Tonight, livable streets advocates can help take the fear out of walking to the park and put pedestrians atop the hierarchy at this critical intersection. The Hawthorne Street bloggers have the details:

Some help may be on the way for the Ocean & Parkside intersection at Prospect Park: park reps have informed us that the entrance will be redesigned as part of a massive Park development project due to begin next year.

Of course, how it will be redesigned remains to be seen. We'd urge anyone and everyone concerned about the Park entrance to attend the upcoming public meeting: Monday, May 19, 6:30 p.m. at Wollman Rink.

The meeting will also address parking lots and roads within the southeast section of the park, an excellent chance to call for designs that limit the use of cars. The nearest subway station is Parkside Avenue on the Q.

Image courtesy of Hawthorne Street

The bloggers at Hawthorne Street put together this dandy little short -- you could even call it a Streetfilm -- to illustrate the dangers of crossing Ocean Avenue at the southeast entrance to Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Cars turning onto Ocean from Parkside Avenue pose a constant threat to people in the crosswalk, even while pedestrians have a walk signal.

With the adjacent area of the park slated for a major re-design, the Hawthorne Street folks are urging the inclusion of pedestrian and bike improvements in the plan. You can help them get the message across next Monday, May 19th at 6:30 p.m., when a public hearing on the re-design will be held at Wollman Rink.

A simulation of how the Ocean and Parkside intersection could better serve pedestrians comes after the jump.

Image courtesy of Hawthorne Street

If you have some time to spare early this afternoon and are in the vicinity of Columbus Park in Downtown Brooklyn, Transportation Alternatives will be holding a demonstration at 1:00. It seems some judges who have been using this public space as a parking lot may take legal action to retain access for their personal vehicles.

T.A. has the scoop:

In Brooklyn's Columbus Park, judges park both in a parking lot and on a pedestrian plaza in the park. This has been going on for years, despite the city (with taxpayer money) building the judges their own parking lot in 1999. To restore the pedestrian plaza back to park users, the city is removing a curb cut that the judges use and constructing another to link them directly to their parking lot. In response, the judges are actually threatening to sue the city. Given their long record of abuse, we think it's time to get the judges out of Columbus Park altogether and return it to use as a public space.

Every person counts, so please come join us!

Participants will meet at the corner of Joralemon Street and Boerum Place.

Photo: The Brooklyn Paper