Streetsblog New York City

Fourth Avenue at 86th Street in Bay Ridge would get a pedestrian island - and a pedestrian fence - under a plan presented to CB 10 last week. Image: DOT

Last year, DOT redesigned Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park to calm traffic by widening pedestrian medians and reducing the number of motor vehicle lanes. Similar improvements are now on track for Fourth Avenue in Bay Ridge and Park Slope. Last Thursday, Community Board 6′s transportation committee voted 14-1 to support the Park Slope plan. In Bay Ridge, CB 10′s transportation committee reviewed the plan last Monday; it now goes to a community forum scheduled for June 5.

The biggest news is that, based on public feedback, the Bay Ridge road diet, originally planned for both directions from Ovington Avenue to 84th Street, will cover more blocks than expected [PDF]. Now, both directions from Ovington Avenue to 86th Street and northbound Fourth Avenue from 101st Street to 95th Street will be converted from two lanes in each direction to one through lane in each direction plus left-turn lanes.

CB 10 has historically been reluctant to support DOT’s street redesigns, but while infamous cars-first board member Allen Bortnick raged against DOT at last week’s meeting, he seemed to be in the minority this time around. “The plan was very well-crafted and thought out and DOT took the idea of community input to heart,” CB 10 member Andrew Gounardes said. ”They went block by block and they tweaked their plan based on input from us. I’m very encouraged by that.”

The intersection with 86th Street, a major bus and subway hub with lots of pedestrian activity and automobile drop-offs, will be receiving a new pedestrian island on the south side of the junction for pedestrians crossing Fourth Avenue.

The crossing would also receive an 80-foot pedestrian fence along the west side of Fourth Avenue. Hemming people in isn’t a pedestrian-friendly solution to traffic dangers, but DOT’s fence proposal was received positively by the committee. ”It’s the most troublesome intersection we have in Bay Ridge,” Gounardes said.

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A pedestrian struck by a motorist on April 1 in Bay Ridge died from her injuries. The crash occurred on a section of Fourth Avenue where DOT plans to install a pedestrian fence, and in a precinct where NYPD writes a speeding ticket once every five days.

At least two pedestrians were killed by drivers in April in the 68th Precinct, which wrote 63 speeding tickets in 2012. State Senator Marty Golden, whose district encompasses the precinct, is opposed to automated speed enforcement.

The victim, a 30-year-old female whose name was not published, was struck by the driver of a Honda sedan as she attempted to cross mid-block on Fourth near 86th Street, according to an April 2 story from the Brooklyn Daily. The impact broke one of her arms and caused severe head trauma.

The FDNY said they took the victim to Lutheran Medical Center where she later died from her injuries.

An NYPD spokeswoman said that the driver was uninjured and remained at the scene. An investigation is ongoing, but there is no evidence of a crime.

“It looks like it was just an accident,” the spokeswoman said.

A different version of the Brooklyn Daily story first appeared in the Brooklyn Paper, which reported that the victim was transported in cardiac arrest.

Coverage of the crash makes no mention of how fast the driver was going before the collision. A pedestrian’s chance of survival when hit by a vehicle decreases dramatically as motorist speed increases. Speeding was the leading cause of NYC traffic deaths in 2012, according to DOT.

DOT is planning a slate of changes to Fourth Avenue aimed at slowing down drivers and reducing traffic injuries and deaths. According to reports, one element of the proposal is a pedestrian fence, similar to those in Midtown Manhattan, to prevent “jaywalking.”

As usual, NYPD is AWOL on traffic calming. The 68th Precinct, where this crash occurred, and where an elderly woman was killed by a driver in a Fourth Avenue crosswalk on April 30, issued just 63 speeding tickets in 2012.

Both fatalities happened in Marty Golden’s state senate district. Golden has blocked the city from implementing a speed camera pilot program, though NYPD supports automated enforcement. Golden can be reached at 718-238-6044 and @SenMartyGolden.

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Update: The Home Reporter reports that the elderly victim of this crash has died.

Residents of Bay Ridge are again calling for measures to rein in reckless motorists after a Tuesday crash that sent at least one pedestrian to the hospital. The crash occurred in the district of State Senator Marty Golden, who has blocked a widely-supported speed camera program from being implemented in NYC.

The 68th Precinct wrote 63 speeding tickets in 2012. State Senator Marty Golden, whose district encompasses the precinct, is opposed to automated speed enforcement.

Published reports say the driver of a Cadillac Escalade struck an elderly woman while making a right turn from 82nd Street onto Fourth Avenue. Brooklyn Daily reports that the victim was declared likely to die.

NYPD and FDNY had few details. The NYPD public information office said the victim was an elderly Asian female, whose identity has not been released. An FDNY spokesperson told Streetsblog responders got the call at 10:39 a.m., and said two victims were transported. FDNY had no information on the condition of either victim. WNBC was the only media outlet we found with a report that two victims were struck.

The NYPD spokesperson said no summonses were issued, and that “no criminality is suspected.”

The Brooklyn Eagle reported that Council Member Vincent Gentile was at the scene:

Gentile said he was told that the victim was in “very bad shape” and that she had been rushed by ambulance to Lutheran Medical Center. “She apparently hit her head hard on the pavement when she was hit by the car,” Gentile said.

“The pedestrian went up in the air and came back down,” said one witness, to the Home Reporter. An NYPD spokesperson told the Brooklyn Daily that police “had no evidence that the motorist was speeding or breaking any other traffic laws,” though “[w]itnesses pointed out that the woman was already in the crosswalk when struck, and state law grants right of way to pedestrians over drivers when both have the light.”

The 68th Precinct, where the crash occurred, issued just 63 speeding citations in 2012 [PDF]. Locals are pushing for improved traffic enforcement, including the use of speed cameras, on Fourth Avenue.

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Fourth Avenue could get a road diet along 13 blocks in Bay Ridge, with added pedestrian islands and curb extensions. Images: DOT

Elevated from today’s headline stack: The Brooklyn Paper has a recap of DOT’s presentation to the Fourth Avenue Task Force last week, outlining options for the major avenue in Bay Ridge. The changes include a left-turn lane at 75th Street, a concrete pedestrian island at 86th Street, and a road diet along 13 blocks that would replace a four-lane configuration with two lanes plus turning bays.

The recommendations came after a January 24 workshop [PDF] where residents said their top concerns included speeding, double parking, and pedestrian safety. DOT’s measurements back up the concerns: on Fourth Avenue between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., up to 63 percent of drivers clocked in over the 30 mph speed limit.

A source who attended the meeting says the ideas were mostly well-received, and Bay Ridge has an active contingent of neighborhood street safety advocates, led by Maureen Landers. But of course, a presentation about traffic calming in Bay Ridge wouldn’t be complete without an appearance from Community Board 10 member Allen Bortnick, who infamously lobbied to acquire the curbside parking space in front of his home. While DOT’s models show the change will have a minimal impact on the street’s automobile capacity (as engineer Dan Burden explains in this Streetfilm, road diets help traffic flow in a smoother, more orderly fashion), Bortnick saw a conspiracy. “Sadik-Khan is really Sadist-Khan, and she never met a car she liked,” he told Brooklyn Paper. “They’re duping the public.” So, mystery solved. Bortnick, appointed to CB 10 most recently by Council Member Vincent Gentile, is the one person in New York who takes Post columnist Andrea Peyser seriously.

Fourth Avenue, running six miles from Atlantic Avenue in Park Slope to Shore Road in Bay Ridge, has already received a makeover in Sunset Park, and a companion effort is underway in Park Slope. The next step in Bay Ridge: DOT will modify the plan to address feedback before presenting to CB 10. A date has not yet been set.

DOT’s proposal for a bike lane on Bay Ridge Parkway, which would have preserved all travel lanes and parking, was scrapped after local politicians blasted the concept and Brooklyn Community Board 10 voted against it, 32-8, in May 2011. At the time, the future looked bleak for bike lanes in Bay Ridge.

Instead of simply saying “no,” however, the community board is back, proposing its own bike lane routes to DOT that cover more mileage than DOT’s original proposal.

The current bike map for Bay Ridge is pretty bare. CB 10 voted this week to add more bike lanes to the neighborhood. Map: DOT

Following a 6-1 vote by its transportation committee in June, the community board voted 40-2 on Monday to send a list of potential streets for bike lanes to DOT. The streets include Sixth Avenue, 68th Street from Sixth Avenue to Shore Road, 72nd Street from Shore Road to Sixth Avenue, Marine Avenue and 11th Avenue.

“There will be more bike lanes in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, no matter what,” said transportation committee Chair Brian Kieran.

While CB 10′s vote is only advisory and does not guarantee that DOT will install bike lanes at the recommended locations, the request itself represents a significant shift from the board’s confrontational past with the agency.

When DOT first proposed bike lanes, many board members felt the plan was “written in stone,” said CB 10 member Bob HuDock. ”The view of DOT down here is that DOT is kind of the enemy,” he said.

Many neighborhood residents were not happy with DOT’s proposal for bike lanes along Bay Ridge Parkway, Third Avenue, Fort Hamilton Parkway and 92nd Street because, they said, they didn’t want cyclists being directed to high-traffic streets.

After DOT’s original proposal was voted down last year, board member Judith Grimaldi made a motion to ask CB 10′s transportation committee to suggest alternate bike lane routes to DOT. Minutes after DOT’s plan failed, Grimaldi’s motion passed.

In the months that followed, it took a lot of work to change minds and ensure the issue got attention. “There was a big education process,” HuDock said, “proving to people that this was not some frivolous issue. A lot of people in this community rely on bicycles for transportation.” That work paid off with June’s transportation committee vote and this week’s full board vote in support of bike lanes.

“Whenever any specific bike lane was discussed,” HuDock said, opposition would rise, with the “caveat that, ‘We’re not opposed to all bike lanes.’” HuDock doubted the argument. “I always thought this was just rhetoric … but maybe there was more open-mindedness here than I thought.”

A (blurry) photo snapped last week shows the Brooklyn CB 10 transportation committee's proposals for new Bay Ridge bike lanes, in black.

Thirteen months ago, Brooklyn Community Board 10 voted against painting a bike lane on Bay Ridge Parkway. The lane would have removed neither a travel lane nor parking from the road, but was still voted down by an overwhelming margin: 32 to 8. Council Members Dominic Recchia, Vincent Gentile, and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio all piled on with statements of opposition.

Streetsblog editor Ben Fried responded with an article headlined “Prediction: Brooklyn CB 10 Will Vote For Bike Lanes Sooner Than You Think.”

That time is now.

Last Thursday night, the transportation of Brooklyn CB 10 voted unanimously to send a package of bike lanes to the Department of Transportation for evaluation. After significant debate, the committee recommended lanes be painted on Sixth Avenue, Fort Hamilton Parkway, and Eleventh Avenue. A linear park running along 67th and 68th Streets, they said, could be modified to include more continuous greenway-style bike features. (The Brooklyn Paper reports that a bike lane was also proposed for Marine Avenue, though a board member who asked to remain anonymous told Streetsblog a bike lane on that street was rejected.)

By connecting with the existing bike path along the waterfront, the hope is to create a connected loop of bike lanes through the neighborhood.

“It’s been a long push to change people’s attitudes, but things are changing down here,” said the board member. Even Allen Bortnick, the board member who emerged as the most vocal opponent of bike lanes in the neighborhood, voted “present” rather than formally opposing the recommendations.

It’s still a ways from here to actual paint on the ground, of course. The full board of CB 10 will vote on the recommendations when it reconvenes after the summer. After that, DOT will still have to study the lanes and decide whether to accept the suggestions, then return to the board for a more formal approval.

Neighbors gather on Fulton Street to watch a fashion show at a Summer Streets event last year. Photo: NYC DOT

The traffic and transportation committee of Brooklyn CB 10 endorsed the concept of a weekend street closure along Bay Ridge’s Third Avenue Wednesday night, but due to a large number of unknowns, they held off on voting for the actual proposal. The elected officials supporting the Bay Ridge Summer Streets plan — State Senator Marty Golden and City Council Member Vincent Gentile — are now working to find answers to the community board’s questions in time for the full board to vote on the plan.

The decision came after a lengthy discussion of the merits of bringing Weekend Walks, DOT’s program to turn city streets into car-free community gathering places on summer weekends, to Bay Ridge. “They generally supported the concept, but they felt that there were a number of issues that were not complete,” said district manager Josephine Beckmann. “It’s new to us, so we have a lot of questions.”

The board’s unanswered questions included where a Third Avenue bus would be rerouted, how to provide programming for the closed street, such as fitness events or local art exhibits, and what time the street would have to be closed for events to start taking place by 6:00 p.m.

Some of the confusion was due to the fact that no representatives from the city were on hand to answer the more technical questions. Golden has pushed hard for the Summer Streets plan on economic development grounds, but isn’t the person to explain the nitty-gritty of implementation.

“Hopefully all of these answers can be provided,” said Beckmann. If a more concrete plan is in place by CB 10′s full board meeting on June 20, she said, the board could reconsider then.

A quick note from Brooklyn Community Board 10 regarding a meeting set for 7:00 tonight:

[The CB 10] Traffic & Transportation Committee will host a public hearing to discuss our elected officials’ suggestion to create a “Summer Streets Pedestrian Mall” along 3rd Avenue between 82nd and 92nd Streets on Friday evenings from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. during the months of July and August. This would involve the street closure of 3rd Avenue to vehicular traffic with side street crossings remaining open to traffic from 82nd Street to 92nd Street.

This proposal has the support of Sen. Marty Golden but has received the customary preemptive drubbing in the media. With southern Brooklyn rivaling Park Slope as the epicenter of livable streets battles, opposition is expected. Here are the details, if you can make it: St. Anselm’s McMahon Auditorium, 365 83rd St. Handicapped access ramp is located at the side of the Church. 7 p.m.

City Council Member Vincent Gentile chose to replace only one Community Board 10 member this year: Bob Cassara, who clashed with Gentile over a proposed bike lane on Bay Ridge Parkway. Image: NYC Council

The Department of Transportation has made it a de facto policy not to implement major changes to the streets without a favorable vote from the local community board. The idea is to defer to a group perceived as representing the will of the entire neighborhood.

But these bodies are only as representative as the borough president and local City Council members want them to be, as shown by the dismissal of Bob Cassara, the Brooklyn Community Board 10 member who led the fight for a bike lane on Bay Ridge Parkway.

Council Member Vincent Gentile decided not to re-appoint Cassara for another two-year term on the community board in late May, according to his spokesperson Dena Libner. She confirmed that Cassara was the only board member not to be re-appointed this year, though half of the fifty members’ terms were up.

Gentile’s decision to boot Cassara from the board was first reported in the Brooklyn Eagle. The Eagle drew the connection between Cassara’s dismissal and his strong push for the bike lane at the community board and in the press. (Speaking to the press can be dangerous for community board members, as former Brooklyn CB 1 transportation committee chair Teresa Toro learned when she was temporarily ousted from her position in 2008.) Gentile had been a top opponent of the Bay Ridge Parkway lane, working with his colleague Domenic Recchia and Assembly Members Peter Abbate and Alec Brook-Krasny to scuttle DOT’s plans to stripe it.

In her first statement on why Cassara was removed, Libner told the Eagle: “As many people as possible should have the chance to help shape our neighborhood’s future and welcoming new members onto the community board is the best way to achieve that.”

Bringing fresh voices onto community boards is a noble goal, but not one that would justify removing Cassara.

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A Bay Ridge Parkway bike lane would improve safety for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists without removing traffic lanes or parking. Image: NYC DOT

Earlier this week, Brooklyn Community Board 10 voted to stick with their stance against adding a painted bike lane to Bay Ridge Parkway. Since the project [PDF] would simply impose a little order on an extra-wide street without removing any traffic lanes or parking spots, it’s tempting to write off the whole board as hostile to any bike infrastructure. That would be a mistake. There were signs of progress on Tuesday, as a few CB members signaled their determination to dispel myths about bike projects and win over their colleagues.

First, hats off to Transportation Alternatives for helping to turn out what board chair Joanne Seminara called the longest list of speakers CB10 has ever seen for a single agenda item. More than a dozen people showed up to testify in favor of adding a bike route to Bay Ridge Parkway. They included David Aja-Sigmon, pastor of Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church, who called the provision of dedicated space for cycling “responsible policymaking”; Harry Denny, a 12-year resident of Bay Ridge Parkway; Juliet Moore, a lifelong resident of the neighborhood; and Jessica Panettiere, who recalled getting hit by a car while riding on Sixth Avenue in Sunset Park.

Ultimately their testimony didn’t sway a majority of the board, but they moved the needle. And they caught the attention of Council Member Vincent Gentile, who’s lobbied against the Bay Ridge Parkway project but felt compelled to tell the audience that he’s a co-sponsor of the bill to convert the traffic lights in Central Park to flashing yellows. (This was preceded by, “I don’t know if the bikers are still around…”)

After some procedural wrangling (get the recap at L Magazine) the dramatic moment of the night came on a vote to rescind the board’s 2010 decision to oppose a Bay Ridge Parkway bike lane. The motion failed by a large margin — 32-8 — but three board members who had sided against the bike lane last year voted to reverse that decision this time around.

Bob Cassara, the board member who led the push to undo the board’s bike lane opposition, told me the next day that all it would take is a little education to win over more doubters.

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