Can public art also mean public safety? A weekend addition to a Brooklyn street could be the start of something big. Clarence Eckerson explains:  

In what is being called the first event of its kind in New York City, Livable Streets Education teamed up with Community Roots Charter School and P.S. 67, with a helping hand from New York Cares and the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, to paint a magnificent mural on St. Edwards Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The project, which was designed by art students, was done with the blessing of NYC DOT under its new Urban Art Program. These short term public art installations are referred to as "Arterventions."

Not only did these students beautify their school's street, they also identified it to motorists as a thoroughfare frequented by school-age pedestrians in a way that mere signage and conventional markings do not. There are hundreds of school zones across the city that could benefit from the same treatment.

The city recognizes the risks posed by idling vehicles near schools. Why not replicate this low cost, high impact project to lessen the hazards of vehicles in motion?

Laying down a fresh coat on Portland's Sunnyside Piazza.

While DOT isn't calling the mural a street reclamation, the spirit is similar to Portland's "intersection repair" and Ocean City's "traffic safety quilt". Those projects created can't-miss signs for drivers to slow down and look out for people. And is there anywhere in New York City that could use some eye-popping, windshield-piercing street art more than school zones? Let's hope that tomorrow's pavement painting is the first of many.

There's a speeding epidemic on New York City streets, but does NYPD know how big the problem is? Photo: TA.

Q: Can you please let us know what the 88th is doing to keep the streets safe from criminal drivers? We regularly see drivers flying through our streets (perhaps especially along Washington Park, right along the park, where there is no stop light for two blocks). Running red lights is also common. I live on Clinton between Myrtle/Willoughby and it seems that that block is a continual double-park fest. I've lived here since 2000 and cannot recall ever seeing a police officer issuing a traffic violation -- I don't doubt that it happens from time to time, but clearly it doesn’t happen enough to deter dangerous behavior from drivers.

A: We've never heard that we don’t give enough summonses. I do have a summons officer and will send him over to Clinton and Willoughby if that's an issue. But so far this year, we’ve already issued 1,200 violations in the precinct for hazardous driving, including running red lights, speeding, talking on a cell phone and backing up unsafely. That’s in addition to many summonses for less hazardous moving violations. We've also issued 2,400 parking violations so far this year.

Citing the number of summonses handed out is typical of how NYPD measures traffic enforcement, and it doesn't come close to telling the whole story. Consider that nearly 40 percent of New York City motorists were clocked speeding in Transportation Alternatives' report Terminal Velocity [PDF]. Or that drivers burn through red lights in the city more than a million times every day, according to a 2001 study conducted by the city comptroller [PDF]. It stands to reason that those 1,200 citations issued in the 88th comprise only a very small fraction of all hazardous driving violations committed in the precinct this year.

The questioner on The Local gets at the crux of the problem by asking whether the precinct's enforcement actually deters dangerous driving. The answer doesn't address this at all, and in fairness to Captain Kight, hard information on deterrence isn't available because NYPD doesn't measure compliance with traffic laws. If the city is serious about preventing the hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of injuries incurred every year by motor vehicles, getting a handle on the prevalence of driver malfeasance is a necessary step.

After the jump, an "exchange" with 88th Precinct commanding officer Anthony Tasso about police cars hogging the public right-of-way.

Q: My neighbors and I would really appreciate it if this question could be addressed in a public forum: Why are police permitted to park their personal vehicles at an angle in front of the precinct on Classon Avenue, simultaneously blocking the sidewalk and obstructing an entire lane of traffic? Classon is a major thoroughfare to the BQE and the bridges, but your angle-parking creates a bottleneck at Lafayette, causing considerable delays (as well as sometimes forcing pedestrians to step into the street and walk in the busy traffic).

As you begin your new job, you would do well to consider the message being sent to the community through the rear ends of your cars. You seem to be telling us A) we don’t live here, B) the rules you have to follow don’t apply to us, and C) we don’t really care if that inconveniences you.

A: No reply.

Courtesy of Brownstoner, here's a recent shot of sidewalk construction between Flatbush Avenue and Hanson Place, near the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The short passage -- or slip ramp, as DOT calls it -- allowing cars to turn onto Hanson from Flatbush and Fourth Avenue is now closed to car traffic. This is especially good news for transit riders, who now have fewer vehicle conflicts to worry about as they walk to and from the Atlantic Terminal entrance.

As part of its menu of changes for the area, DOT also converted Hanson Place to two-way traffic flow, a switch that the Brooklyn Paper alarmingly depicts as "wreaking havoc on pedestrians and drivers." Judging by the reaction on Brownstoner, however, pedestrians are clearly grateful for the new conditions.

A sidewalk addition will keep traffic from turning onto Hanson Place from Flatbush and Fourth Avenue.

Streets near the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the LIRR's Atlantic Terminal are set to receive a basket of pedestrian improvements that may get underway as soon as November. Speaking last night to the CB2 transportation committee and about a dozen other residents, DOT's Chris Hrones laid out plans for new pedestrian spaces and traffic signals -- including a Barnes Dance (exclusive walk signal) at the intersection of Flatbush and Fourth Avenue.

The presentation [PDF] met with a generally positive reception -- applause, in fact -- although some in the audience voiced disappointment that the improvements do not address the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenue, and others expressed concern about traffic backing up onto local streets as a result of the changes. Hrones said DOT would be able to incorporate feedback into its plans, but that the work is scheduled to proceed in about three weeks. No vote was held.

The pedestrian spaces will be created by closing short segments of roadway to traffic. Cars will no longer be able to turn onto Hanson Place from the intersection of Flatbush and Fourth Avenue, where a new permanent sidewalk will be constructed. Pedestrians will also be able to cross Flatbush and Fourth Avenue more easily, with the implementation of a 31-second exclusive walk phase. Pedestrians currently have an eight-second interval to cross Flatbush before turning vehicles get a green light.

New signal timing will let pedestrians cross Flatbush and Fourth without worrying about turning traffic.

A short distance up the street, another road segment will be closed to traffic, keeping cars from turning onto Third Avenue from Flatbush (top right). Permanent pedestrian plazas are on the drawing board (bottom right), but the Department of Environmental Protection has scheduled a project at the same location that will delay construction until 2013 or later. In the meantime, barriers and striping will set aside space for pedestrians.

Committee members welcomed the new signal timing in particular. One asked for new crosswalk striping to reflect people's desire to walk straight across the street, and another requested a countdown timer so pedestrians can tell how long the exclusive phase will last. They worried, however, that traffic agents would ignore the signal timing and wave cars through since their mandate from NYPD is to keep traffic moving.

When the subject of the Atlantic and Flatbush intersection came up, Hrones said that location was outside the scope of the project.

"At this point there's not something that jumps out that will help address the issue," he said. "In the course of this exercise we didn't find any silver bullets."

Graphics: NYCDOT

Now the good news: DOT is considering changes for the area -- especially the pedestrian crossings -- and the agency's ideas will get a public airing tonight at a presentation to Community Board 2. Community groups are encouraging Brooklynites to show up and share their suggestions. Here are the details:

DOT presentation to CB2 Transportation Committee
Tuesday, October 21, at 6 p.m.
St. Francis College, 180 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights

Photo: Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn

Graphic of crashes and fatalities near Atlantic Terminal, 1995-2005: CrashStat

2008 quickly bring good news for commuters in Downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City, Queens. Eric Chang of Transportation Alternatives' Queens Committee snapped these photos of the new covered bike shelter that was just installed at the Vernon Blvd /Jackson Avenue station on the 7 line in Long Island City.  The third photo is from Fort Greene where Gil Ronen (pictured) along with T.A. and Green Fort Greene & Clinton Hill were instrumental in bringing over 70 new CityRacks to the historic Brooklyn neighborhood.

The days when Myrtle was known as "Murder Avenue" are long past. Thriving shops and restaurants line much of the street, in part thanks to the efforts of the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project and the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Business Improvement District (constituent members of the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership). But many areas remain where the street's potential is going unrealized, and that's what the collaboration with PPS was meant to address. "We were looking at streetscape conditions," says Vaidila Kungys, the partnership's program manager for planning and economic development. "There's a lot of clutter, crowded sidewalks and problematic intersections."

There are also huge swaths of underused or poorly used space, including the area between Carlton and Ashland, which borders Fort Greene Park and the Walt Whitman Houses, and the portion from Hall Street to Emerson Place, which fronts on a superblock. Because of a four-block service road in this section, seven lanes devoted to vehicles separate one side of the street from the other. Pratt's freshly revealed plans for the site at 524 Myrtle could be a catalyst for improvements here.

The report shows how a service road next to a superblock marginalizes pedestrians

Michael Blaise Backer, executive director of the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, is optimistic about the group's chances for implementing at least some of the recommendations that come out of the study before too much time passes. Some solutions, like the ones proposed for the intersection of Clinton Avenue and Myrtle (sketches above), are relatively simple, and Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership's solid track record with community leaders, business owners and politicians will certainly make a difference. "We've got all the stakeholders involved," says Backer. He notes as well that the current leadership at DOT is likely to be receptive to this sort of "livable streets" improvement.

We'll keep an eye on it.

According to Fredrik Anderson, the FGA's vice chair and head of its transportation committee, neighborhood merchants and residents had been frustrated that state employees who work at 55 Hanson Place were hogging metered parking spaces at Lafayette and Fulton streets. (The meters themselves, designed to encourage parking turnover, were the result of lobbying by Councilmember Letitia James, the FGA and the Fulton Area Business Association.)

The FGA waited until Gov. Pataki -- whom they presumed would be unsympathetic to their complaints -- was out of office. Then, as soon as Gov. Eliot Spitzer was on the job, they wrote a letter to the governor's office requesting action.

"Within a week or so, the placarded cars were gone," said Anderson. Not only that, the FGA got a friendly call from a representative of the state's Department of Taxation and Finance, which has offices at 55 Hanson, explaining that commuting employees had been asked to leave their cars at home. "The meters are now available for shoppers," said Anderson.

The FGA's April newsletter contained this reaction to the disappearance of placarded cars:  "We are still pinching ourselves in amazement."

Add this positive development to a police-driven crackdown on placards in Chinatown, reported by Streetsblog a couple of weeks ago.

Zip Fort Greene says, "The closest [ZipCar] wheels are a brisk 15 minute walk (and once construction begins on the Atlantic Yards project, getting a Zipcar for some weekend shopping -- forget about it)." The site has an online petition, which as of this writing has attracted 142 signees, in hopes of luring the company to establish a neighborhood "pod."

As Brooklyn Record points out, Zipcar stresses the "green benefits" of its service, which it touts as "a utility -- as valuable as electricity, heat, and hot water." According to Zipcar, many of its clients drive less and purchase and maintain fewer cars.

"With each Zipcar replacing over 20 privately-owned vehicles," the company says,  "we're changing the urban landscape." (In more ways than one.)

Meanwhile, an alliance between Transportation Alternatives and Clear Channel Communications could bring bike-sharing to New York, reports the Sun.

The program would work very much like Zipcar -- only with bikes. For a nominal annual fee, members would use a smart card to access the bikes at kiosks, with additional charges based on the how long the bike is rented.

The memberships and fees will ideally discourage stealing, according to T.A. Deputy Director Noah Budnick. As of now, three kiosks are planned -- for the East Village, Long Island City and Governors Island -- each equipped with about 100 bikes.

The proposal, which would require city approval, is modeled on successful efforts in Lyon, France, Stockholm, Sweden and Portland, Oregon.

Paris is about to debut a massive program of its own, with 1,450 kiosks and 20,000 bikes.

The New York program would be funded through Clear Channel ads on the bikes and at the kiosks -- another similarity to Zipcar, which plasters ads on its vehicles. Clear Channel already sponsors bike-sharing in Sweden, Spain, France and Norway, and should be coming soon to D.C. and Chicago.

Image: Moskow Architects 

Brooklyn's Fort Greene Association is running an exemplary grassroots campaign on local pedestrian safety issues. The neighborhood group has generated more than 500 letters to DOT requesting specific improvements in crosswalk layouts and traffic signal timing. Streetsblog can't recall hearing of a neighborhood organization producing that many individual letters for a Livable Streets campaign. It is an impressive total.

Even more impresive, FGA is using the Internet to illustrate, inventory and keep track of the DOT's handling of neighborhood traffic and pedestrian safety problems. It almost looks like a software developer's bug-tracking list. FGA's web site is a great example for other neighborhood groups to follow.

The association seems to have a very solid understanding of the fundamental problem within New York City's transportation agency. From the web site:

On this page, the FGA will document priority intersections and recommended ways in which DOT can rectify dangerous zones in the neighborhood. Although the DOT may be concerned with traffic flow and alleviating congestion, the FGA's priority remains with pedestrian safety. Our citizens lives are at stake. Until these issues are resolved, we recommend that citizens walk with EXTREME CAUTION at the intersections listed below.

The plan calls for a new:

• Eastbound bike lane on Willoughby Street between Fort Greene Park and Myrtle Avenue in Bushwick
• Northbound bike lane on Carlton Avenue between Flatbush and Flushing Avenues.
• Southbound bike lane/route on Cumberland Street between Flushing Avenue and Atlantic Avenue.
• Traffic calming on Carlton Avenue between Park and Myrtle Avenues.
• Southbound "reverse-flow" protected bike lane on Carlton Avenue between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Streets

Details of the plan can be found in the DOT's press release.

These DOT improvements are commonsense, and input from community members and people who regularly bike on these streets and in this neighborhood will help fine tune the plan.

Meeting details:
Brooklyn Community Board 2 Transportation Committee
Pratt Higgins Hall Auditorium
65 St. James Place (& Lafayette)
Wednesday, June 14, 6pm

If you cannot attend the meeting you can send comment to the DOT's Brooklyn Office:

Borough Commissioner Joseph Palmieri
NYC DOT
16 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY 11241
Fax: (718) 222-7256