A map of potential greenway routes and east-west connections in Sunset Park. Image: UPROSE

Determining a buildable greenway route in Sunset Park is a complicated proposition. The waterfront is an active industrial district filled with the sort of facilities that pose logistical hurdles for safe walking and biking. West of the BQE, the greenway route will have to negotiate obstacles like the 65th Street rail yard, the Brooklyn Army Terminal, and the active freight rail corridor on First Avenue. It won't be easy, but as Brooklyn Greenway Initiative planning director Milton Puryear told me last night, it's a place where you've got to think big.

A finished greenway in Sunset Park would bring huge payoffs. Sunset Park has one of the highest walk-to-work rates in the city, and a major new waterfront park is slated for the Bush Terminal Piers. So in addition to providing a route along the waterfront, the greenway project is a chance to connect the residential areas east of Third Avenue to the new park and the waterfront's industrial job center, using safe walking and bicycling paths. There's already a well-established base of local support for creating those connections: The United Puerto Rican Organization of Sunset Park (UPROSE) started holding public workshops about the greenway and waterfront access in 2005.

The main focus of last night's workshop was to get ideas from residents about where the greenway should go. Participants split up into groups and then presented to the whole audience.

Mapping out a greenway route. Photo: Dan Wiley, office of Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez.

As for the greenway route, a few groups proposed some heavy duty walk-bike infrastructure for the trickiest segments, including bridges spanning the 65th Street railyard and the Gowanus Bay, and an elevated path over First Avenue.

Soledad Gaztambide, transportation justice coordinator for UPROSE, said she was encouraged to hear people ask for routes that stay close to the water. "I'm really hoping that they put the main route along the waterfront, and First and Second," she said. "We want to have an industrial waterfront but we also think it could be multi-use."

DOT is working to build parts of the greenway footprint as soon as possible (see Kent Avenue and Flushing Avenue), but it will be a couple of years before the ideas from yesterday's workshop show up in a final plan. The greenway master planning process, which continues with a workshop at the Red Hook Recreation Center on April 13, is slated to wrap up in 2012.

On Tuesday night, Community Board 1 in north Brooklyn voted 39-2 to support adding a separated bike path to Kent Avenue, a truck route through Williamsburg and Greenpoint. The path will be part of the Brooklyn Greenway, which is slated to follow the waterfront from Greenpoint to Red Hook when complete.

What makes the overwhelming "Yes" vote especially noteworthy is that the greenway section on Kent Avenue will displace hundreds of on-street parking spaces. "That was one of the biggest hurdles, getting a community to accept a loss of parking," says Milton Puryear, director of planning for the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative. "For people who have cars that’s a lightning rod issue."

...and how it would be allocated under the proposal approved by CB1 on Tuesday. (Rendering by the Regional Plan Association.)

Two other community boards had to vote on the greenway, but parking was only affected in the CB1 district. To defuse the expected opposition, the Greenway Initiative identified side streets -- usually former industrial blocks converted to residential use -- with areas where on-street parking could be "reclaimed," such as defunct loading zones. Offsetting the loss of 500 parking spots on Kent Avenue was seen as necessary to gain community approval.

"When it first started off a lot of people didn’t think it was doable from a political point of view," says Puryear, noting that it was already an unconventional idea to add a bike path and green space to a designated truck route. "But after years of engagement, it began to evolve as something that people really wanted."

A number of factors fueled that desire. For one, the 2005 rezoning of 175 blocks in north Brooklyn left many in the community feeling like they had been denied adequate green space. "We received no open space in return for density," says Teresa Toro, transportation chair of CB1.

When the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative and the Regional Plan Association organized a public workshop about the greenway last May, residents saw a way to make up for what they had lost before. "[The participants'] responses were, 'If we have to find some parking spaces elsewhere, we should do that,'" says Toro.

Improved waterfront access was another big draw. "Kent Avenue, since it was repaved, has become something of a speedway," says Toro. By narrowing the crossing distance on Kent, the path will make the street -- and the truck route -- less of a barrier to the water.

At the meeting on Tuesday, a broad coalition of bike advocates and open space advocates supported the plan. Only one person voiced displeasure at the loss of parking.

About $9 million has been secured for the Brooklyn Greenway so far, mostly from federal grants. With the final community board vote settled, the project is now in the hands of DOT. Before construction begins on the Kent Avenue section, Toro says, DOT has indicated they will "move" some of the on-street parking and stripe down the greenway footprint.

Coming so soon after the demise of congestion pricing, the community board vote was "a shot in the arm," says Toro. "It shows that communities here in the city can still do a lot to create livable streets."

Images courtesy of Milton Puryear / Brooklyn Greenway Initiative / Regional Plan Association

Streetfilms' Elizabeth Press was in attendance this week at the New York Historical Society where neighborhood activists, professional planners, and experienced advocates gathered to share their secrets on how New Yorkers can transform the public realm. The event was hosted by NYC Streets Renaissance and was moderated by Streetsblog editor Aaron Naparstek.

Panelists included:

• Christine Berthet (Clinton Hells Kitchen Coalition for Pedestrian Safety)
  
• Joshua David (Friends of the High Line)
  
• Penny Lee (Department of City Planning)
  
• Milton Puryear (Brooklyn Greenway Initiative)
  
• Paul Steely White (Transportation Alternatives)
  
• Robert Witherwax (Grand Army Plaza Coalition)
  
• Chauncy Young (Highbridge Community Life Center)

Here are some highlights.

What can you do to reduce automobile dependence and improve conditions for pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders in New York City? As an individual with finite time, energy and resources, how can you make a Livable Streets revolution happen in your own neighborhood?

On Monday I'll be moderating a panel discussion with eight of New York City's most successful neighborhood change-makers. They'll be sharing inspiring stories and practical advice on what it takes to transform the public realm.

If you're interested in getting more involved with New York City's growing Livable Streets movement or you have ideas for changes you'd like to see made in your own corner of the city, don't miss this event. Seating is limited, so RSVP now.

6:00 pm: Panel discussion
8:00 pm: Reception and exhibit

This event is free and open to the public but seating is limited.
Please RSVP online

Panelists include:

• Christine Berthet (Clinton Hells Kitchen Coalition for Pedestrian Safety)
• Joshua David (Friends of the High Line)
• Penny Lee (Department of City Planning)
• Milton Puryear (Brooklyn Greenway Initiative)
• Paul Steely White (Transportation Alternatives)
• Robert Witherwax (Grand Army Plaza Coalition)
• Elizabeth Yeampierre (United Puerto Rican Organization of Sunset Park)
• Chauncy Young (Highbridge Community Life Center)

When I first met these guys in the Spring of 2002 they were going out on weekends planting tulips and picking up rubbish alongside a BQE off-ramp. The Sunday morning that I ran into them, that was all that they could do to make the Greenway a reality -- just get together as a group of volunteers, clean up some trash, and plant flowers. That was it. That was the Greenway. There was no office or federal funding. The Economic Development Corporation wasn't knocking on their door.

Today, the Greenway Initiative looks from the outside like a healthily-funded and well-oiled machine. Yet, as Brian, Milton and Meg have shown for well over ten years now, the vision will not become reality without strong community advocacy. Here is your chance to participate and make a difference:

The New York City Economic Development Corporation is rezoning piers 7-12, including Columbia Street, which is part of the proposed Greenway route. There is a public meeting this Thursday, October 12th at 6pm at Long Island College Hospital, corner of Hicks St & Atlantic Ave (use the Hicks St entrance & ask security guard to direct you). Greenway supporters need to be there.

It is very important that Greenway supporters tell EDC that the rezoning must be expanded to include the areas recommended by the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, and that the open space plan for the west side of Columbia Street should be included as part of the scope of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

More information and the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative's statement are available here.

EDC's proposal is available here. 

If you can't make the meeting you can send written comments to:

Ms. Meenakshi Varandani
Assistant Vice President, Planning
New York City Economic Development Corporation
110 William Street, New York, NY 10038