Opposition Brewing to DOT’s Proposal for 9th Street Bike Lanes

11:47 AM EDT on March 29, 2007

Tonight, 6:30 pm at Old First Church on 7th Avenue and Carroll Street, the transportation committee of Brooklyn Community Board 6 hosts a blockbuster follow-up meeting to the "One-Way? No Way!" extravaganza of March 15.

While I haven't managed to get a look at DOT's proposal, we know a few things about it: It will include some pedestrian improvements at Grand
Army Plaza, new bike lanes for Red Hook and a new design for 9th Street.
The Grand Army Plaza changes, supposedly, include some of the
improvements that the community has been advocating via the Grand Army
Plaza Coalition. The Red Hook bike lanes
sound pretty straightforward. As for 9th Street, DOT wants to do the following:

Install two bike lanes heading in each direction.
Stripe a median down the middle of the street with left-turn bays for cars at the intersections.
Eliminate one travel lane in each direction.

Not surprising -- it's Brooklyn, folks! -- there is some opposition brewing to the 9th Street changes, the bike lanes in particular. Below is a discussion thread I found on the Brooklynian web site. Fans of MyBikeLane.com will have to wrap their heads around the idea that their bike lanes are actually blocking motorists ability to double-park. Is it only a matter of time before someone starts MyDoubleParkingSpot.com?:

Ninth Street Residents and Businesses
The Mar. 29, 2007 meeting of the Transportation Committee of CommunityBoard 6 will discuss adding a painted centerlane (similar to Prospect ParkSW) for left turns, AND bicycle lanes.
That will mean there will be only one lane for driving, and NOability to stop your car to drop off/pick up at anytime because youwill be blocking the bike lanes.
Please come out to the meeting to voice your opinion/opposition to these changes
Transportation Committee ofCommunity Board SixMar. 29, 20076:30 PM
Old First Reformed Church729 Carroll Street(Corner of 7th Avenue)

Aaron Naparstek

AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.

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