9th Street Road Diet Meeting Tonight

Konrad Kaletsch's street safety petition to DOT, July 2005.

Tonight, the Department of Transportation's Traffic Safety and Bike Lane plan for Park Slope's crash-prone 9th Street comes up before the transportation committee of Community Board 6 for the second time. Here are  the details:

6:30 pm at Old First Church
729 Carroll Street at 7th Avenue

As has been documented ad nauseam here on Streetsblog, a small but vocal group of 9th Street residents with influence on the Community Board have set out to kill DOT's "Road Diet" plan. They enlisted the support of State Senator Eric Adams, who represents the two blocks of 9th Street closest to Prospect Park and Assembly Member Jim Brennan, who has written a letter in opposition to the plan despite an overwhelming number of calls, letters and visits to his office in support of it.

Advocates of DOT's plan have generated 275 letters of support to Borough President Marty Markowitz and 160 to Community Board 6. The vast majority of these letters were written by Park Slope residents for whom 9th Street is an important community street. At least 20 9th Street residents have expressed support for the plan as well.

The Community Board may very well be a forum where it is simply impossible for advocates of this plan to win. Still, supporters need to show up, make their presence known and rational voices heard.