Central and Prospect Park Updates

8:09 PM EDT on July 26, 2006

Here are a couple of updates from the parks from Streetsblog tipsters. The first is a heads up for all you riders using Central Park:

This morning on Central Park's West Drive, there was a road block of one lane with 10 cops presiding. When asked, one of the officers said that they were looking out for cyclists running red lights. Some cars had been pulled over also.

And following up on our recent land-guzzling theme, here is a letter written to the Parks Department regarding Prospect Park cycling conditions.

I am a Prospect Heights homeowner who uses the park for cycling and running 5 or 6 days a week.
The current configuration of having the park drives half open to cars (and therefore largely closed to park users) is not working.
The main problem is the overwhelming demand for the recreation lanes. The number of motorists are quite few, coming in short bursts. But when they arrive, they squeeze walkers, runners and cyclists together, creating dangerous situations.
It's quite ironic, really, to see 15 people trying to crowd into the one lane striped for bikes and pedestrians while at the same time and place, there's 2 other people, each in their own car, who have been granted the majority of the road space.
Please open the whole park drive to recreational users, full time.
SincerelySteven O'Neill

Aaron Donovan

Before he began blogging about land use and transportation, Aaron Donovan wrote The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund's annual fundraising appeal for three years and earned a master's degree in urban planning from Columbia. Since then, he has worked for nonprofit organizations devoted to New York City economic development. He lives and works in the Financial District, and sees New York's pre-automobile built form as an asset that makes New York unique in the United States, and as a strategic advantage that should be capitalized upon.