Community Boards

After years of delays, a citizen-generated plan for a separated bike path in Upper Manhattan will get an audience tonight.

The traffic and transportation committee of Brooklyn CB 10 endorsed the concept of a weekend street closure along Bay Ridge's Third Avenue Wednesday night, but due to a large number of unknowns, they held off on voting for the actual proposal. The elected officials supporting the Bay Ridge Summer Streets plan -- State Senator Marty Golden and City Council Member Vincent Gentile -- are now working to find answers to the community board's questions in time for the full board to vote on the plan.

Another day, another unanimous show of support for a summertime trial of a car-free Central Park. Last night, the transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 10, representing central Harlem, voted seven to zero in favor of the car-free trial, with one abstention.

Support for a car-free Central Park trial is gaining momentum, with three additional community board nods.

The Department of Transportation has made it a de facto policy not to implement major changes to the streets without a favorable vote from the local community board. The idea is to defer to a group perceived as representing the will of the entire neighborhood.

NYC DOT's proposed design for bike lanes from 34th Street to 57th Street along First and Second Avenues, which call for a protected lane on First Avenue from 34th to 49th Streets and shared lanes everywhere else, earned the endorsement of Community Board 6's transportation committee last night. The 7-5 vote in favor of DOT's plan -- the nays thought it included too much space for cyclists, not too little -- came after a misleading discussion in which the committee members seemed not to understand what they were voting on.

Despite the impressive shows of support from three Manhattan community boards over the last two weeks, the effort to take cars off of the Central Park loop for a summer-long trial hit a major snag last night. In a resounding vote of two to one with two abstentions, the transportation committee of CB 9 voted against the car-free trial.

The momentum is growing for a summer-long trial of a car-free Central Park.

A plan to open Central Park to east-west bike traffic is poised to move forward, and proponents are encouraged to turn out Thursday night to voice their support.