Community Boards

In another case of 1970s-era environmental law being turned on its head, Brooklyn Community Boards 7 and 14 are demanding that the city conduct an environmental review before implementing a proposed, three month car-free trial in Prospect Park next summer. At a press event this morning attended by 19 people near the Park Circle entrance to the park, Assemblyman Jim Brennan joined CB7 chair Randy Peers and CB14 chair Alvin Berk, calling for an Environmental Impact Statement to study the matter.

Two weeks ago, the Prospect Park Youth Advocates delivered 10,000 signatures to City Hall asking for a three-month car-free trial. Now Community Boards 7 and 14, as well as a group called the Windsor Terrace Alliance, are demanding that the park remain open to traffic during the morning and evening rush.

Critical street safety measures are on the agenda for a Community Board 3 meeting tonight. Additional sidewalk space, more bike lanes, improved crosswalks and safer signalization are all reported to be on the table. The measures are included in DOT's Safe Streets for Seniors plan and the reconstruction of East Houston Street, which two CB3 committees will discuss.

To increase the number of spots, angled parking may be coming to both sides of Dyckman Street.

We've got some more community board action for you today. Brooklyn Community Board 1, which represents Williamsburg and Greenpoint, is set to hear proposals for new buffered bike lanes on Kent Avenue and for improving pedestrian safety at dangerous intersections in North Brooklyn.

A few weeks ago my colleague Brad Aaron wrote about the ways Inwood residents are making great use of the groups feature on the Livable Streets Network. Tonight, the group Inwood and Washington Heights Livable Streets is taking its ideas to the Traffic and Transportation Committee of Community Board 12. High on their agenda: creating protected bike paths along Dyckman Street and Broadway in Upper Manhattan, stepping up enforcement of Select Bus Service lanes, and improving pedestrian amenities (download the full list).

Manhattan Community Board 4's transportation committee unanimously approved DOT's plan to install a physically-separated bike path on Eighth Avenue in Lower Manhattan. The committee enthusiastically recommended the plan to the full board on Wednesday. The board then voted to ignore their own committee and block the plan. Apparently, some members feel that complete streets and safe bike infrastructure are somehow incompatible with the neighborhood's gay-friendly environment. Chelsea Now has the play-by-play:

DOT has unveiled plans for a Grand Street cycle track [PDF] that bear the fingerprints of Danish planner Jan Gehl. It would be Manhattan's first cross-town protected bike path.

Last month, DOT striped buffered bike lanes on Vernon Boulevard (right), part of a package of safety improvements for the north-south corridor that parallels the western Queens waterfront [PDF]. Bike facilities are scarce in this part of the city, and the addition of the new lanes, which eliminated a lane of parking along parts of the route, has not come without opposition from the local community boards, CB1 and CB2. But as Transportation Alternatives' Queens Committee Chair Mike Heffron reports, residents also organized to voice support for the project.