Brooklyn

Manhattan Avenue, the bustling main street in my usually quiet Brooklyn neighborhood, became a multi-block crime scene yesterday afternoon when a mini-van driver, reportedly fleeing police at high speed, struck and killed a woman near India Street before crashing into a parked SUV five blocks further north.

Tonight, at a transportation committee meeting of Brooklyn Community Board 6, DOT will present plans for a two-way protected bike path along Prospect Park West, from Union Street to Bartel Pritchard Square. The proposal would reduce the number of traffic lanes on the high-speed thoroughfare from three to two, according to the meeting agenda.

Dollar Van Demos, the unlikely union of transportation needs and musical dreams that has entranced New York bloggers, is giving private transit operators in Brooklyn and Queens some of the best press they've ever received. But that isn't the only reason it's worth taking a fresh look at dollar vans. If the state legislature can't avert the MTA's doomsday scenario, the vans may soon see a surge in ridership -- perhaps big enough to launch a few recording careers.

How fast do cars travel on Prospect Park West? Criminally fast. All the time. Members of Park Slope Neighbors clocked cars routinely exceeding the 30 mph speed limit -- including one sociopath racing at 65 mph -- during a ten-minute stretch earlier this month. Prospect Park West and Eighth Avenue form a one-way pair funneling drivers to and from the free East River bridges and the Prospect Expressway, a configuration that makes for hazardous conditions. Last summer a school bus driver struck and killed cyclist Jonathan Millstein on Eighth Avenue. A few weeks ago a 57-year-old pedestrian was nearly killed a couple of blocks away from the Millstein incident. Parents are afraid to walk with their children across the corridor's dysfunctional intersections. NYPD enforcement is sorely lacking.

If you want to use the Livable Streets Community site to organize in your neighborhood, this week we've got a great example of what you can do with your group.

DOT's pedestrian projects group will present tonight at a public workshop about Park Circle, the roundabout at the southern tip of Prospect Park. Sponsored by Community Boards 7, 12, and 14, this is a preliminary meeting to define problems and collect ideas before improvements are designed. Given the vortex of auto traffic swirling so close to the park and the Parade Grounds, the emphasis is on safety. The proximity of the Kensington Stables also makes for an unusual modal angle: In addition to walking and biking, horse circulation will factor into the discussion.

Brownstoner reports that a pedestrian was struck after 8 a.m. today on Carroll Street in Brooklyn, at the intersection of Eighth Avenue. According to NYPD, the victim, a 57 year old man, is in critical condition at Lutheran Medical Center. The driver struck him while traveling east on Carroll, behind the wheel of what the police report calls "a 2005 Toyota Suburban." A passerby informs Streetsblog that the impact was forceful enough to leave a deep, bowl-shaped depression of cracked glass in the windshield.