Brooklyn

Over 2,000 cyclists enjoyed a picture perfect Tour de Brooklyn on Saturday. Of course, Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson was in the thick of it:

A new Prospect Park skating rink and recreational facility will come with a smaller parking lot and improved bike access, reports neighborhood blog Hawthorne Street. The plan to re-design the southeast area of Brooklyn's flagship park, unveiled at a public meeting this Monday, will also restrict car access at one entrance, but stops short of doing away with the current rink's parking lot altogether. It remains to be seen whether the re-design will address the hazardous entrance at Parkside and Ocean.

Here's a great documentary-style Streetfilm about the Recycle-a-Bicycle program from Elizabeth Press, who writes:

Yesterday, a 9-year-old Brooklyn boy was run down in the street while on his way home from school. The 16-year-old driver, Shyquan Burns, was behind the wheel of a souped-up Dodge Charger. Witnesses say Burns, who fled the scene but later turned himself into police, was speeding. The victim, Akeem Suluki, was in critical condition as of this morning and had not regained consciousness since being hit.

How cynical is this? Brooklyn Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries is calling on the MTA to increase service on the G train. His office just sent out an invitation to a "Save the G Train" rally on Wednesday, May 21 at 6:30 pm at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene.

With development projects across the city threatened by an uncertain economy, critics of Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards project believe that a slowdown in construction could burden Prospect Heights with decades of blight. A slide show by the Municipal Art Society, called "Atlantic Yards or Atlantic Lots?," offers a bleak look into the future, like this rendering of neighborhood blocks destroyed for "temporary" surface lots that would accommodate some 1,400 cars.

Earlier this week, the Forum For Urban Design announced the Red Hook Bicycle Master Plan Design Competition, offering cash prizes for the best proposals to "re-imagine Red Hook as the most bicycle friendly neighborhood in all of New York."

Following a three day period that saw three pedestrian fatalities in Brooklyn -- preceded by two cyclist deaths in Manhattan one week earlier -- the Citizens Committee for New York City has released its annual "Speak Out New York" survey, citing pedestrian safety as one of two top concerns of city residents.

Dolly Shirzad was crossing Adams Street in downtown Brooklyn yesterday when a truck driver "tried to catch" a yellow light and struck her. Shirzad, 59 or 69 according to stories filed by the Daily News and NY1, was declared dead at the scene.