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David Yassky Supports Congestion Pricing
City Council Member David Yassky has come out in favor of congestion pricing, with the caveat that "many features of the Mayor's proposal will need to be reworked." Yassky's Brooklyn district, it's worth noting, encompasses three East River bridges, the Battery Tunnel and a seemingly endless number of of honking, spewing, frustrated motorists. Until last week, Yassky had been a long-time fence-sitter on the congestion pricing issue. Why did he finally commit? Last week Mayor Bloomberg announced that New York City's taxi fleet would be converted to all-hybrid vehicles by 2012. The Mayor was notably generous in crediting Yassky (twice, on national television, in the presence of Al Roker, no less) for conceiving of and fighting for the hybrid taxi initiative in City Council. Here's what Yassky wrote in an e-mail announcement to constituents:
May 29, 2007
In DUMBO a Parking Lot Will Become a Piazza
The Department of Transportation has unveiled plans to turn the gritty Pearl Street Triangle in DUMBO into a public plaza. The plaza will be similar to the one DOT creaed on Willoughby Street in Downtown Brooklyn last year. The Triangle currently serves as a parking lot.
May 23, 2007
Congestion Pricing: Joan Millman is Not Convinced
State Assembly Member Joan Millman's Downtown and brownstone Brooklyn district includes some of the most politically progressive, environmentally-conscious and traffic-choked neighborhoods of New York City -- neighborhoods that have been clamoring for traffic relief for years. Yet, Millman is, for now, opposed to Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan. In a letter sent to constituents who contacted her office Millman cites five concerns, summed up as follows:
May 23, 2007
To Some it’s a Park, to Others, a Parking Lot
As so often seems to be the case in outer borough community meetings, a good
portion of last night's discussion centered around the question of automobile storage. While there were none of the histrionics of the 9th Street traffic calming meetings, some of the most intense concerns were expressed by people who use the 300-space Wollman Rink parking lot for visits to the park and for Q train park-and-rides. They want to make sure that a sufficiently large (and free) parking lot is designed into the new plan.
May 22, 2007
CB6 Committee Unanimously Approves 9th St. Project
The transportation committee of Brooklyn Community Board 6, of which I'm a member, voted unanimously last night to approve DOT's traffic calming and bike lane plan for Park Slope's 9th Street. The approval came with requests that DOT build a bike lane along Prospect Park West, undertake a curbside management study aimed at alleviating double-parking and that the agency monitor the effects of the new street design over the next year.
May 18, 2007
9th Street Road Diet Meeting Tonight
Konrad Kaletsch's street safety petition to DOT, July 2005.
May 17, 2007
Pedestrians Fighting Over the Scraps
The Brooklynian message boards are often the scene of fierce fighting over Brownstone Brooklyn's crowded sidewalk space. While Park Slope's legion of double-wide stroller-pushing moms and sidewalk-riding cyclists tend to generate the most ire, yesterday a new target emerged: Guys playing cards on the sidewalk.
May 17, 2007
Where Do New York City Bike Commuters Come From?
Park Slope and Manhattan Valley have the largest numbers of bike commuters in NYC
May 10, 2007