Brooklyn

First off, please accept my apologies for continuing to torture you with the intensely parochial drama taking place on Park Slope's 9th Street. I justify all of this coverage by imagining that this story may be useful for advocates working towards Livable Streets goals in other neighborhoods.

What a big weekend for public cycling events. This Sunday, more than 30,000 cyclists enjoyed perfect weather for the 30th anniversary of the Five Borough Bike Tour, a 42-mile traffic free ride through the city including a jaunt along the Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn. It is the largest recreational cycling event in America.

On Saturday, over 100 cyclists turned out for Brooklyn Greenway Initiative's annual ride. For nearly a decade, they have been working with numerous community & government groups to bring a Hudson River-style recreation path from Greenpoint to Sunset Park. In the next few years, much of the 15-mile route will finally become reality.

Opening this summer: East River State Park on the Brooklyn waterfront 

No Land Grab is reporting that the DOT has decided to kill the one way proposal for 6th and 7th Avenues in Park Slope. In a letter to Community Board 6 (PDF), the DOT writes:

Tour de Brooklyn (2006)A StreetFilm by Clarence Eckerson Jr.Running Time: 4 minutes 5 seconds With this weekend’s Bike New York already sold out, don’t forget to sign up early for one of New York City’s best rides: Transportation Alternatives’ Tour de Brooklyn. Registration is free.  This year the family-friendly ride begins at Grand Army Plaza … Continued

Sources say that first-term Brooklyn State Senator Eric Adams has delivered a lengthy letter to Department of Transportation Acting Commissioner Judith Bergtraum expressing opposition to DOT’s 9th Street traffic safety and bike lane plan. Though the Senator, a former cop, has no urban planning or traffic engineering background, he questions DOT’s assertion that its plan … Continued

Further review of photos from Senator Charles Schumer's Saturday bike ride in Brooklyn, which included an entourage of about 20 cyclists and a police escort, has turned up what appears to be two more U.S. senators, both from the fine state of Vermont. Snapped outside of Schumer's Prospect Park West apartment building, that looks like Bernie Sanders in the blue and gray sweater and Patrick Leahy getting a little help with his helmet. And how about the guy in the white shirt back there? He looks vaguely senatorial. North Dakota's Byron Dorgan?

Senator Charles Schumer hit the road this Saturday with an entourage of about 20 other cyclists and a police escort. As he led the group down Prospect Park West our tipster heard him telling the assembled, “Jennifer Connolly lives here…” Does anyone know what the bike tour was all about? Photo: Dave Kenny