Eyes on the Street

This stencil appeared on the corner of Manhattan's Duane and Greenwich Streets late last month. Our source tells us the message -- "DOT what will it be, traffic light or dead like me" -- stems from years of fruitless neighborhood efforts, as documented in this Streetfilm from 2006, to persuade the agency to install a signal at what residents say is a dangerous intersection. Community Board 1, Council Member Alan Gerson and Borough President Scott Stringer have joined the call, but to no avail.

A camera phone tipster sends this shot of wreckage on a residential street in Boerum Hill. This morning, a speeding SUV managed to build up enough force to plow through parked cars, take out the iron gate, and demolish a good chunk of the ground floor. FDNY, fearing a cave-in, has propped up the front of the building. Mercifully, no one was hurt. We're told that the driver lost control due to a seizure, though our source says that traffic engineering has also made this block more susceptible to crashes.

Last December, Washington Heights resident Lars Klove alerted us to night-time conditions on a segment of the Hudson River Greenway known as Cherry Walk, which lies roughly between W. 102 and W. 125 Streets. Wrote Lars:

TA's Wiley Norvell sent in these shots of new bike infrastructure on the Brooklyn side of the Williamsburg Bridge.

Courtesy of Brownstoner, here's a recent shot of sidewalk construction between Flatbush Avenue and Hanson Place, near the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The short passage -- or slip ramp, as DOT calls it -- allowing cars to turn onto Hanson from Flatbush and Fourth Avenue is now closed to car traffic. This is especially good news for transit riders, who now have fewer vehicle conflicts to worry about as they walk to and from the Atlantic Terminal entrance.

A tipster sends in these shots of police -- again -- and trucks -- again -- parked in the 34th Street Select Bus Service lane. Looks like the city's Botts' Dots are more soft than barrier.

A scene from Midtown early this morning, after Barack Obama was named president-elect.

Photo pool contributor captaindisko reports record lines in Park Slope., while there was no waiting at my Inwood precinct as of about 1:30.

There's a lot of protected bike infrastructure in various stages of completion right now, and I had the chance to take some pictures on the way to the office today. Above is a trench for part of the Sands Street bike path, the long-awaited Manhattan Bridge approach in Brooklyn that was originally slated to start construction in 2006. The middle of the road has been dug up from Gold Street to Navy Street. Someone on the crew said it will be a while before the project gets finished.