Reported this morning on Gownaus Lounge, Park Slope Neighbors, a local neighborhood group, has decided to endorse the DOT plan to add bike and turning lanes onto 9th Street, despite opposition from 9th Street residents.
The group’s main initiatives thus far have been campaigns to encourage Whole Foods to shrink their parking lot, implement a transportation plan and go green. Members of PSN helped convince Commerce Bank to drop drive-thru plans on their Fifth Avenue bank. The group is also active in the fight for greater public input into the Atlantic Yards.
Park Slope Neighbors sent a letter about the 9th Street plan to City Council member Bill DiBlasio and Community Board 6: "We see this
plan as a thoughtful response to community concerns. In the summer of
2004 a sedan went through the front door of Dizzy’s restaurant on 8th
Avenue and 9th Street. That began a public process during which area
residents collected more than 1,200 signatures urging DOT to address
the long-standing pedestrian safety and reckless driving problems on
9th Street.
The CB6 meeting about the matter is on Wednesday.
On Thursday, March 29, the transportation committee of Community Board
6 voted in favor of the Department of Transportation’s redesign plan
for 9th Street in Park Slope. Park Slope Neighbors believes that this
plan provides significant safety, quality of life and environmental
benefits for all of the users of the 9th Street. As such, we urge you
to support this plan and hope that you will let the full Community
Board know of our support.
Park Slope Neighbors supports DOT’s plan for 9th Street because it provides the following benefits to the neighborhood:
1. It significantly improves pedestrian safety along one of the most dangerous “side streets” in all of Park Slope.
2. It provides proven, effective traffic-calming on a street with a notorious speeding and reckless driving problem.
3. It enhances cyclist safety and convenience along one of our area’s key bike routes.
As
I am sure you are aware, DOT’s plan is causing a certain amount of
anxiety among some 9th Street residents. While we agree that DOT needs
to do a much better job of bringing community stakeholders into the
planning process, we believe that some of this concern has been
generated by misinformation and misunderstanding…This plan is
not being dropped on the community from out of nowhere. We see this
plan as a thoughtful response to community concerns. In the summer of
2004 a sedan went through the front door of Dizzy’s restaurant on 8th
Avenue and 9th Street. That began a public process during which area
residents collected more than 1,200 signatures urging DOT to address
the long-standing pedestrian safety and reckless driving problems on
9th Street. Rather than ignoring the request or installing some street
signs and calling it a day, DOT put thought and creativity into the
issues raised by the neighborhood and came up with a thorough, detailed
plan that will significantly improve pedestrian safety, calm traffic
and provide much needed facilities for bicycling.