This report includes approximately 120 individual findings of “hotspots” by members of the
community.  Most are transportation-related, but the Civic Council was gratified at the number
of “hotspots” that had to do with quality of life and environmental issues.  The concept of Liv-
able Streets goes far beyond transportation.  Livable streets are safe streets, but they are also
quality places.
 
The findings in this report are divided into seven groups:
 
• Group “A” – Eighth Avenue/Prospect Park West/Union Street Corridor
• Group “B” – Grand Army Plaza
• Group “C” – Fifth Avenue/Sixth Avenue/Seventh Avenue
• Group “D” – Third Avenue/Fourth Avenue Corridor
• Group “E” – Cross Streets
• Group “F” – Flatbush Avenue
• Group “G” – Issues not specific to a single location
 
The single biggest set of concerns reported by the workshop participants deals with conditions on
Eighth Avenue, Prospect Park West, and Union Street.  The first two, being one-way avenues,
are widely seen as being speedways, unsafe for all users.  Union Street is a bottleneck of traffic
going toward Grand Army Plaza.  Over the years, the New York City Department of Transporta-
tion (NYCDOT) has added traffic signals at unsignaled intersections in this corridor and has
worked on signal timing, all in an effort to make conditions on these avenues safer.  The consensus from the workshop is that much more needs to be done, and many participants argued forcefully that Eighth Avenue and Prospect Park West be made two-way avenues.  Conditions on
Eighth Avenue, Prospect Park West, and Union Street are linked inextricably to traffic patterns at
Grand Army Plaza, the subject of separate efforts by the Grand Army Plaza Coalition (GAPCo),
NYCDOT, and others.
 
Vehicles moving at high speeds through the neighborhood were a particular cause for concern. 
Traffic calming was a major item of discussion in the workshop, and there was a consensus that
lower speed limits would signal the residential nature of our streets and would improve safety for
pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists alike.
 
The participants noted problems at places such as Bartel-Pritchard Square, Middle School 51,
and along Fourth Avenue. Some of the issues on Fourth Avenue concerned the intersection at
Ninth Street.  One possible solution was very well received by participants; the October 2008
resolution by the Civic Council recommending re-opening a long-closed entrance to the elevated
subway station at this location, in order to reduce vehicle-pedestrian conflicts at this busy inter-
section and better serve passengers living east, i.e. uphill, of that station.  The Civic Council’s
proposal also included improvements to lighting and security, and introduction of a retail com-
ponent in the same location.  MTA New York City Transit has advised that the plans for rehabili-
tating the Fourth Avenue station had been completed and could not be changed, though the sta-
tion rehabilitation does not appear in the MTA’s 2009 – 2013 Capital Plan.  The Civic Council
continues to advocate for this solution.
 
Participants also touched on abandoned buildings, unkempt sidewalks and gutters, threatened
reductions in service on the B69 and B75 bus routes, unloading zones for both commercial and
residential deliveries, and physically separated bike lanes.  Some participants provided drawings
to accompany their proposed solutions.  One, a proposal for a traffic-calmed Bartel-Pritchard
Square, appears on the last page of this report.
 
This report presents a very comprehensive portrait of the streets of Park Slope, as painted by its
residents – the people who know them best.  It does not cover every street and every block, but
the points raised can be generalized.