Aaron Naparstek, the man responsible for convincing Commerce Bank to RETHINK its plans to make a drive through on Fifth Avenue, is at it again. (They didn’t build the drive-thru as everyone knows).
His Streetsblog has become the central locus of important information pertaining to the initiative by the DOT to change the direction of 6th and 7th Avenues. Today, he has a video on his site that is well worth looking at. Check out the video ad compare and contrast. As he says, "Which type
of street is more conducive to neighborhood life?"
In Park Slope, Brooklyn, the Department of Transportation has put forward a plan to convert a pair of two-way neighborhood avenues to one-way operation. DOT says that the plan is designed strictly "to make it safer for pedestrians crossing the street,"
but the noisy, fast-moving traffic that we filmed on one-way Eighth
Avenue, just a block up the hill, suggests that this plan is more about
moving traffic than helping kids and elderly people cross the street.
Watch as we use a speed gun and a noise meter to compare one-way Eighth
Avenue and two-way Seventh Avenue. Then decide for yourself: Which type
of street is more conducive to neighborhood life?
Tonight is the BIG MEETING, the community’s chance to express their opposition to this plan, at the Methodist Hospital auditorium at 6:30 p.m. Entrance on 6th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue.
and i add, i am really happy to see that so many people came together to fight the man on this one. Park Slope is a great community.
I’m still uncertain about the issue myself… couldn’t the one-ways in some way promote the use of public transportation? There are way too many cars in brooklyn… it’s really not that necessary to have one here… in manhattans east village (which has a mixture of one ways and two ways) there is relatively little car traffic and resident motor vehicle ownership… on summer weekend nights tourists (b&t’s) pour in with their cars and speed up and down the aves… but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem in the slope… it’s pretty motor vehicley peaceful in the east village… is it not possible that could happen here with the addition of some one-way aves? I vote for less parking spots & less cars…
Why fight the inevitable?? Let’s just reduce the number of cars on the road and spend our time & effort making that happen….
Exactly…if I get a chance to speak I’d like to point out that, since the DOT seem to have the money to do 1-2-way conversions, put it to good use and change 8th & PPW to 2-way!
You would think that the head of the DOT — a Park Slope resident — would have known better than to let this proposal see the light of day.
I believe the question is no longer whether 6th and 7th will go one-way, it is now how long will it take to change 8th and PPW back to two-way streets.