Parks
Streetsblog Basics
Eyes on the Street: A Death-Defying Walk to Prospect Park
The bloggers at Hawthorne Street put together this dandy little short -- you could even call it a Streetfilm -- to illustrate the dangers of crossing Ocean Avenue at the southeast entrance to Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Cars turning onto Ocean from Parkside Avenue pose a constant threat to people in the crosswalk, even while pedestrians have a walk signal.
May 12, 2008
Demo Today Against Park-Hogging Judges
If you have some time to spare early this afternoon and are in the vicinity of Columbus Park in Downtown Brooklyn, Transportation Alternatives will be holding a demonstration at 1:00. It seems some judges who have been using this public space as a parking lot may take legal action to retain access for their personal vehicles.
March 20, 2008
Ideas Competition for Brooklyn’s Grandest Plaza
The Grand Army Plaza Coalition (GAPCo) and The Design Trust for Public Space have launched a website for their "Ideas Competition" called Reinventing Grand Army Plaza, which is intended to generate new visions for the plaza's design. The jury will award three cash prizes to the winners, and along with other top entries will be exhibited in an outdoor exhibition at Grand Army Plaza later this year.
February 20, 2008
City Subsidizing Boater Parking
The New York Times reports that the comptroller's office is concerned about possible fraud at the Parks Department's 79th Street Boat Basin. Buried in the piece is the small revelation that the Parks Department offers off-street car parking at far below market rates to boaters moored there.
February 4, 2008
Fate of Pier 40 Could Be Determined Tomorrow
Tomorrow the Hudson River Park Trust is set to vote on a plan by the Related Companies to redevelop Pier 40 on W. Houston Street as a ~$600 million entertainment complex, which would include a permanent home for Cirque du Soleil and the Tribeca Film Festival, and would draw thousands of visitors per day.
January 30, 2008
NYPD Tow Pound is Still a Major Source of Greenway Danger
As Transportation Alternatives recently noted in an essay for Streetsblog,
more than a year after the death of Eric Ng, the alphabet soup of government agencies
responsible for the Hudson River Greenway, have done almost nothing to fix glaring safety problems along New York City's most important bike route.
January 17, 2008
What if DOT Simply Forgot to Open the Parks to Traffic?
This holiday season, users of Central and Prospect Parks got an unexpected and welcome gift after years of finding coal (and exhaust) in their stockings. Interestingly, the sources of that exhaust didn't seem to complain (or perhaps even notice) that things had changed.
January 11, 2008
What is Your Idea for Grand Army Plaza?
The Grand Army Plaza Coalition, which recently won a grant from the Design Trust for Public Spaces, has launched an Ideas Competition for its Reinventing Grand Army Plaza project. If you want to participate, answer the following questions in full sentences, and email your responses by the end of the week to survey@reinventingGAP.org.
January 8, 2008