Fort Greene
Streetsblog Basics
Park Avenue Plan Challenges Agencies to Improve Street for Pedestrians
In 1959, when the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway was under construction, Park Avenue in the Wallabout section of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill was converted from a neighborhood street to a service road that would run underneath the new elevated highway. Walking on the street hasn't been the same since. With 160,000 cars roaring by overhead each day, two lanes in each direction on the surface, and more than 300 parking spaces in the median, the street is not what you would call pedestrian-friendly. It's also dangerous, with a crash rate higher than three-quarters of Brooklyn streets.
September 10, 2012
Brooklyn CB 2 Committee Says Yes to Lafayette Avenue Shared Lane
Last night, Brooklyn Community Board 2's Transportation and Public Safety Committee voted 8 to 1 (with one abstention) to support DOT's proposal to install sharrows on Lafayette Avenue between Fulton Street and Classon Avenue. The vote comes after DOT abandoned a bike lane concept in 2010, spurring neighborhood residents to gather 1,400 signatures seeking a solution to improve safety on the busy one-way street.
June 20, 2012
Eyes on the Street: Fowler Square Plaza Opens in Fort Greene
Fort Greene's newest public plaza opened today and Brownstoner was on the scene to capture the moment. The plaza, which reclaimed space for pedestrians on a short, lightly-trafficked block of South Elliott Place between Fulton Street and Lafayette Avenue, connects the sidewalk to an existing public triangle.
May 11, 2012
Brooklyn CB 2 Endorses Fowler Square Plaza, With Evaluation Period
In a meeting Wednesday evening, Brooklyn Community Board 2 endorsed plans to try out a new pedestrian plaza at Fort Greene's Fowler Square. A short, lightly-trafficked block of South Elliott Place, between Fulton Street and Lafayette Avenue, will be reclaimed for pedestrians, allowing the existing square to be connected with the adjoining block. The vote was 28 to 4, according to District Manager Rob Perris.
April 13, 2012
Productive Exchange of Ideas Breaks Out at Fort Greene Plaza Workshop
The reports are in, and it seems like Fort Greene residents were able to have a productive workshop with NYC DOT and the Fulton Area Business Alliance (FAB) last night to discuss the new public plaza planned for Fowler Square. A reader informs us that aside from a few minutes of haranguing from a few individuals, attendees could sit down together and share ideas.
February 17, 2012
Tonight: Help Shape the Future of Fort Greene’s Fowler Square
NYC DOT, Council Member Tish James, Community Board 2, and the Fulton Area Business Alliance are hosting a community workshop tonight to gather ideas for a new plaza at Fowler Square -- the triangle formed by Fulton Street, Lafayette Avenue, and South Elliot Place in Fort Greene. In addition to lending your expertise as the new public space takes shape, this is an important one to turn out for because a handful of project opponents have managed to commandeer past meetings.
February 16, 2012
What If Lafayette Avenue Had a Protected Bike Lane and Ped Refuges?
Hilda Cohen, Ali Loxton and 1,600 petition-signers are asking for a painted bike lane and a road diet on Brooklyn's Lafayette Avenue: They're hoping to calm traffic and improve the area's bike network by turning one traffic lane into a bike lane, and they helped persuade Brooklyn Community Board 2 to ask NYC DOT to revisit the idea.
January 24, 2012
CB 2 Committee Asks DOT to Study Lafayette Avenue Bike Lane
It only took Hilda Cohen and Ali Loxton ten weeks to collect 1,600 signatures supporting a traffic-calming redesign, including a bike lane, for Brooklyn's Lafayette Avenue. Yesterday evening they took their petition to the transportation committee of Community Board 2 and made their case. The result: a 9-1 committee vote asking DOT to study Cohen and Loxton's proposal.
January 18, 2012
1,400 Signatures Put Lafayette Avenue Bike Lane Back on Agenda
A Brooklyn bike lane scuttled during last winter's anti-bike frenzy is back on the agenda thanks to some intrepid citizen activism. More than 1,400 people have signed a petition to paint a bike lane on Lafayette Avenue, reports the New York Times' The Local blog, and the local community board will be revisiting the issue this coming Tuesday.
January 13, 2012
Eyes on the Street: Bus Stop Ravaged By Curb-Jumping Motorist
In what's starting to be an annual tradition, Streetsblog's first reader-submitted photo of 2012 shows a bus stop pole brought low by the impact of a motor vehicle. 2011 got off to a similar start.
January 3, 2012