Williamsburg
Streetsblog Basics
Matt von Ohlen’s Friends and Family Call for Grand Street Protected Lane
The family and friends of Matthew von Ohlen pleaded with Brooklyn Community Board 1 to support a protected bike lane on Williamsburg's Grand Street, where the 35-year-old was killed while biking by a hit-and-run driver on July 3.
August 10, 2016
Hit-and-Run Driver Murders Cyclist, So 90th Precinct Tickets People on Bikes
A hit-and-run driver killed a cyclist in Williamsburg this weekend. Though police believe the motorist ran over the victim on purpose, the 90th Precinct responded by ticketing cyclists and handing out bike safety fliers.
July 5, 2016
Metropolitan Bridge Bike Lane Will Connect Ridgewood and Williamsburg
After two years of back-and-forth with the local community board, a proposal to link the bike networks of Williamsburg and Ridgewood via the Metropolitan Avenue Bridge may finally be coming to fruition. DOT presented an updated version of the plan, which it first unveiled in June 2014, to Brooklyn Community Board 1 last night [PDF].
June 15, 2016
DOT Hints at Upcoming Bike Projects in North Brooklyn
Last night DOT outlined some of the bike projects it's planning for Williamsburg and Bushwick in the near future, including bike lanes on Meeker Avenue and improved southbound bike connections from the Williamsburg Bridge. While it didn't come up at the meeting, the looming L train shutdown lends some extra urgency to bike network improvements in this part of the city. Every L train rider who opts to bike while the shutdown is in effect will be placing less strain on a bus and subway network that can use all the help it can get.
May 27, 2016
Brewer to DOT: Start Looking Into a Bus-Only 14th Street
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer is calling on DOT to study making 14th Street a bus-only thoroughfare while L train service is disrupted during Sandy-related repairs.
May 24, 2016
NYPD: Teacher Killed by Cop in Crosswalk “Assumed Risk” by Crossing Street
NYPD and the city Law Department are fighting a lawsuit filed by the family of a Brooklyn man who was killed in a crosswalk by an on-duty officer, on the grounds that the victim behaved recklessly by crossing the street.
March 22, 2016
DOT’s Meeker Ave Safety Project Gets — You Guessed It — Meeker
DOT has watered down its safety plan for the area around Meeker, Union, and Metropolitan avenues. And for the second time in as many meetings, Brooklyn Community Board 1’s transportation committee could not make quorum last night to vote on the project.
February 24, 2016
Why Does the 90th Precinct Allow Illegal Parking in the Kent Ave Bike Lane?
The two-way protected bike lane on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg is one of the best bikeways in the city, but every so often it's occupied by a phalanx of illegally parked cars. It's never been a huge secret that the cars belong to the neighborhood's Satmar Hasidic community, which gets to appropriate the bike lane with the tacit approval of NYPD during big events. Neither has it been out in the open much. Last week, though, an account affiliated with the Satmars openly flaunted the arrangement on Twitter.
February 17, 2016
Keep L Train Passengers Moving With Great BRT
The news that Sandy-related repairs will require closing one or both directions of the L train under the East River (the “Canarsie Tube”) for one to three years has understandably caused panic among the estimated 230,000 daily passengers who rely on it. Businesses in Williamsburg that count on customers from Manhattan are also concerned about a significant downturn in sales. When the Canarsie Tube was shut down on weekends only last spring, it was bad enough for their bottom line, and this will be much worse.
February 4, 2016