Eyes on the Street

From a tipster on Bogart Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn:

In these shots from tipster Jeff Prant (more after the jump), Brooklyn Heights residents take advantage a car-free Montague Street this past weekend. Though the July 4th holiday, overcast skies, and inadequate publicity are all suspected to have affected turnout on its first week, those who missed out can enjoy Montague "Summer Space" events on Sundays through the rest of the month.

Streetsblog regular BicyclesOnly is posting shots of Midtown bus lane violators on his Flickr photo stream. He writes:

A pair of Ikea buses clog Clinton St. in Cobble Hill.

We hate to pile on more bad news today, but these tipster-submitted photos of the Brooklyn Ikea grand opening bear witness to the onslaught of traffic about to engulf Red Hook. Apparently, the cars queuing up for cheaply-constructed furniture are stretching the store's 1,400 parking spaces to the max (which would explain why Ikea thought it necessary to annex the old Revere Sugar refinery lot next door). Judging from this anecdotal evidence, Red Hook will not only be subject to the 17,000 car trips projected for peak days, but most of those vehicles will be of the huge, extra-cargo-hauling variety.

From Streetsblog regular BicyclesOnly comes this shot of construction work going on now at Madison Square. More photos here, and here is DOT's project presentation. When complete, the renovation -- one of two planned for Broadway this summer -- will reclaim over 37,000 sq. ft. of public space from auto traffic.

From Clinton Hill Blog via Gothamist:

The Associated Press reports that Senator Barack Obama, taking a brief respite before launching his general election bid, enjoyed a bike ride with his family this weekend: