New Column!

I need to make a correction first. Ward Dennis came up with his Kent Avenue plan on his own blog months before the DOT released their draft this April. Thies, a candidate for City Council and an active member of the Community Board, signed a letter Councilman Yassky sent out on the bike lanes in December 2008, and later backtracking. Today he supports Dennis' proposal. Though both men are Community Board members, they did not do their advocacy as board members. Much of the confusion regarding the Bike Lanes this past December came about because it was unclear who was speaking on behalf of the Community Board.

Short Takes - The Bike Lane and the Greenway

May 14, 2009 by Aaron Short

Is the Bike Lane fiasco a bad sign for the Greenway?

Let’s get this out of the way up front. The Department of Transportation’s roll out of its Kent Avenue Bike Lane plan last Fall was handled poorly. Very poorly.
When the DOT unveiled its plan at a Transportation Town Hall hosted by Councilmembers David Yassky and Diana Reyna in Williamsburg last November, residents and local business owners chastised city officials over parking regulations and signage. Cycling advocates had other complaints, recommending a stronger barrier between bike lanes and vehicular traffic. In the following weeks, confusion spread over the bike lane plan within Community Board, and the issue became so contentious that Transportation Committee Chair Teresa Toro was briefly deposed over corresponding with a local reporter about the board’s position.
It wasn’t the first time that the Department lost control of a meeting in this neighborhood, but the experience proved sobering and agency officials moved more cautiously on this issue.

Read more at http://www.greenpointnews.com/news/short-takes-the-bike-lane-and-the-greenway

Breaking News on Kent Avenue Bike Lanes

From the Greenpoint Gazette blog...

Parking to be restored on Kent Avenue!

BREAKING NEWS (Greenpoint and Williamsburg):

According to Government Officials, DOT is currently working with local electeds and community members to come up with a plan for the oh-so-controversial Kent Avenue bike lanes that suits motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and businesses alike. Apparently, the two-way bike lane will stay put, while parking will, in fact, be restored. More details to come. The GOs say the plan isn't finalized yet. We should expect this to go public in the next couple of weeks so stay tuned.

Swine Flu Quarantined at Brooklyn Kitchen

Photo by Juliet Linderman
"The key to defeating swine flu zombies is by removing the head or destroying the brain."

From dissecting pigs with butcher blogger Tom Mylan (he butchers like an editor), to sorting out a hit and run homicide, to enjoying the Weezer-like sounds of the Blue Album Group (http://thebluealbumgroup.com) in a concert raising money for NAG's North Brooklyn Story Project, it's just another day in Greenpoint. As NAG's Lacey Tauber said, 'They sound better than actual Weezer" before grooving along to 'Only in Dreams'. Everyone got nostalgic for high school and I've slowly begun to realize that the planning for my 10-year high school reunion is probably going to end up on my desk in the next couple of weeks. Thanks a lot E.O. Smith class of 1999.

The big developing story today is what's going on with the Kent Avenue bike lanes in Williamsburg. Businesses are opposed to it but Congresswoman Velazquez is pushing it. We're trying to find out what's going on and dispel a lot of rumors about whether a lane will be stripped to provide for adequate parking for local businesses or if some other agreement has been worked out. Will post as soon as it is confirmed.

Steve Levin is feeling under the weather today. Don't worry, he definitely does not have swine flu. We checked. But please, somebody get him some chicken soup stat! Hey Tom Mylan, know any good chicken soup recipes?

From Williamsburg to Albany

I am currently staying in a large David Lynchian room at an Econo-Lodge on the outskirts of Albany. Why am I here? Business. Why am I really here? Lord knows. Just one of those unusual weekends that takes me from a United Jewish Organization legislative breakfast on Rutledge Street to a meeting with a roomful of Bushwick artists with a Rockefeller Foundaiton grant trying to maintain a permanent community on Morgan Avenue to hitching a ride with the Greenpoint Gazette up I-87 to visit Joe Lentol, Marty Dilan, and Vito Lopez in their home away from home.

Unfortunately we picked a Monday night to stay over. Everything is closed and there is very little to do here, but the Gazette is trying our hardest to blog the scene. I'm just happy to have some time to get some work done, and the state capitol reminds me of Hartford, CT, my home away from home. The legislative office building has the ambience of an airport hangar with less hospitality and for some reason it feels like we're in Canada. I've been calling the state troopers money and asking where we have to change currencies. Highlights for today include two of the reporters saw Assemblyman Lopez eating a roast beef sandwich but were too shy to say hello and wandering into one of Albany's two gay bars which had extremely normal names like the Waterworks Tavern. There's no double entendre there. Just a small neon rainbow sign in the window with the word Pride! flashing beneath it.

Tomorrow is a hearings day so the schedule is packed, plus lunch with Joe Lentol and his staff. Meanwhile, which of the following looks like he's about to get hoisted into the air while the crowd dances the hora below?
A. Steve Levin









B. Daniel Squadron

New Column!

New Column with the Greenpoint Gazette!:

http://www.greenpointnews.com/news/short-takes-where-are-the-environmental-activists

Notes: My photo looks like a combination of Jeremy Irons in Lolita and Adrien Brody on a bender. We may need a redo.

Short Takes: Where are the environmental activists?

Mar 26, 2009 by Aaron Short Laura Hofmann is getting tired. She has just sent out an email blast to a number of public officials, community leaders and reporters about refuse that has been washing up on the steps of the Newtown Creek Nature Walk and an oily film that has blanketed sections of the waterway.
A mother of six and grandmother of three, Hofmann is a constant presence at community meetings throughout the neighborhood, including the Newtown Creek Alliance, Newtown Creek Monitoring Committee, Open Space Alliance, Neighbors Allied for Good Growth, Community Board One’s Transportation and Environment Committees and full board meetings. Whenever there is an environmental forum about toxic soil contaminants in Greenpoint, or a press conference urging the EPA to add Newtown Creek to the federal Superfund list, Hofmann is there. The problem is that few other people are.
“Where are the young environmental activists?” Hofmann asked, just after a public information forum on the state’s efforts to clean up chlorinated solvents in late February. “I see the same people going to these meetings. We need help.”
http://www.greenpointnews.com/news/short-takes-where-are-the-environmental-activists

Trucks in Trouble

City residents are up in arms about proposed transit hikes, which are likely to be approved by the MTA tomorrow, though two local concerns festering for years dominated the discussion at CB1's transportation committee meeting Tuesday night.

Led by the efficacious Community Board One member Teresa Toro, Transportation meetings are among the most well-attended committee meetings in the borough. And for good reason. Last night's meeting featured two presentations by the Department of Transportation concerning truck traffic on local streets and Transportation Alternatives about a redesign of the Pulaski Bridge. Both presentations were short but detailed.
Transalt wants Brooklyn CB1 to work with CB2 in Queens to support their plan allocating more space for pedestrians and cyclists, possibly by adding a cycling lane on one of the traffic lanes. A letter is in the works, as is a pedestrian walk campaign in May. The Queens Desk has more about it here.
The DOT is looking to crack down on large trucks and trailers driving through local streets and add more visable signage to indicate through streets and local streets. Residents pointed out some key streets in Greenpoint where trucks were abusing traffic laws, including a grocery store on Beadel Street and reiterated their concerns at the meeting. Greg Hanlon of The Courier will have a more in depth article about this on Friday.
The remarkable thing about the meeting was the responsiveness of the DOT to very specific transportation concerns local residents brought to the meeting. Though these transit concerns are prevalent throughout Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods, DOT officials knew the issues being discussed and detailed how they would seek solutions. How they respond over the coming months, with the help of enforcement from the 94th and 90th Precincts will be interesting, but this is a good sign.