The Q at Parkside

(for those for whom the Parkside Q is their hometrain)

News and Nonsense from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Lefferts and environs, or more specifically a neighborhood once known as Melrose Park. Sometimes called Lefferts Gardens. Or Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Or PLG. Or North Flatbush. Or Caledonia (west of Ocean). Or West Pigtown. Across From Park Slope. Under Crown Heights. Near Drummer's Grove. The Side of the Park With the McDonalds. Jackie Robinson Town. Home of Lefferts Manor. West Wingate. Near Kings County Hospital. Or if you're coming from the airport in taxi, maybe just Flatbush is best.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Please Get Back In Your Car and Remove Your Vehicles: Now

On Tuesday, Community Board 9 voted to request that MTA remove the vehicles parked daily near our beloved trees at Flatbush/Empire/Ocean. As you recall, this is part of a grand plan to redesign the entire plaza, starting with a soon-to-be launched Kickstarter campaign to aid the David Eppley artwork affixed to the Flatbush Trees. We're now looking for PLGNA to send its own letter in support of the same.

The letter's draft is below and was approved near unanimously. Btw, we need everyone's help in the coming months and years to make this vision happen. We're on the path.


October 23, 2013

METROPOLITAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY
MARKETING AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS
347 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK, NY 10017-3739 – 5TH FLOOR
RE: TRANSIT AUTHORITY EMPLOYEE PARKING (OCEAN

AVENUE & FLATBUSH AVENUE, BROOKLYN)
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

COMMUNITY BOARD 9, BROOKLYN, AS A RESULT OF NUMEROUS COMPLAINTS RECEIVED REGARDING THE “ILLEGALLY” OCCUPIED TRANSIT AUTHORITY EMPLOYEE PARKING LOT LOCATED ON THE VACANT LAND OWNED BY THE CITY OF NY, (DCAS) AT THE INTERSECTION OF FLATBUSH AVENUE AND OCEAN AVENUE, ADJACENT TO THE PROSPECT PARK Q-TRAIN SUBWAY STATION, THAT SERVES OUR DISTRICT; IS WRITING THIS LETTER TO REQUEST THAT THE TRANSIT AUTHORITY EMPLOYEES DISCONTINUE PARKING ON THIS PROPERTY TO FACILITATE THE BEAUTIFICATION OF THIS HISTORIC GATEWAY TO FLATBUSH, BY NYC DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION’S PUBLIC  PLAZA PROGRAM.
THIS SITE IS IN PLAIN VIEW OF THE SOUTHEAST ENTRANCE TO BOTH PROSPECT PARK, AND THE BROOKLYN BOTANICAL GARDENS, AND BOTH INSTITUTIONS WOULD GREATLY BENEFIT FROM THE REMOVAL OF THIS INCONSIDERATE EYESORE, OF A CHAIN LINK FENCE WITH RAZOR RIBBON.

PLEASE NOTIFY THE COMMUNITY BOARD, AS TO WHEN THE COMMUNITY CAN GAIN ACCESS TO THE SITE, SO THAT INSTALLATION OF THE PEDESTRIAN PUBLIC PLAZA BY NYC DOT CAN COMMENCE.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH THE MTA, IN PLANNING FOR FUTURE UPGRADES TO THE FLATBUSH AVENUE, Q SUBWAY STATION WHICH WOULD BE SERVED BY THE PROPOSED PUBLIC PLAZA.

RABBI JACOB Z. GOLDSTEIN, CHAIRPERSON
COMMUNITY BOARD 9 – BROOKLYN
XC: BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN, NYC DEPARTMENT OF PARKS, PROSPECT PARK ALLIANCE, PROSPECT LEFFERTS GARDEN NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION, NYC DOT, COUNCILPERSON EUGENE, COUNCILPERSON JAMES, ASSEMBLYMAN ADAMS, BORO PRESIDENT MARTY MARKOWITZ, MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG

6 comments:

Alex said...

Amazing. So, if I am reading this correctly, MTA just commandeered the space and started using it as a parking lot? They do not own the lot? I've also never understood why the MTA employees who park there don't park within the painted lines - they seem to envision their own special floating spots without referring to the designated spaces.

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Yeah that's the gist. When I started looking into the trees my first question was...who owns this thing? DOT has up to a certain point and they were able to tell MTA to stop parking under the trees (remember how annoying that was?)

Then it turns out that the whole area there is owned by the City, and was once a gas station or some such that leased from NYC. Then when it died, MTA started parking there and the rest is a story of nobody giving a #$%@.

michelle said...

I like the old school metal trees, would be cool just to fix and restore them. No need to update the look, imo.

Clarkson FlatBed said...

That was my original plan...until I realized there was no money for restoration to be found, the Trees were never "approved" in 1979 in the first place, and any attempt to get the City to deal with it would lead down a rabbit hole.

There IS money for art projects though, and that led us to accept Eppley's proposal. The idea is that every two years or so an artist could use the trees as part of their sculptural idea until they're finally dealt with by the creation of a whole plaza.

Clarkson FlatBed said...

Ahab had Moby, the Q has...

Anonymous said...

I would like this same headline to apply to the folks who somehow think it's completely okay to double park their cars on Flatbush Avenue. It's more or less a great way to kill someone, especially at night.