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.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

A Guy Walks Into a CB9 Committee Meeting And Says to the District Manager...

Oh well. You've heard that one a hundred times I'm sure so I won't waste time retelling the punch line here. What I will tell you is that the Q raced up Rogers on his trusty pedal-steed and crossed at Carroll to get to the nicely appointed Community Board 9 office on Nostrand just in the nick of time to chair a death-defying meeting on our district's lowly Sanitation Garage and sit in on the bawdy and ribald discussion of traffic, stop lights, bus stops, turning lanes etc. Sparks flew. Fists clenched. By the time I left, at roughly half past 8, I was soaked in sweat and bruised from head to toe.

What actually happened at the Community Board this evening? Why, hearty and jovial conversations about all kinds of good stuff. Ed Fanning presided over a jam packed meeting of nearly 15 people all hemming and hawing over the perilous Flatbush/Lincoln/Washington intersection, as well as various and sundry issues related to the new traffic patterns on the Flatbush corridor. here post, here posty posty. Many folks will turn up the heat on the 71st to please and pretty-please step up enforcement. Signs are good; points against license better. Greg Haas was there from DOT, as usual showing great concern and insight about the whys and wherefores of 
neighborhood traffic. The upshot is that the signs will go up forthwith in the manner previously discussed. Other items up for discussion were the placement of the limited buses (Fanning is seeking to move them from by the Wendy's to by the BP to make better connections with other buses AND to prevent the needless danger of folks crossing mid-block to get to the subway entrance. Heck, the elevators to the trains are at Lincoln, so why make the mobility-challenged hike all the way from the corner of Flatbush and Empire? Dumb, dumb and dumber. Go Ed.

At Environmental Protection yours truly presided over a fruitless discussion of how to get our sanitation garage moved from its current inadequate location at NY Ave and Parkside. It's too small to build a proper facility. There are no available properties in our largely residential district; we have like zero manufacturing areas. The issue has been on CB9's priority list for YEARS, and there even was nearly $100 million in the budget to build one. But since no site was found the money disappeared. The move to Parkside/NY came in 2005, from over by Medgar Evers, the station having fallen into horrible disrepair. So...we're going to go back to SUNY Downstate and try to get them excited about giving us some of their parking lot. With all the drama they're going through over the LICH closing, something tells me this is not a priority for them. But who knows?

And a little tidbit...that closing of Crown Street to create a proper "campus" for Medgar Evers? It's going to happen, mark my word. More soon...if you want to know where the Q stands, my dish to Tish is here.





6 comments:

Alex said...

Thanks for the recap, Tim! Any word on making Lincoln one way through to Ocean?

Clarkson FlatBed said...

There's plenty of energy "for" the idea. And there will undoubtedly be voices "against." However, DOT will have to do a separate look and nothing should happen without the consult of the Prospect Park Alliance, since they plan on using Lincoln as an entrance and exit to their new smaller parking lot for Lakeside. Frankly, I think the parking lot is a waste of park space. But they've designed it and it's probably a done deal.

Alex said...

One more question! What about additional barriers to keep cars out of the pedestrian island?

diak said...

Another road issue I've noticed since the snow melted... it's only been a few weeks and already the lines and signs painted on Flatbush are eroding. I'd estimate they're about half gone. The turning lanes at Maple and Rutland are marked with something like )NLi...
Someone unfamiliar with the lane set-up is going to have a tough time knowing what's what.

Martin said...

What we heard at the meeting with DOT is that they are aware of the problem and they were worried about it sticking. They used thermoplastic road markings too late in the season for it to stick well in the cold. Hopefully they will repaint it but calls to 311 might help.

Unknown said...

Couldn't this be resolved with a simple "DO NOT ENTER" sign? Seems to work at every other intersection like this. Forgive my ignorance if this sign is already there and is being ignored.