Your Signature Needed - Tonight's Vote Canceled

It's all weird, man. No vote tonight. Gonna be tabled. Not a bad thing. More later...

PLEASE SIGN KIM'S COMMON SENSE PETITION

I'm posting this again in case you missed it. The petition will be presented tomorrow night at the CB9 meeting. I've chosen not to belabor the vote by bringing it back to committee - we were to vote on it last mtg but ran out of time. At an all-board policy mtg last week it became clear that many of the Board members plan on voting no to supporting this project because they drive and a) don't want the hassle of the construction work b) don't think there are safety issues and/or c) think this but another example of the bicycle lobby trying to slow down drivers and create traffic snarls. We weren't even talking about it, but four separate individuals said that pedestrians are the real problem. Oh, and there are plenty of trees at Prospect Park why do you need them at these intersections? If you agree with any of those arguments then I suppose the petition is not for you. I was told at the meeting to start listening more closely to what the community wants. Perhaps I'll be censured. Now THAT would be a resume builder!

I'm not going to go into it again, but if you're dying to read why a once unanimously supported project to fix two deadly intersections on Empire Boulevard is now in peril, read this.

The anti-government frenzy is starting to blow over into once non-controversial transportation planning. With reams of data and a solid plan to keep traffic moving as well or better, DOT found both the way and the means to make it possible to fix the cluster-fudge at Washington/Franklin/Empire. After years of residents asking for responsible changes to this intersection and others, money was finally found a few years back by then U.S. Rep Major Owens. Yvette Clarke pulled the trigger and now the money is ours, only for this to correct long-neglected intersections at both ends of our district. Best of all, there's money for new landscaping and greenspace. The crossing at Washington effects more Q readers, plus hundreds of parents and seniors who take fate in their hands when they negotiate the bizarre dance at this monstrous intersection, so I've been happy to focus on that one. (The other fix is elegant too, but I'm rarely down by Utica and Schenectady. Been enough to know it's a nightmare as a bicyclist though.) These are multi-million dollar projects, and the money disappears if we don't do the project.

Thankfully I'm not alone in seeing the folly of objections from some at the Community Board and others (you know the names) who at this point suspect the reason for the fix has something to do with plans to allow the blvd to develop as 10-12 story "towers" with means-tested apartments, a/k/a affordable housing. A neighbor of ours has put together a petition to allow sheer numbers to way against the loud voices of drivers who have expressed opposition to ANYTHING they perceive could slow them down.

PLEASE SIGN KIM'S PETITION