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| pic of Thursday's safety forum by David Meyer |
Read David Meyer of Streetsblog's recap here.
There will always be a need to keep traffic moving. But in the Q's trying-to-be-humble opinion, bicyclists and pedestrians have long been shafted by the City's pro-car policies, and only now are we starting to see a move towards reason. Coupled with the growing mania for bicycling to school and work, and a concern for the environmental impact of automobiles, our neighborhood will eventually embrace the modern age. There's a generational aspect to it of course, but my own experience shows that there are plenty of older residents who favor safety and a focus on alternatives to one-to-a-car driving.
The CB9 Transportation Committee has been taken over by car people. The number of community residents who joined as a result of hating the Empire Reconstruction Project proposal now stands at half of the entire committee. There should never be (it's been a rule) more non-Board members on a committee than Board. Big mistake. Live and learn? There are real life consequences.
Make sure you attend Transportation Committee meetings if you can and voice your opinion. Third Wednesday of the month at 890 Nostrand!
2 comments:
Hey Tim, we're pretty new to PLG and were wondering if you or your readers had any insight into how the DeBlasio rezoning plan will affect us. City hall has made the decision to ignore the advice of CBs citywide. Is rezoning of empire likely to occur as part of the mayor's plan?
My hope is that we will see more affordable housing, period. Because right now we ain't getting any. But that would require a rezoning.
And during that rezoning, we could protect certain areas while allowing for greater height elsewhere. And yes, we could add Empire Blvd to the mix. And we could put ALL of the district's needs on the table, out in the open, from infrastructure to parks to playgrounds to schools....
The rezoning of Empire Blvd is key to getting protections elsewhere. Without it, we're basically asking to downzone only, providing nowhere for the City to entice more housing for all income levels. They've said they will not do that - thus the current impasse.
It's a very simple equation, and right now, we're more likely to get a tall hotel with a City MD in it on Empire, rather than apartments.
So no, rezoning is not going to happen as PART of the plan. It's a separate process.
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