Park Slope Neighbors brings you the following events relating to Brooklyn development and transportation:

1) Community Board 6 to Consider DOT One-Way Proposal, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.

This Wednesday evening, at 6:30 p.m., the full membership of Brooklyn Community Board 6 will hold their monthly General Meeting, during which they will vote on the proposal presented last month by the Department of Transportation to convert 6th and 7th Avenues in Park Slope from two-way to one-way traffic flow.

Some 2,500 of you signed PSN's petition opposing this ill-conceived plan, and 700 of you turned out on March 15th to tell the DOT that their proposal was not acceptable to residents of Park Slope. Despite the massive community opposition, however, CB6's Transportation Committee passed a watered-down motion requesting that DOT "not proceed" with the proposal "at this time" "because there are too many questions about" how the plan would affect safety and traffic flow.

This motion does not reflect Park Slopers' unified opposition to the DOT proposal. Our community is overwhelmingly against the idea of converting 6th and 7th Avenues to one-way operation, and any motion passed by CB6 pertaining to the one-way proposal should reflect that unanimity. We encourage you to email or call CB6 in advance of Wednesday's meeting to urge them to adopt a stronger position. And we urge you to show up for CB6's meeting on Wednesday, to let them know, through our collective presence, that Park Slope residents are united in opposition to the DOT's one-way proposal. [Please note that the public will not be permitted to speak at this meeting before the vote is taken -- we recommend that you bring a sign to register your point of view.]

You can contact CB6 as follows:

Email: info@BrooklynCB6.org
Tel: 718-643-3027
Fax: 718-624-8410

Here are details for the meeting:

Wednesday, April 11, 6:30 p.m.
John Jay High School
237 7th Avenue (between 4th and 5th Streets)
Auditorium

2) Take Action: Fax in Your Support of DOT's 9th Street Traffic-Calming Plan Right Now

Park Slope was the recipient of quite a bit of DOT attention last month. Fortunately, some DOT plans are actually quite good. On March 29, DOT presented a plan to improve pedestrian safety, provide traffic calming and install bike lanes on 9th Street, long known as one of the most hazardous "side streets" in Park Slope (see CrashStat.org for the grizzly statistics).

Many Parks Slopers will recall that in the summer of 2004, a sedan careened through the front door of Dizzy's Diner on Eighth Avenue and 9th Street. Miraculously, no one was hurt. But the event galvanized neighborhood residents to begin a process that generated more than 1,200 signatures, urging the City's Department of Transportation to address long-standing pedestrian-safety and reckless-driving problems on 9th Street.

In response to that community outpouring, DOT put forward a plan for 9th Street that will make traffic flow more orderly, improve pedestrian safety and provide much needed facilities for bicycling. We at Park Slope Neighbors are impressed with the plan, and believe that it will provide significant benefits to motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, bus riders, residents and businesses. If you want to see it for yourself, a copy of DOT's presentation can be found here:

http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/03/29/dots-9th-street-plan/

As is always the case, change generates anxiety, and the Community Board is hearing from a group of 9th Street residents who don't want to see this traffic-safety plan move forward. It is critical that the Community Board also hear from supporters before the end of business this Wednesday. Click the link below to send a fax to Community Board 6 expressing your support for the plan (it takes just a minute). The Community Board will take its vote tomorrow evening (details of the meeting are above). Members of the general public won't be allowed to participate in the discussion. So, this is your one opportunity to make your voice heard:

http://www.transalt.org/streetbeat/2007/Apr/0409_efax.html

And for more information and background on DOT's 9th Street plan, Streetsblog is following the story:

http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/03/29/vanderbilt-avenue-the-model-for-do...

3) PSN "Brooklyn Matters" Screening, Wednesday, 4/18, 7:30 p.m.

Park Slope Neighbors, in partnership with the Fourth Mission Committee of Old First Reformed Church, will present a free screening of the critically acclaimed documentary "Brooklyn Matters" at Old First Church on Wednesday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m.

"Brooklyn Matters," produced and directed by film maker and Park Slope resident Isabel Hill, documents the forces shaping the "Atlantic Yards" project. Given how the project, which still faces several legal hurdles, is already affecting our community (the DOT's much-reviled one-way proposal is but one example), "Brooklyn Matters" is truly a must-see.

The screening of the film, which runs approximately 55 minutes, will be followed by a panel discussion.

"Brooklyn Matters"
Wednesday, April 18, 7:30 p.m.
Old First Reformed Church
126 7th Avenue (at Carroll Street)
Park Slope

4) Rally Against Giant "Atlantic Yards" Parking Lot, 4/15, 2:00 p.m.

On Sunday, April 15, at 2 p.m., several civic and neighborhood groups will stage a "Rally Against Demolition for Parking" on Pacific Street between Carlton and Vanderbilt Avenues in Prospect Heights.

Forest City Ratner has commenced preparation for the demolition of the historic Ward Bakery Building, to make way for one of three enormous surface parking lots intended to accommodate construction workers, and then to serve arena events, should the "Atlantic Yards" project overcome the numerous legal challenges it still faces. These lots will encourage driving at the expense of mass transit, and will add considerably to traffic and congestion in the surrounding neighborhoods, including Park Slope. And they could be a fact of life for decades, if construction of the project lags behind schedule.

Forest City Ratner, and its supporters, have made much noise about "Atlantic Yards" being "transit-oriented development." But the mere fact that it would be built near a transit hub does not make it transit-oriented. The redevelopment of Ground Zero does not feature massive amounts of surface parking -- workers there use transit. If anything, devoting the better part of a large city block to a giant parking lot could be characterized as "traffic-oriented development."

The intent of the rally is to convince Albany and City Hall to reverse their approval of Forest City Ratner's demolition plans. PSN believes that no demolitions should take place until the project clears its legal hurdles, to avoid the creation of a truly blighted landscape in the event the courts rule against the "Atlantic Yards" plan, which is precisely what happened in Norwood, Ohio. There, developers knocked down 56 of a neighborhood's 59 homes, before the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in favor of the remaining homeowners.

Let's not let the same thing happen here -- come out Sunday to voice your opposition to Forest City Ratner's planned demolitions.

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