Robert Rohr, Park Slope
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To the editor,
As a resident of Windsor Terrace for 22 years, I consider the new two-way bike path on Prospect Park West a dream come true (“Bike lane war! Prospect Park West a conflict zone,” June 25).
Like any American, I take driving anywhere anytime at a decent speed as my birthright: I was already driving at 14. Unfortunately, in the last few years, driving in New York City has become all but impossible. I now find a bike the only practical way to travel.
This is not easy, or feasible, for everyone out there. Traffic on Prospect Park West is much slower and more frustrating now as cyclists, motorists and pedestrians will have to learn to sort out who has right of way. It’s a change, and that’s going to be unpleasant, just like the virtual “war” over the bike lanes on Kent and Bedford avenues in Williamsburg.
In their long term view, the city and the Department of Transportation have seen the future for getting around this city, and unlike the glory days under Robert Moses, the automobile just no longer reigns supreme out there.
While I am used to city traffic, every day I meet commuters who really want to travel by bike, but are still quite intimidated by fast-paced auto and bus traffic.
Before the separate bike lane, Prospect Park West was nasty place to survive on a bike!
E.M. Kahn,
Windsor Terrace
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To the editor,
If Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan got out of her ivory tower in Manhattan and observed the total scope of activity along Prospect Park West, it would be apparent that reducing Prospect Park West to two traffic lanes to accommodate this bicycle lane is a terrible idea. I have lived on Prospect Park West for 30 years and believe this change will create more dangerous conditions than it purports to alleviate.
The alleged problem of speeding should have been handled by having frequent radar enforcement along PPW as was done up to four or five years ago, before it seems to have been discontinued. When I drive from Grand Army Plaza to Ninth Street at 25–30 mph, I keep pace with the progression of the green lights, and there is no point in driving any faster. Therefore, I do not quite understand how such a large percentage of drivers can be speeding, as was reported in your article.
The Prospect Park Alliance is really proud that Prospect Park usage has climbed from 2 million to 9 million visitors a year. That has brought a lot more vehicular traffic to the neighborhood, and PPW in particular. Commissioner Sadik-Khan must not be reading [Park Administrator] Tupper Thomas’s press releases. Every weekday afternoon in spring, summer and fall and all day long on Saturday and Sunday, the many people being dropped off in cars that often double-park is endless. On holiday weekends and for special events, like Celebrate Brooklyn, the double-parking now reduces PPW from three to one traffic lane.
The normal course of daily life brings a lot of double-parking to PPW. Access-a-Ride, UPS, Fresh Direct, tradesmen, taxis and school buses all stop in a traffic lane to accomplish their task. Mister Softee and other ice-cream trucks double-park in a traffic lane whenever they can get away with it.
Local residents just trying to park need a traffic lane to wait and then pull into an empty curbside parking place. It is going to be a hazardous maneuver when PPW is down to two traffic lanes.
The MTA frequently has a maintenance vehicle double-parked at 14th Street so workers can fix things in the tunnel below PPW. At the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket on Saturdays, you have customers double-parked on the east side of PPW and ambulatory vehicles double-parked in front of the Castle at Prospect Park Residence on the west side. That does not leave much room for all the vehicles coming around the Plaza off Flatbush and Vanderbilt Avenues.
It is unfortunate that the city, Community Board 6 and Councilman Brad Lander have ignored the facts in their single-minded pursuit of installing bike lanes on PPW. Once the project is completed, they will be free of the consequences and the 78th Precinct and Prospect Park will have all the new problems to deal with.
Roger Melzer, Park Slope
Animal act
To the editor,
How ironic that there was such compassionate concern about Target the Canadian goose when the mayor has ordered a second year of slaughter for Canadian Geese in city parks (“Golden Goose,” June 25).
These geese get no compassion, hundreds of them are being gassed to death as you read this.
Also, your puff piece on Ringling Brothers ignores the fact that elephants, such as the one on your front page, have been abused for years by this cruel and exploitive circus (“Circus is back,” June 25).
Wayne Johnson,
Brooklyn Heights