Buses, delivery trucks, taxis, and commuters crowd and bump against one another on streets surrounding Prospect Park, the large green grounds in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. Four major roads, Coney Island Avenue, Caton Avenue, Parkside Avenue, and the Prospect Park Expressway find their way to Park Circle, the intersection that is under the weight of constant traffic congestion.
Starting April 25th noise will get louder as more frustrated drivers standing in one place honk their horns, mutter unkind words and lose patience. Irritation will spring up together with fumes on the roads when the park will have two fewer entrances to its main road, the West Drive, channeling all the traffic to Park Circle, endangering an already unsafe area. The closing of entrances was announced by the Department of Transportation in a brief phone call last week to Community Board 7, startling the board members and leaving them with no voice in the matter.
“We would look into setting up a specific Transportation Committee meeting on this issue. However, they let us know so late, that they are planning to implement this next week, and we don’t have the time to be able to hold the meeting before then,” said Jeremy Laufer, the district manager at CB 7.
The DOT hastily decided to change traffic streams in one of the busiest intersections of Brooklyn Heights without advising with the community. Only few months ago, on February 19th, CB 7 held a planning session with the DOT specifically on the issue of Park Circle, with 40 members of the public discussing how to make Park Circle a safer junction. “DOT was there. They never mentioned anything about the closures,” said Laufer.
DOT’s motivation behind the entrance closings in the park was the safety of pedestrians who shared the entrances with inflow of motor vehicles. The closed entrances will entitle neighborhood residents to traffic-free wide park streets.
However, Park Circle will now get hit with double the amount of motor vehicles, especially during rush hours; something that the DOT was made aware of during the planning session in February.
There hides a history of communication deficit between CB 7 and the DOT. It has been Laufer’s concern for several years. [to be continued]
Thoughts on Intro
The first page and a half of my conflict story introduce the conflict between the community and the Department of Transportation. I wanted to convey the atmosphere of the streets around the park in the lede, making it a descriptive one. My second graph is the nut graph, exposing the issue. However, I think this introduction is thin. I haven’t been able to get in touch with the residents who oppose this, especially the drivers; and I haven’t seen Jeremy Laufer, the District manager at CB 7, so I can’t offer a rich description of him. I will be working on making it fuller and more interesting.
i think this is a really good topic to write about. you have a concrete issue, angry residents and good sources for interviews. i really liked the intro and definitely thought it was descriptive too.
I like the intro, it is very descriptive and puts me in the scene. I can just picture all the angry drivers … oh man!