Improvements On Tap For Bushwick Crossings
Changes to Bushwick streets are on tap in an effort to make them safer for students walking to school, Brooklyn Community Board 4 learned at its meeting last Wednesday, Jan. 18 at the Hope Gardens Senior Center.
Joseph Menzer and Randall Ide of RBA Group presented their plan for changes in the streets surrounding P.S. 106, located at 1314 Putnam Ave., off Wilson Avenue.
The school, one of 94 in the second phase of the city’s Safe Routes to Schools program, has seen 161 accidents at nearby intersections between 2001 and 2004, 28 involving pedestrians. It was also noted that about 94 percent of the school’s students walk to the school.
According to Menzer, one of the principal issues RBA found in a study of the area is speeding on nearby Wilson Avenue, and had recommended the installation of a stop sign at Wilson Avenue and Cornelia Street, which has already been installed.
The plan going forward is to add “neckdowns”-extensions to the curb that decrease the crossing distance for pedestrians while also helping to slow down traffic-on Knickerbocker Avenue at Putnam Avenue and at Cornelia Street, and on, Wilson Avenue at Putnam Avenue and Cornelia Street.
No extensions will be added near area bus stops, and the city will be responsible for the maintenance of the extended sidewalks.
Plans and contracts for the work are expected to be finalized this summer in anticipation of construction in the summer of 2013.
Board 4 unanimously approved the plan.
Kim Lua of the Department of Transportation noted that in addition to P.S. 106 and the already finished extensions near J.H.S. 296, six more schools are being included in this round of the Safe Routes to Schools program: P.S. 86, P.S. 116, I.S. 291, P.S. 299, I.S. 383 and P.S./I.S. 384. In addition, P.S. 274 is being considered for future improvements.
Why no liquor license reports?
After a reporter challenged Board 4’s policy not to announce information regarding liquor license application requests, District Manager Nadine Whitted and Public Safety chairperson Barbara Smith explained that the addresses are not made available to the public to protect local businesses.
“The details of why each and every establishment has been denied, we don’t think that that’s something that should be put out publicly at a meeting, ” Whitted said, later adding that “the board does not take this position lightly.”
P.O. Damarys Franco of the 83rd Precinct’s Community Affairs Unit explained that much of the information she gives to Board 4 to help them determine whether to grant new or renewed licenses comes from NYPD information, such as 311 and 911 phone calls, complaints and arrests made on scene.
“I keep track of every location within our community,” said Franco. “My job as Community Affairs officer is to actually try to improve the quality of life within that location. I try to prevent closure within that location.”
“We rely solely on the precinct’s reports,” Whitted stated, pointing out that troublesome bars do have “an opportunity to clean up their act” by attending regular NYPD-run meetings focusing on area nightlife and cooperating.
Of the six community boards the Times Newsweekly covers regularly (Brooklyn Board 4 and Queens Boards 2, 4, 5, 6 and 9), Board 2 is the only other board that does not publicly announce liquor license applications at their general meeting on a regular basis.
Other news
In her report for Board 4, Whitted urged residents to be careful in their homes in the wake of two recent fatal fires in the area.
She told the crowd not to overload electrical circuits and to be mindful of their stoves, candles and space heaters.
The advisory body has met with members from the Masonic Temple at Gates and Bushwick avenues, Whitten stated, adding that “the building site looks like landmark quality from the outside.”
After recent incidents stemming from groups renting out the hall, the Temple is attempting to reach out to the community. Whitted had suggested that the group organize a cleanup of the surrounding area.
The Bushwick Campus Greenhouse, which was the subject of a Times Newsweekly feature story last month, announced that it has reached its fundraising goal.
It was announced by Board 4’s Austen Martinez that Broadway from Havemeyer Street to Eastern Parkway will be receiving new streetlights later this year, thanks in part to a grant from City Council Member Erik Martin Dilan.
Brooklyn Community Board 4 will next meet on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at the Hope Gardens Senior Center, located at 195 Linden St. in Bushwick.
