Redesigning Grand Army Plaza

theindecisionpigeon

I found it originally on Curbed here:
http://curbed.com/archives/2007/12/13/reinventing_gap.php

Which links you to here:
http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/12/13/reinventing-grand-army-plaza-what-are-your-ideas/

And here's the main posting (there are photos if you clicky the linky):
Reinventing Grand Army Plaza: What Are Your Ideas?

The Grand Army Plaza Coalition (GAPCo) and the Design Trust for Public Space are launching an "Ideas Competition" called Reinventing Grand Army Plaza. Building on GAPCo's on-going effort to re-envision this historic Brooklyn crossroads, the Ideas Competition will solicit new, creative proposals for Grand Army Plaza's re-design. Top submissions will be exhibited in the summer of 2008 at the Brooklyn Public Library or the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

To document GAPCo's progress to date, the existing context of the Plaza and the competition's goals and aspirations, GAPCo is creating a Briefing Booklet for competition entrants and they want your thoughts, ideas, hopes, frustrations and visions for Grand Army Plaza represented in this publication. The briefing booklet will quote from responses to this questionnaire. Please answer the following questions by December 20, 2007.

What about Grand Army Plaza currently functions well?
What existing problems could be addressed by a Plaza re-design?
What potential uses or opportunities for the Plaza might a Plaza re- design incorporate?
Please include your name, organization/affiliation, neighborhood and contact information in your response.
For more information about this project, please visit: http://www.reinventingGAP.org. Email [email protected] with questions or to be placed on the competition mailing list.

pitu

mod note: this post is *on tour* in different neighborhoods.
we miss the cross-posting function . . .

raw

I always feel like I'm going to die when I walk around Grand Army Plaza, as the traffic looks crazy dangerous. How frequently, if ever, are pedestrians hit by cars around Grand Army Plaza?

whatchuwant

They actually put up sidewalk/islands around where there used to be just lines.

I found this out the hard way when I was riding my bike while they were under construction- that was the only time I feared for my life "in the Plaza."

The other times I just rode as fast as I could.

I admit- I played Frogger.

wirenut

According to the public info sign posted in GAP by the PARKS DEPT in the early history of the traffic circle many pedestrians were killed by cars; there were no traffic control devices.

They posted a sign called the DEATH-O-METER and kept updating the number of people killed; kind of like the media does with Queens Blvd, "the blvd of death"