flatbush avenue makeover?

belzjm · June 2009

this would be nice...

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/32/25/32_25_gk_flatbush.html

vidro3 · June 2009

kewl

[Deleted User] · June 2009

Sounds good to me... hopefully they start soon.

danny hellman · June 2009

What's with the bike parking lane in the "after" pic? They plan to take a lane of parked cars and turn it into a lane of bike racks? Meanwhile, bicyclists and motorists are supposed to share that one lane? Weird.

joncane · June 2009

Danny Hellman wrote: What's with the bike parking lane in the "after" pic? They plan to take a lane of parked cars and turn it into a lane of bike racks? Meanwhile, bicyclists and motorists are supposed to share that one lane? Weird.

The image with the bike parking lane is Park Place, not Flatbush Avenue.

danny hellman · June 2009

joncane wrote: [quote=Danny Hellman]What's with the bike parking lane in the "after" pic? They plan to take a lane of parked cars and turn it into a lane of bike racks? Meanwhile, bicyclists and motorists are supposed to share that one lane? Weird.

The image with the bike parking lane is Park Place, not Flatbush Avenue.

Yes, I am all too familiar with that intersection. I still don't understand why a bike lane wouldn't be infinitely preferable to bike parking.

The "after" pics make it look like the improvements will consist of bike racks and outdoor seating, at the expense of parked cars. I can see why the businesses would salivate at the idea of outdoor seating, but unless Flatbush Ave's four lanes of bumper-to-bumper, exhaust-belching autos are dramatically reduced, I can't see how eating outdoors would be anything but nauseating.

sweet tea · June 2009

i agree with you about eating on flatbush, but the folks i see eating at the burrito place on prospect seem to disagree, so :shrug:

danny hellman · June 2009

Why not enjoy a burrito on the shoulder of the Cross Bronx Expressway, while you're at it?

karl the druid · June 2009

[edited: for aesthetics]

belzjm · June 2009

people eat in outdoor cafes all over manhattan (broadway, meatpacking district, 9th avenue in hell's kitchen) on MUCH more congested streets than flatbush.

as they do all over europe.

why are some people in brooklyn so provincial? this isn't the countryside.

danny hellman · June 2009

belzjm wrote: people eat in outdoor cafes all over manhattan (broadway, meatpacking district, 9th avenue in hell's kitchen) on MUCH more congested streets than flatbush.

as they do all over europe.

why are some people in brooklyn so provincial? this isn't the countryside.

I'm having a tough time picturing any outdoor cafe in Manhattan adjacent to a roadway as congested and noxious as Flatbush. Maybe around Lincoln Center, but I try to avoid eating anywhere near there. Most of the outdoor dining I've done in Europe happened in sleepy piazzas or quiet sidestreets with minimal traffic. Outside of the West Village, I can't think of any place in NYC that could offer a comparable experience.

Meanwhile, Flatbush (between the bridge and the park, at least) is a smog-laden, butt-ugly trench filled with some of the nastiest driving imaginable. The intersection of Flatbush and Fourth Ave has to be one of the most Hellish spots in the city; a nexus of vehicular mayhem that pedestrians are lucky to survive. Flatbush needs a LOT of work, starting with some serious traffic calming.

belzjm · June 2009

yup. and the point of the post is about just that...working on flatbush.

i don't find flatbush from about 5th up to the park nearly as dreadful as you describe. certainly not picturesque, but not so horrible that a few trees and some streetscaping wouldn't help.

i'd venture to guess that the sheer density of manhattan would make for a more "noxious" environment for eating outside than anywhere in brooklyn, but i see sidewalk cafes all over in manhattan. i think most of the main thoroughfares in manhattan probably see a lot more traffic than the area of flatbush we are speaking about.

meredithb · June 2009

If the police actually, and on a regular basis, enforced the no parking between 4PM and 7PM on Flatbush and especially up at the kidney dialysis place near Sterling, and the check cashing place near Bergen, perhaps the traffic would move?

Also start cracking down on those illegal dollar vans that drive like maniacs. Sure, some dollar vans are legal, but it seems anyone with a van can just start honking his horn and picking up people and the police do not care.

Now if I am seeing all this "chaos" why can't the police?

booklaw · June 2009

The dollar vans seem to take particular pleasure in playing the "how close can we come to wiping out the damned bicyclists" game. They are really scary... even more than buses.

danny hellman · June 2009

I want the dollar vans to die.

meredithb · June 2009

I want the police to actually do their job 24/7.

That means not parking in the bus stop on Flatbush Avenue at 8AM so that your fat ass can go to Bergen Bagels.

j0518 · July 2009

The dollar vans die the day underserved neighborhoods have as many good ways to get around as everyone else does.

I just wish the dollar van guys exercised a wee bit more safety on the streets. I understand why they're there, though.

I'm all for a solid re-thinking of Flatbush and don't mind sidewalk eating there. What I do mind is rents so ridiculous that so many storefronts are empty. I mean, what the hell will ever become of the Bergen Tile space? How long has "Big Daddy" sat empty?

meredithb · July 2009

It's the illegal ones. I have no problem with the dollar vans that are livery, licensed and, hopefully, insured. But it seems like anyone and everyone with a passenger van is a dollar van. Now if I'm seeing it, why aren't the police?

flatbush avenue makeover?

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