That would be really unfortunate. It may need some management or redirection but shutting it down completely would be difficult.
And people in this thread are so fucking entitled about being able to ride their bikes and jog while smelling flowers & shit - it’s so one sided. I’m a Med student & volunteer with 2 elderly community centers and 1 special needs center, all in Park Slope. Every morning and evening, small buses and/or commuter vans pick them up and drop them back off at home. Grand Army and Eastern Parkway connects them to other centers and allows them to get to medical appointments and activities. On days where Grand Army is inaccessible, the extra commute time added is 44 minutes - without traffic.
Those streets literally connect to the other side of Brooklyn - a side that gradually becomes lower income and increasingly of color as you move down Eastern Parkway and/or Flatbush. And the more you move down these roads & their nearby neighborhoods, the less public transportation options there are. Buses, dollar/ commuter vans/ Ubers/ carpools/ etc are some peoples only way of commuting into the area. Not everyone can bike/walk from fucking Brownsville/ENY/Canarsie/ East Flatbush to Park Slope and downtown area.
OkBandicoot1438 t1_ivzt1ib wrote
Reply to Exclusive: DOT eyes Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza as NYC's next car-free space by alexd231232
That would be really unfortunate. It may need some management or redirection but shutting it down completely would be difficult.
And people in this thread are so fucking entitled about being able to ride their bikes and jog while smelling flowers & shit - it’s so one sided. I’m a Med student & volunteer with 2 elderly community centers and 1 special needs center, all in Park Slope. Every morning and evening, small buses and/or commuter vans pick them up and drop them back off at home. Grand Army and Eastern Parkway connects them to other centers and allows them to get to medical appointments and activities. On days where Grand Army is inaccessible, the extra commute time added is 44 minutes - without traffic.
Those streets literally connect to the other side of Brooklyn - a side that gradually becomes lower income and increasingly of color as you move down Eastern Parkway and/or Flatbush. And the more you move down these roads & their nearby neighborhoods, the less public transportation options there are. Buses, dollar/ commuter vans/ Ubers/ carpools/ etc are some peoples only way of commuting into the area. Not everyone can bike/walk from fucking Brownsville/ENY/Canarsie/ East Flatbush to Park Slope and downtown area.
There needs to be a middle ground.