Discussion on Pier 6 Access Reveals Albany’s Stranglehold on City Traffic Control

By on July 8, 2011 1:18 pm in brooklyn bridge park, Government, News, Traffic

Yesterday evening’s discussion with City Department of Transportation representatives about DOT’s plans for improving pedestrian access and safety at the Pier 6 entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park culminated in a resolution by the Transportation Committee of Community Board 6 endorsing DOT’s plans, with some modifications, and with the further proviso that DOT plan for more comprehensive improvements. One surprising fact was revealed by a DOT spokesman. When asked why a red light camera could not immediately be installed at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and the BQE on-ramp, he said that the state had authorized the city only a limited number of such cameras, and that the city already had reached that limit.

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  • David on Middagh

    I would never have guessed our red light cameras depend on an Albany quota. But I’ll bet we could put up more if we paid out of general funds, am I right? Or is it not a money issue?

  • epc

    It’s not a money issue, it’s a corruption in Albany issue.

  • Ernie

    The number of red light cameras in New York City, and in other places in the State, is set by State law.

  • Andrew Porter

    How many Red Light Districts are we allowed?

  • JAFO

    It’s only the Red Light Districts with cameras, Silly.

  • David on Middagh

    I don’t see to whose advantage this restriction is.

  • davoyager

    Somebody’s gonna get killed crossing that on-ramp and the bean counters won’t even notice. Eventually they will demolish Palmetto park to make a grand entrance to BBP with an access tunnel under the BQE but those dollars are years away and I just made that idea up tonight. Shhh, don’t tell anybody..

  • T.K. Small

    I am sorry that I could not attend this meeting. This is an important issue that I am glad that people are considering. Every time I go to the park, I stopped at that intersection and watch the traffic for a few cycles of the light. There has never been one instance where the law was followed.

  • Ernie

    Found a NY Times article that stated the number in NYC was increased from 100 to 150 in April 2009. This February. a WCBS-Channel 2 report stated that “the City’s secret 150 cameras nabbed an an average of 2,741 drivers a day in 2010…”

  • EHinBH

    Those red light cameras make no sense. They should get rid of the yellow light if they are going to allow those… Because if you go through a yellow on a red light camera light, you will get a ticket in the mail.

  • Jeffrey J Smith

    Re: ebc-

    It a corruption EVERYWHERE issue. The state control is very
    wrongful. But if the city had sole control would the management be better?

    But beyond corruption the Quality of those in administrative positions has crashed.

    Thisis so because of the basic condition of our times; the quality
    of human (broadly speaking) material simply is no longer present for a functional society.

  • bklyn20

    @davoyager, actually, people have been whispering about Palmetto Park as an access point to BBP’s Pier 6 for quite some time. But I think it would be very sad to demolish one park for another when other alternatives could exist.. (Maybe it would be only partially demolish, but still…) Palmetto has a long-term neighborhood constituency and now presents itself as a less hectic children’s playground alternative to the Pier 6 playground. It also has a smallish dog run and a community garden, all well-used. There has to be a better way.

    .

  • davoyager

    I agree the loss of this small quiet park would be a tragedy, My kids and I have found it to be a wonderful retreat from the disappointment of Pier 6. BBP is proving too small, poorly designed and slow in coming to meet the needs of the borough. I have been sadly amused at the erosion of the soft artificial surfaces used in Pier 6. I’ve seen children gleefully excavate craters and I can only assume the designers needed housing in the “park” to pay to replace that cushioning under the swings every few years.
    The water park while tiny manages to be quite dangerous. The whole thing just seems very un-urban, unsuited for the gritty environs and inhabitants of our great metropolis and as an old timer I expect to see this grand vision slim down to just what works over the next 30 years and that will be more like Palmetto park today than all the phony glitz of BBP as has been built to date.

  • Melissa

    Couldn’t agree more, davoyager! The idea for the palmetto park tunnel was just to get them started thinking about safe ways to get people to the park. A starting idea. But the real truth is, if they can spend $5 million on the bridge for hotel guests at pier 1 to get to the Heights safely, you think they could spend the same for the thousands of parents and kids in south Brooklyn who risk their lives to get to the tiny but needed pier 6 features. Shows you who really matters for this “park”.

  • bklyn20

    Plaudits to Melissa!