Although Anthony Weiner talked heavily about Health Care and Immigration reform at the last property owners meeting it’s a little out of our scope and we won’t touch on those larger topics. You can watch the whole video here. However there are some topics which you need to know about!
The Green Streets money still exists! After the crash and burn death of the project, we were under the assumption that Anthony Weiner allocated the money elsewhere or NYC DOT stole allocated it elsewhere, but no we were wrong! Here’s the deal.
The Green Streets money was allocated toward Gerritsen Beach through our federal gas tax dollars through our congressman. DOT did try to steal use it for other purposes but the congressman took it off the table until Gerritsen Beach can find a use for it.
Councilman Lew Fidler asked a very direct question about the federal warrant guideline that DOT uses to continuously deny requests for a traffic signal at Channel Avenue.
Congressman Weiner did say that the issue with DOT it isn’t a money issue but an issue of DOT of understanding some streets don’t cross and pedestrians still need to be protected. The federal warrant is only a guideline however it is used by transportation commissioners around the country as the end all say all document. It basically says there needs to be a certain amount of traffic on streets that intersect to qualify for a signal. For us – the outgoing Channel Avenue traffic would have to be just as heavy as and the north and sound bound Gerritsen Avenue traffic.
Lew offered up the idea that he and all the other elected officials get together with the congressman and DOT to offer up some of the money to use for a traffic signal.
Although Congressman Weiner jokingly implied that our chances are slim unless we want to do anything with a bike lane he did say YES!
There may be hope yet for a traffic signal at Channel Avenue. A 40 year battle may be coming to an end.
Why are Green Streets not being installed? It can really make a beautiful difference in neighborhoods! Some Green Street medians even have benches to enjoy the outdoors.
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And when a neighborhood has landscaping it adds values to the homes that live in it!
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To GB mom, because the plan severely restricts traffic on Gerritsen Ave, our only main artery in & out. If you live here you may know the beer is delivered by tractor trailor. The dog food is delivered by tractor trailor.This would not be possible with their plan, nor virtually any deliveries on the Ave. What about emergencies? The Bohack fire of March 68 completely isolated the old section for hours. No traffic in or out. With green streets a modern equivalant would be disastorous. It does not work here, we have no alternative to Gerritsen Ave. If you are a driver, how many times, honestly, have you yourself gone over the median stripes out of necessity? Channel Ave light….look at the map, 3/4 of GB traffic in & out passes Channel Ave.
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Ray just to be clear. Additional parking would of been made available on each section of green streets effectivly doubling our existing parking. A few trucks only zones would of been made in front of a few businesses, deliveries were a part of the plan presented.
It does not even matter – the plan is dead but the money is still there!
I love that Ray Schaefer chose beer and dog food as an example of the food chain that would suffer, if the tractor trailers that deliver to the beach were inconvenienced. Not to worry, in case of emergency, we could ask the Mayor to declare the old Danza property a helicopter landing site.
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I needle Ray Schaefer because he is a friend and comrade: Ray followed me as Post Commander of VFW Post 107, and, for those who don’t know, he and his wife, and Jane DeWitt, Katey & Tom Gavitt and others, and our elected representatives and myself, made frequent trips to the Planning Board hearings in Manhattan, for over a year, to halt the building of a 6-story apartment building on Knapp Street.
The Community came out enforce and spoke out against “Green Streets”, so we can only conjecture about how it would have affected our community. The more important issue now, in my opinion, is the confirmation of what everyone has questioned: What happened to the monies that were “earmarked” for the project? Congressman Weiner, at a Gerrittsen Beach Property Owners meeting–told our community–including those who could not attend a meeting, who are reading it on a website–that he still has about $ 250,000 that was put aside for Gerritsen Avenue.
He was also very open in his remarks about the bureaucratic obstacles our community has faced in the long sought quest for traffic light(s). Take time out to remind him, he promised us on April 7th, he would use some of that money to correct the problem on Gerritsen Avenue. The people in this community are tired of the juggling acts, and unless I had my bad ear turned towards our Congressman, I heard him say the magic word: “He has the ‘money’ to do it!” He also addressed the ridiculous objection we keep hearing about ‘Federal Warrants’ calling for thru streets, etc. What the people in this community are asking for is SAFETY on the avenue: Whether it be an amber flashing light when school is in session; a green light that may be turned red for crossing the avenue safely on the way to the park, and/or additional regular traffic light(s).
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Maybe the money that is “earmarked” for Gerritsen could be used to fix our courts. The $ could be used to fix the areas that have “lakes” after rain.
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That was discussed at the meeting specifically the old section.
At this point in our broke city, only emergency repairs will be made, and if we are loud enough, maybe a handful of others.
The money earmarked is not a lot of money (100 – 200k) and the streets do not need to be repaved – they need to be reconstructed. Problem is these projects take decades to plan and decades to construct.
Don’t hold your breath!
I’ll post what I posted in a previous post….
We need to keep the pressure on Councilman Fidler and Congressman Weiner regarding the traffic lights (which would not cost the city a thing), drawing up the plans for the restructuring of our streets (especially the Courts), and the very dangerous Belt Parkway erosion. If they can’t act on things directly themselves, they can certainly put pressure on the right people – we need to hold them accountable for at least that much.
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We have green streets in west palm beach. They are pretty and do slow traffic but the fire dept has difficulty navigating them. Our streets are much narrower than the Ave. Having seen those white lines all over the Ave., another solution would be better. I’m sure someone can come up with a less confusing design. Perhaps a narrow centermedium with trees and shrubs, widening the road, your sidewalks are extra wide, to allow for parking, bike path and 2 lanes for in and out traffic. Traffic lights or stop signs would be great. The Beach is getting prettier, keep up the good work!
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Green Streets is a dead issue, stop wasting time on it and move on to other pertinent topics:
1) Can Congressman Weiner and Councilman Fidler get together to do the right thing and pressure the appropriate people for stop lights to protect us and our children as we cross to the park? The money is there for the lights so there should be no excuse from the DOT.
2) Congressman Weiner and Councilman Fidler also spoke about fixing the streets/courts. Fidler tried to brush it away by saying “be careful what you wish for” implying that the courts might actually become worse after a fix – give me a break. The fact is that we need plans drawn up to have at the ready for when funding becomes available. Remember that when money DOES become available it will go to the projects that are ready to roll – there is no scrambling at the last minute. Who is responsible for drawing up these plans? Again, Weiner and Fidler promised to look into it and we have to hold them accountable.
3) Lastly, with the Belt Parkway erosion – ALL of are homes are in SERIOUS trouble. We need to keep an eye on our representatives and make sure they’re doing all they can about it.
That’s why it’s important to try and attend these meetings folks. Or, put your two cents in on this site; responses show our officals and agencies that we care.
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no traffic lights please. its going to cause grid lock at rush hour and force cars to use the courts to get out and in making it unsafe for our kids and take away the quietness that we all enjoy.
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Weather Green Streets is a good idea or not, the BIGGEST problem our area has is that the Community Board (15) does not have any transportation discussions. On almost every other community board in the city, the transportation committee of the board meets once every two months to discuss issues of transportation. DOT officials are invited to the table and the COMMUNITY decides what is good for it’s streets. In our community where DOT receives no input from the board, they try walking on egg shells. The only input they get is from the elected officials, and angry residents. They don’t know our particular issues which is why the Community Boards are supposed to deal with it on a community level.
Community Board 15 needs to start holding transportation meetings at least once every two months. Let the people speak!
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Can some of the money be used for a REAL dog park? We have so much land
how much can a fence cost?
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1 Lane in and out for all of Gerritsen Beach is horrible, Green streets was a horrible idea and adding more lights are a bad idea (although not as bad as the other 1st 2). It seems as though people think that by adding stop signs, restrictions on driving and everything else accidents will never happen again. I understand the reasoning and good intentions but accidents will continue to happen no matter what. Thats why they are accidents.
I think in the long run turning the entire Ave into 1 way streets will do more harm then good. I think we suffer through enough traffic in NYC that we don’t need to ARTIFICIALLY create it in our own neighborhood. DOT has unfortunately done that for us already.
Thank you DOT for reminding all of us that we truly live in a Democracy by entirely ignoring the people that you were supposed to be serving. It is good to see people care about where they live no matter what they think on these issues.
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I’m no friend of DOT, that’s for sure. In my opinion they made a mess out of traffic in this part of the city. Adding all those traffic lights and stop signs along Avenue’s T, S. and R. and so on, extended my commuting time from 20 minutes to 40 minutes for a 6 1/2 mile trip. It’s like these guys got nothing to do so they have to justify their jobs by keep adding more ways to slow traffic down.
I need to take exception with your opinions about Gerritsen Ave.
For many years I have seen too many examples of dangerous and inconsiderate driving along the Avenue. Cars and motorcycles easily exceeding 60 miles an hour along the long stretch down to the point. My proposal is to add numerous traffic lights along the strip that work in sequential timing so if you drove faster than 25 miles an hour, you would need to stop at the next light.
No one is expecting any kind of fix on the Avenue to eliminate all accidents, but we certainly can reduce them.
Traffic lights on the Ave is a small price to pay for safety, especially if it saves lives.
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Stop signs!!!
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No, stop signs.
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