Some Bay Ridge pedestrians (Image by Violette 79 via Flickr).
A car struck yet another person in Bay Ridge on April 1, this time near the intersection of Fourth Avenue and 86th Street – two thoroughfares that have recently proved treacherous for pedestrians – as elected officials and the general public debate over which measures will best mitigate danger and improve safety on our streets. Continue reading »
A flier from the Fourth Ave safety workshop. (Image source: NYCDOT).
As the NYC Department of Transportation unveils a series of traffic-calming measures for Fourth Avenue to mixed reactions, State Senator Marty Golden (R) and the police union are lobbying Albany lawmakers to nix a speed camera demonstration program previously approved by the New York State Assembly and supported by City Councilman Vincent Gentile (D).
At a March 21, meeting where city planners showcased the proposals, Bay Ridgites on both sides of the issue voiced strong opinions about the possible changes – which include narrowing a 13-block stretch of the busy thoroughfare from Ovington Avenue to 84th Street, as reported by Will Bredderman for Brooklyn Paper. Continue reading »
Image source: dominic bartolini via Flickr.
It looks like our pedestrian rage was fully justified.
Brooklyn Paper’s Will Bredderman recently used a radar gun to check out how many drivers are actually following 4th Avenue’s posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour.
The answer: Not many.
While most of the 28 drivers observed on a weekday afternoon stuck fairly close to 30 mph, only eight – less than one third, drove within the legal limit, with one driver clocked in at a whopping 68 mph!
Bredderman then repeated the same experiment at different times with similar results. Click Here For More, Including Why Drivers Speed In Bay Ridge
Click to enlarge.
The following is a press release from the office of Councilman Vincent Gentile:
BAY RIDGE – Do you have questions about your property taxes? Want to know how you can appeal them?
Councilman Vincent J. Gentile invites you to a presentation and Q&A on “How To Appeal Your Property Taxes”.
Have your questions about your property taxes answered by the Honorable Kirk P. Tzanides, Commissioner of the New York City Tax Commission.
Monday, February 11th at 7:30 PM at Our Lady of Angels Auditorium (7320 4th Avenue). Parking will be available in the OLA lot – you can enter the parking lot via 74th Street.
For more information, call Councilman Gentile’s office (718) 748-5200, extension 203.
City Councilman Vincent Gentile represents Council District 43, which includes Bay Ridge, as well as parts of Dyker Heights, Bath Beach, and Bensonhurst.
Image credit: Michael Cory via Flickr.
A livery cab driver is in serious condition after crashing his car into sidewalk scaffolding set up near a busy Bay Ridge street.
According to NBC 4, police say the car service worker lost control of the vehicle in the proximity of 79th Street and 4th Avenue yesterday at around 4:40 p.m.
The driver was reportedly taken to Lutheran Hospital [150 55th Street] in serious but stable condition. No pedestrians were listed as being injured.
New Years Eve normally presents the parents of small children with a limited number of choices for dining out, much less celebrating the approach of midnight with their smallest kin.
Fortunately for the young families of Bay Ridge and beyond, Uno Chicago Grill [9201 4th Avenue] will be holding its own shindig this December 31, albeit at a family-friendly hour.
This free event, which includes a balloon drop and ginger ale toast for the kiddies, happens at 7 p.m. – So while folks in Lisbon are kissing and wishing each other a “feliz ano novo,” you can ring in 2013 with the little ones!
For more details and updates on this parentally-empowering New Years Eve party, please check out Pizzeria Uno’s Facebook page.
Image source: NYCDOT.
A workshop to discuss the future of Fourth Avenue in Bay Ridge – which had been postponed due to Hurricane Sandy, has been rescheduled for Thursday, January 24, 2013. Continue reading »
Whoever had the foresight to lift one of these “No Parking” signs for the cancelled 2012 NYC Marathon may eventually have a collectors item on their hands.
This photo, which once again comes courtesy of David Tan, was taken along the race’s planned route in Bay Ridge on November 3, 2012.
To see more of David’s illustrious images, please visit his blog at dtan.blogspot.com.
Despite an announcement last week that estimated direct R-train service to Manhattan would return by the middle of December, the MTA is now saying restoration of the Montague Street Tunnel will take until the end of the year, as reported by NY 1.
The problem, officials say, is that repairs to electrical components damaged by salt water during Hurricane Sandy are taking longer than expected.
A Wall Street Journal piece by Ted Mann expands on the difficulty of refurbishing and replacing the archaic parts – often manufactured by long-defunct companies, which make up our century-old Subway system:
But other sections of the system are archaic. The Q, N and R trains that rumble beneath Broadway use some of the oldest equipment in the system, a spokesman said. Some signal equipment on the A line, meanwhile, dates to 1932, when the IND subway system first launched.
Since taking on leadership of the MTA this year, Chairman Joseph Lhota has repeatedly said that future capital spending on the system would include upgrades to less-than-sexy infrastructure, like signals.
Although R-train service in Manhattan was extended to Whitehall on Monday, the Broadway Local’s vital link to Brooklyn, at least for now, remains on the holiday wish list for Bay Ridge commuters.
Occupy FEMA? Chepe of Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Sandy “training” FEMA workers on Staten Island (Image source: Facebook.com).
More than a year after Occupy Wall Street first made international headlines by taking over Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, the activist group has reinvented itself as an effective disaster relief organization.
In an online article for news magazine the Nation, reporter Ayasha Guerin documents the relief work Occupy Sandy has been undertaking in the storm-ravaged Rockaways. Unbeknownst to many, a Sunset Park church within walking distance of Bay Ridge is serving as a crucial link in the Occupy supply chain. Continue reading »