-00,'03#3&",*/(/&84&7&3:8&&,%":"5#300,-:/1"1&3$0. Yo u r Neighborhood — Yo u r News® BrooklynPaper.com s (718) 260–2500 s Brooklyn, NY s ©2009 DOWNTOWN, PARK SLOPE & BAY RIDGE EDITIONS AWP/16 pages s Vol. 32, No. 19s Friday, May 15, 2009 s FREE $0145"3(&5 30(6&#*,&4 Issue $120 red-light tickets By Mike McLaughlin The Brooklyn Paper Police cracked down on rule-breaking bicy- clists in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill last Friday, issuing tickets for running red lights and then slapping offenders with additional summonses for minor infractions, including one bicyclist who didn’t have a bell. The drag- MEAN net snared 36 Streets bicyclists on Tom Callan Tom The battle for Brooklyn’s byways the popular DeKalb Ave- nue bike lane that links the two neighborhoods with Downtown Brooklyn. Bikers protested that they’re being prose- cuted for victimless crimes. Bess Adler The Brooklyn Paper / “I admit the red light was a red light,” said Gideon Levy who was busted on DeKalb Av- enue near the police precinct building at Clas- son Avenue. “But when I go through red lights, I always look to see if pedestrians and cars are 3TMMDKNEKNUD The Brooklyn Paper / Vanessa Francis and Matthew Solly were married at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Brooklyn Heights on Saturday — then coming. There should be a similar attitude as Bicyclists typically run the red light on promptly gave 4 train riders a thrill as the entire wedding party hopped a Manhattan-bound train. See TICKETS on page 15 Dekalb Avenue and Carlton Street. Planners: Let’s make history in Park Slope By Ben Muessig The plan, a decade in the mak- The Brooklyn Paper Civic group would triple the nabe’s landmark zone ing, calls upon the city’s Land- Brooklyn’s largest historic dis- marks Preservation Commission trict would triple in size — and to expand the existing historic dis- become the biggest in the city — trict — which includes the east- under a proposal unveiled last ern part of the neighborhood be- week by a Park Slope commu- tween Park Place and 14th Street nity group. 5)&(00% 5)&#"% 5)& — in three phases, first with a The Park Slope Civic Council swath of 1,350 buildings bound by is aiming to expand the neigh- Flatbush Avenue, Prospect Park borhood’s 1,975-building his- West, 15th Street, Seventh Ave- toric district to include more nue, and sections of Union Street than 5,000 structures that con- and Fifth Avenue. stitute nearly the entire neighbor- The first stage also calls for hood bounded by Prospect Park investigating landmarking all of West, Flatbush Avenue, Fifth Av- the buildings on Prospect Park West, Plaza Street, and Flatbush enue and 15th Street. Short Michael Michael Short Michael “The Civic Council recognizes Short Michael Avenue east of Sixth Avenue that the historical and architectural sig- were omitted from the historic dis- nificance of the entire Park Slope trict enacted by the city in 1973. neighborhood and seeks to forever After the Landmarks Preser- preserve its unique character and vation Commission investigates The Brooklyn Paper / The Brooklyn Paper / sense of place,” said the group’s res- The Brooklyn Paper / the first phase — a process that olution, which was approved unan- The Park Slope Civic Council wants to greatly expand the neighborhood’s historic district, a move that would protect genuinely historic structures, insiders estimate could take two imously last Thursday night. but also include plenty of run-of-the-mill properties. See HISTORY on page 13 More delays on the BQE "DSBTIDPVSTF State says repairs won’t start until 2020 Atlantic Avenue still crazy unsafe By Mike McLaughlin window” before it declines “Hopefully, we didn’t lose The Brooklyn Paper steeply. two years,” said King. “It’s very By Mike McLaughlin tober, 2006, after two cars col- — but no bystanders were injured State officials revealed on But 2020 — the shaky new difficult to be exact.” The Brooklyn Paper lided. in the latest crashes, and there Tuesday night that a colossal start date for the reconstruc- He cited the “smooth” 10- The so-called Avenue of Death “It’s really troubling to think have been no fatalities among renovation of the Brooklyn- tion — is 11 years away. year planning process to re- and Destruction is still living up about this treacherous spot,” said drivers or passengers either, Queens Expressway won’t Locals seemed nervous build the Kosciuszko Bridge to at least part of its name. Margaret Cusack, president of according to the Department likely begin until 2020 — about any delays on fixing in Greenpoint as an example An astounding nine crashes the Hoyt Street Association. “I of Transportation. nearly 30 years beyond the the decrepit roadway. of the endurance required in were reported at the problem in- do not walk at that corner be- The agency said that it is an- roadway’s original lifespan. “How did we lose two monumental infrastructure tersection of Atlantic Avenue and cause I don’t trust it.” alyzing the accident reports and The shocking announcement years?” John Dew, chairman projects. Hoyt Street between April 1 and Some of the smash-ups sent did not yet have an explanation for came as the state Department of Community Board 2, asked Referencing Winston May 4 — the same corner where automobiles careening onto the the burst of collisions — though of Transportation told Com- at the meeting. Churchill, King said: “We a bystander was killed in Oc- sidewalk — a harrowing sight See CRASH on page 11 munity Board 2 that repairs Officials explained the delay may be at the end of the be- to the deteriorating 1-1/2-mile simply: the project to rebuild ginning.” triple cantilever stretch under the highway between Sands Besides simply replacing the the Brooklyn Heights Prome- Street and Atlantic Avenue is failing interstate, King told the '-"4)#"$, nade wouldn’t start until 2020, awfully complex. audience at NYU-Polytechnic Mike Lipkin Mike two years after the 2018 launch The roadway includes 21 Institute in Downtown that the ".+64401=3'5+67;+6+6+)+381=841*(=8.++5'682+384,"6'375468'8/438.'88.+6+;+6+ '))/*+387'143-8./7786+8).4,81'38/):+39+(+8;++3 '3 '3*2/*)84(+6 983+;*'8',963/7.+*(=8.+&7.4;78.'88.+6+;+6+')89'11= '))/*+387'143-8.+7'2+786/5*96/3-8.+ 7'2+5+6/4*".+).'68(+14;6+:+'178.+7.4)0/3-3+;&*'8';/8.8.+",963/7.+*392(+67/372'11+68=5+ it announced last fall. bridges, crosses five subway project would try to improve 123 27 25 42 45 47 2 80 some of the glaring problems 21 7 27 43 8 54 tunnels, wraps around densely 22 48 That part of the roadway 9 9 13 4 11 1'8(97.:+ 1 19 19 was built in 1949 to last just populated neighborhoods, abuts motorists have experienced for /)07!8 +36=!8 1/3843!8 4968!8 4+6921 !2/8.!8 4=8!8 43*!8 +:/37!8 "./6*:+ 4968.:+ 40 years — though Peter King, the proposed Brooklyn Bridge years, like: the state director of the BQE Park and carries 140,000 vehi- • narrow lanes. Police provide real statistics for Atlantic Avenue crashes The Brooklyn Paper file / • no shoulder. The Brooklyn Papers The original story was based on sta- No wonder they’re called “New “We do not routinely give out the project, said it is still “safe.” cles a day. As such, it’s impos- The “Avenue of Death” is even tistics provided by the Department of York’s Finest.” ‘non-reported’ accident numbers,” he Transportation, which chose not to tell A DOT spokesman claimed that he said. more violent than we’d imagined. us about accidents without injuries or had not willfully withheld information The new numbers, while horrifying, Two weeks ago, we reported that with less than $1,000 in reported dam- from The Papers. were a relief to local activists. • near constant traffic. there were 123 accidents, including age to the cars involved. “It is our policy to only release ‘re- “We always said there were more ac- Later, he said that the road The cantilevered section of the sible to pinpoint a start date at three fatalities, along Atlantic Avenue But the NYPD provided us with statis- ported’ accidents,” said the spokesman, cidents than they indicated,” said Sandy from the river to Flatbush Avenue. tics on all the accidents — right down to Craig Chin, using the bureaucratic term Balboza of the Atlantic Avenue Better- But there were actually 583 crashes. minor fender-benders — on the notorious for “over $1,000” accidents or acci- ment Association. “Now we have the Why the discrepancy? strip that saw two fatalities in October. dents with an injury. proof.” — Gersh Kuntzman Margaret Cusack Margaret still has a “10- to 15-year Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. this time. See DELAYS on page 2 'FET4VQFSGVOEOPDVSFGPSDBOBMTUJOL By Mike McLaughlin the heirs of compa- The Brooklyn Paper nies that caused the The proposed federal clean-up of Cleaning the pollution in the first SUPERFUND the Gowanus Canal would not cor- place. rect the deficiencies of the aging city So-called “wa- Kate Emerson sewer system that dumps untreated ter quality” issues COUNTDOWN sewage into the foul waterway each Gowanus — like the city’s year, a top-ranking official in the failed system of Environmental Protection Agency dumping sewer that pours into the Gowanus every overflows into the nearest body of told The Brooklyn Paper. 55 year after heavy rainfalls.