#FREEBERRYST
What's Happening Here?
Senator Salazar, Assemblymember Gallagher, Council Member Restler, Council Member Guiteriz and their political base (Transportation Alternatives) are pushing the DOT to turn Berry St. into a permanent closure by redesigning it to be a bike boulevard. They claim Berry St. needs "traffic calming" despite not providing any evidence to the community. Compared to other streets in our community, Berry St is safe. They have not done a study and not one person has died on Berry as a pedestrian, cyclist or driver in the last 10 years.
They want to reverse traffic on some blocks, add bump outs that are not safe for emergency response, continue to use barricades, install planters that will block emergency delay as it already as in Jackson Heights. Furniture in front of peoples homes and hold events on Berry St. making it a destination spot (residents were told in 2020 Berry was not going to be used as a destination spot). Lie after lie over time, it is clear, two and half years later, politicians abused their power and privilege using the pandemic and North Brooklyn Parks Alliance to privatize Berry St.
North Brooklyn Park Alliance has been given exclusive control over a public street that people live on. They control where and when events are held there by applying for permits through the Mayor's Office. Residents never know when their lives will be intruded upon. They have renewed their Open Street applications since the pandemic and never consulted with the actual people rooted here every day. They are paid thousands of dollars a year for every street they close in our district despite failing to meet any decent standard of management.
Berry St. is an essential service that was taken away from residents and businesses. Fear mongering about safety and using baseless claims to attack residents is a strategy used by Transportation Alternatives, politicians, NYC DOT and their "partners" to close as many streets as possible especially ones that connect to parks. Their goal is to "demap" as many streets as possible even if our Seniors and residents lose accessibility to their homes, emergencies are delayed, small business lose revenue, trucks are forced to block intersections, etc.
We want to free Berry St. and restore our beloved street to its pre-pandemic state.
They want to reverse traffic on some blocks, add bump outs that are not safe for emergency response, continue to use barricades, install planters that will block emergency delay as it already as in Jackson Heights. Furniture in front of peoples homes and hold events on Berry St. making it a destination spot (residents were told in 2020 Berry was not going to be used as a destination spot). Lie after lie over time, it is clear, two and half years later, politicians abused their power and privilege using the pandemic and North Brooklyn Parks Alliance to privatize Berry St.
North Brooklyn Park Alliance has been given exclusive control over a public street that people live on. They control where and when events are held there by applying for permits through the Mayor's Office. Residents never know when their lives will be intruded upon. They have renewed their Open Street applications since the pandemic and never consulted with the actual people rooted here every day. They are paid thousands of dollars a year for every street they close in our district despite failing to meet any decent standard of management.
Berry St. is an essential service that was taken away from residents and businesses. Fear mongering about safety and using baseless claims to attack residents is a strategy used by Transportation Alternatives, politicians, NYC DOT and their "partners" to close as many streets as possible especially ones that connect to parks. Their goal is to "demap" as many streets as possible even if our Seniors and residents lose accessibility to their homes, emergencies are delayed, small business lose revenue, trucks are forced to block intersections, etc.
We want to free Berry St. and restore our beloved street to its pre-pandemic state.
Why Doesn't This Work ?
-Violates the American with Disabilities Act which protects seniors and the disabled.
-Car shares and Access-A-Ride have refused to pick up passengers in front of their buildings or drop them off.
-Delays emergency response.
-Burden to residents accessing their home. Residents continue to be harassed and even assaulted by Open Street users.
-Mismanaged non-ADA compliant barricades stay up past operating hours. Condemning residents to live in barricaded neighborhood 24/7.
-Conflicts with sanitation schedule.
-Diverts traffic to all the narrow one way streets. Cars and trucks must circle around requiring more fossil fuels be burned
-Created a series of intersections being blocked by trucks, delivering to mostly restaurants and bars, refusing to move barricades.
-Is not utilized by more than 2% of community; Majority of the time it's empty and not used for the purpose it exists.
-Creates unsafe conditions with bikes, revels, mopeds, e-bikes blowing through stop signs and going both directions.
-Barricades never secured during severe weather (heat waves, hurricanes, snow storms, freezing weather, etc.
-Open Streets is treated like a "destination" which brings partying and crowds outside peoples homes on the weekends and at nights.
-Berry St. is an emergency route.
-Data does not support the claim that Berry St. needs traffic calming infrastructure or was unsafe especially compared to other streets in the district.
The Current Situation
The proposal by the NYC DOT to permanently build closed street infrastructure. The proposal is not authored by or inclusive of the residents that live on Berry St. Their plan to close Berry St. permanently, add two-way bike lane, planters (will end up trashed), bump-outs, chokers in the middle of the block, add excessive signage, reverse traffic, remove parking, install pedestrian plazas, outdoor furniture etc. will compound the dysfunction created by Open Streets.
Truck blocking was not an issue prior to the closure of Berry St. Small business have reported up to 20% loss in profits since the Open Street program started on Berry St. Residents have been harassed, even in front of their children, for simply trying to access their homes. Seniors and the disabled have been particularly harmed because they are the most vulnerable and are not physically able to navigate the barriers to their homes.
We believe streets need to be designed and purposed with the intersectional commuter in mind not just the cyclist. The closure of Berry St. servers a very small portion of the total demographic of constituents in Williamsburg. Most people are utilizing the parks and waterfront. The politicians and DOT's desperation to brand the closure of a street as safe space to hang out is disingenuous.
Truck blocking was not an issue prior to the closure of Berry St. Small business have reported up to 20% loss in profits since the Open Street program started on Berry St. Residents have been harassed, even in front of their children, for simply trying to access their homes. Seniors and the disabled have been particularly harmed because they are the most vulnerable and are not physically able to navigate the barriers to their homes.
We believe streets need to be designed and purposed with the intersectional commuter in mind not just the cyclist. The closure of Berry St. servers a very small portion of the total demographic of constituents in Williamsburg. Most people are utilizing the parks and waterfront. The politicians and DOT's desperation to brand the closure of a street as safe space to hang out is disingenuous.
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Recent Events
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June 30, 2022 the Transportation Committee at Brooklyn CB1 hosted DOT's aggressive redesign of Berry St. Residents and small businesses rooted in the neighborhood for decades were disregarded as the DOT falsified community support.
No substantial evidence was presented justifying a permanent redesign of Berry St. as a two-way bike lane. In fact local politicians and the DOT have ignored 100's of complaints over the last two years and continue to ignore safety, environmental and emergency issues within their new proposal. Here is DOT Open St. Berry Presentation (starts at 3 hours 30 mins) |
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On August 26, Council Member Lincoln Restler has submitted a request to the DOT to extend the open street program to Lorimer Street.
If implemented, this would restrict traffic flow on Dobbin Street, Guernsey Street, Banker Street,