What is the essence of Park Slope? The answer might be found on our very livable streets. They are our gathering place, where we meet our neighbors, help each other out, and share our strengths. Healthy street life encourages us to walk around, ride a local bus, and cycle. In the future, we’ll have to work hard to build on this asset, creating an even more engaging street and a more vital community. Civic News sought out six local leaders and advocates to learn how we, as neighbors, can accomplish that goal.
Our streets, our largest shared space
The concept of livable streets has many meanings simply because there are many ways of living. First of all, can a street accommodate the various needs and desires of the community? A truly livable street is one that efficiently moves people — because transportation is a primary purpose of streets — and creates a pleasant environment for those moving at a slower pace or even standing still. Our streets, our largest shared public space, need to be places where we all feel safe to travel, relax, play, and linger.
A sure sign that a street is living up to its full potential is when pedestrians can do anything — catch the subway or bus, shop locally, chat with a neighbor, play a game of tag, take a rest — without its transportation functionality compromising their experience. Unfortunately, streets are only so big. How can we make room for all the living we want to do on them?
To fit these many uses, we have to change the way we currently think of our streets, as storage facilities. Free, on-street private vehicle parking should be allowed only after we have made space for the essentials. We can increase safety and visibility at intersections by reducing parking at corners and building curb extensions that limit the distance between corners. We can encourage quiet, nonpolluting cycling by building a connected network of protected paths and providing abundant bike parking in on-street corrals. We can add amenities such as streetside cafes and pleasantly landscaped plazas for everyone’s enjoyment. We can do all this and more, but only if we have space. Just because someone has a metal placeholder — a.k.a. a car — does not mean they should be able to claim something that belongs to all of us.
We should all work toward a more equitable distribution of street real estate, because when a street is a place people want to be, neighborhood ties are strengthened and businesses benefit. Sponsor a block party or attend a Summer Street event to see how joyous a street can be when people are the priority. Encourage the Police Department to enforce moving violations so we are all safe on the street. Attend community hearings on proposed changes to street infrastructure to help shape streets that are functional and enjoyable. Your community will thank you!
— Joanna Oltman Smith is a full-time mother and local safe-street activist in Park Slope.
Make our public realm very livable and friendly
I am proud to live in a city that understands investing in public transportation and livable streets is a key to a strong economy, a foundation for broadly shared prosperity, and a sustainable future. Park Slope is one of the local centers of this kind of thinking, and sees a vibrant public realm as the foundation of a strong community.
Our streets and sidewalks are one of our most important public spaces. We use them every day to get to work and school. They are vital places of commerce for small business. They are where we meet friends, exercise, recreate, stroll, and enjoy our neighborhoods.
In Park Slope, it’s easy to get to know your neighbors because everyone spends so much time outside, even when there is 2 feet of snow on the ground. As a Park Slope resident for almost two decades, I’m constantly running into old friends (and making new ones) while on the street with my family and while at work in the neighborhood. Without a vibrant and safe public realm, these kinds of chance meetings would have little hope of occurring.
Many of the projects I have been working on while in office would further enhance the neighborhood. I am working with community groups to create pocket parks and small green spaces with places to sit and socialize. I am proud to have the opportunity to work with the Civic Council and Borough President Markowitz to plant more trees, protect the one we already have, and install enhanced tree pits that get more water to trees and reduce sewage runoff.
I would also like to see more events where we occasionally make streets into temporary public space. The Halloween and baseball parades on Seventh Avenue, the Pride Parade, and block parties are some of the best days in our community — and remind us of how precious our public space is.
Park Slope is a special place because of the things that make our public realm an extraordinarily livable and friendly place. Our community is doing a great job creating complete and livable streets that accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers. I want to continue to work with local residents, businesses, and other stakeholders to make local streets safer and more pleasant.
— Brad Lander is city councilmember for the 39th District, which includes Park Slope and many nearby communities.
Livable streets are what you make them
Livable streets are created by the people who live on them. During my tenure as borough president, this concept has guided much of what we have done for neighborhoods across Brooklyn, and of course in Park Slope.
[pullquote]An excellent primer on livable streets and our city’s policies is available from the city’s Department of Transportation. To download a copy of World Class Streets, head to the DOT’s website at www.nyc.gov/dot.[/pullquote]As the advocates for their residents, block associations are one of the best tools neighborhoods have to help realize their concept of a livable street. The block-association movement was born in Park Slope some 40 years ago, when homeowners and newcomers banded together to fight urban blight, graffiti, and crime. Today, in addition to sponsoring block parties, Brooklyn’s ultimate summer rite, block associations tackle neighborhood improvement issues, including greening efforts, historic preservation and contextual zoning. At our 10th Annual Federation of Brooklyn Block Associations event in April, more than 100 association leaders came together to meet with agencies and share strategies for making their blocks more livable.
My office has teamed up with block associations to advance local green efforts by co-sponsoring the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Greenest Block Competition. Over the past 10 years, Park Slope block associations have consistently received top honors for their efforts.
In 2004, we created the Neighborhood Beautification Fund, a program that allows blocks associations to apply for gorgeous wrought-iron tree guards on their residential streets. More than 35 Park Slope blocks have taken part in this program. In addition to protecting our precious trees and adding much elegance to a streetscape, these tree guards encourage local gardening efforts. The program is also good for the environment: Enlarging the size of the tree pit from 5 by 5 feet to 5 by 9 feet makes for healthier trees, decreases sidewalk damage caused by tree roots, and dramatically reduces polluted storm-water runoff into New York Harbor.
We have also been proud to partner with local residents to protect your neighborhoods. My office has supported, through the city land-use process (ULURP), the efforts of local groups to “downzone” your area, a process that helps ensure streets maintain consistent structures and maintain their character.
Never forget that livable streets are what you make them. Every neighborhood has a different vision of what they want their street to look like, and I am proud to be a partner in helping you turn that vision into a reality.
— Marty Markowitz has been Brooklyn borough president since 2002.
How do you want to experience your neighborhood?
What makes a livable street? It has a human scale: You walk or bike to the market, or stroll comfortably with your dog. Livable streets offer a sense of place and community. When people think of Park Slope, they think of brownstones, small shops, trees, and strollers — perhaps it’s a cliché to Park Slopers, but a lot of communities wish for such positive associations, so celebrate the livable-streets foundation you already have.
What I love about advocacy is that for any issue, there’s a group of people for whom it’s a priority, often to the point of expertise. A livable street is made up of many elements — activate that local network and see which of your interests commonly apply to livable-streets goals, so more people can contribute. In my neighborhood, we’ve got experienced advocates for open space, traffic calming, etc. Having everyone at the table is essential; after all, we’re not talking “transportation infrastructure” — this is about how people feel in their neighborhood.
Before you meet with city or elected officials, though, make sure you have consensus around a tangible platform. Develop a list of problems, solutions, and “wish-list” items. More street trees? Historic street lamps? An anti-graffiti campaign? City agencies, elected officials, and community leaders can then jointly develop an action plan. Be prepared to participate at every stage, and make sure to celebrate and thank the appropriate people for each step forward.
The stronger the network, the broader the knowledge base — and speaking with one voice makes all the difference. There hasn’t been a city transportation commissioner more supportive of the ideals of livable streets than Janette Sadik-Khan. Now is the time to think about how you want to experience your neighborhood — and now is the time to make it happen.
— Teresa Toro is a native Brooklynite, and served as Transportation Committee chair for Brooklyn Community Board 1 for eight years. She currently lives in Greenpoint.
It’s about finding a balance
The judgment of Donald Appleyard’s seminal 1981 book, Livable Streets, was simple yet startling: The hegemony of the automobile on urban streets was killing American cities.
Appleyard, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, studied San Francisco streets of similar geometry and design that varied in one significant way — the amount of traffic they carried. He learned that the social effects of traffic volumes were pronounced. People living on lightly traveled streets had more than three times as many friends on their blocks as did people on heavily traveled streets, and they tended to gather more frequently and spend more time on their blocks.
And he discovered that residents of light-traffic streets defined their “home territories” much more broadly than their high-traffic counterparts, identifying their entire blocks as home, not just their apartments or buildings.
His science makes sense on a gut level. Busy streets full of honking cars — whether speeding or gridlocked — just aren’t pleasant. They push us away, confine us to our quarters, or make us hurry along. Conversely, calm, quiet, well-balanced streets draw us in, make us want to linger, and encourage us to hail our neighbors from our stoops.
That, at its essence, is what the idea of the livable street is all about. It’s not about banning cars, but finding a balance and sharing streets equitably among pedestrians, drivers, cyclists, and transit-users. Initiatives like road diets, protected bike paths, dedicated bus lanes, and pedestrian plazas are all aimed at creating “complete streets” — safe and accessible for everyone.
While most of us likely don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what makes a street livable, we know one when we experience one. That innate sense came out in full force in the spring 2007, when the city’s Department of Transportation floated the idea of altering Park Slope’s Sixth and Seventh Avenues from two-way flow to one-way. Our community spontaneously rose up in united, visceral opposition, overwhelming a public meeting and flooding DOT with thousands of petition signatures in just a few days.
And that sense of what makes our streets livable is paramount to why so many of us consider walkable, bikeable, transit-accessible Park Slope such a pleasant and desirable place to live.
— Eric McClure is the treasurer of the Park Slope Civic Council and a co-founder of Park Slope Neighbors.
It starts with the individual
I grew up in a very different Brooklyn than today. It was the 1970s. FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD screamed the headlines. People were leaving the city in droves. Only us stalwarts were left behind to rebuild.
Our streets and sidewalks were extensions of our homes. We lived outwardly. We gathered on porches and stoops to socialize and play. We rode our bikes in the streets without helmets and played punch ball and kick the can. Cars were a relatively minor nuisance. These were the days before terms like road rage existed. Before iPods and Blackberrys, before even Sony’s Walkman. People paid attention. They interacted in surroundings they could not control. And people were more aware.
My parents taught me how to walk down the sidewalk. Youngsters were expected to yield the sidewalk to their elders. People held doors, helped neighbors carry packages, and may have even greeted strangers. We swept, even washed down our sidewalks. These were things we were taught at home, lessons reinforced at school and in the community. And if you stopped to chat with a neighbor, you’d often lean against their fence or join them on their stoop. You certainly wouldn’t hog the whole sidewalk to yourself. That would have been rude and inconsiderate.
So whatever happened to that sidewalk etiquette? In today’s jacked-in world, we carry our inward, private lives around with us and move from place to place, cut off from our surroundings. At least one legislator has suggested making it illegal to wear headphones while crossing the street. Whenever we have to start legislating common sense, we’ve clearly fallen down as a society. When did being “social” become so dependent on electronic devices? When did walking down a sidewalk become so complicated, fraught with obstacles, obliviousness, and unpredictable behavior? When did driving become more offensive than defensive?
Today, if we stop to smell the roses, it’s often to take a flower pic for our Facebook page. When I see how much time some people spend behind the camera, it occurs to me that they are capturing moments that they are not even a part of — voyeurs trapped inside electromagnetic bubbles of their own creation. What will it take to burst the bubble? Legislation cannot be the answer.
It starts with the individual, with the thought, with the awareness. It starts with sharing the idea with our family, friends, and fellow travelers. If we make our streets and sidewalks safer, more attractive, and more livable, they can once again become our greatest civic spaces where societies are formed and communities solidified.
Try this — the next time you go for a walk, enjoy the walk. Leave your iPod home and let your surroundings be your soundtrack. And don’t forget to smile.
— Craig Hammerman is district manager of Brooklyn Community Board 6, a Park Slope Civic Council trustee, and child of Brooklyn’s streets.
Now it’s your turn
Do you want to have a voice in this discussion? The Civic Council’s Livable Streets Committee has long been an advocate in the community for a more robust street life, from modifications around Grand Army Plaza to a more responsible future for Fourth Avenue and beyond.
We encourage you to join this conversation and shape your community. The committee and its recently founded Fourth Avenue–centric subcommittee forthonFourth meet every third Thursday morning of the month at the Brooklyn Lyceum.
(The next meeting is May 19, 7:30 a.m.) E-mail livablestreets@parkslopeciviccouncil.org for more information.
Photos by David Herman
from the Spring 2011 Civic News