Tonight the Borough President's office is holding the first meeting of the Traffic, Transportation and Safety committee of the Fourth Avenue Task Force. The committee will be headed by Ryan Lynch and Task Force Chair Carlo Scissura.
This committee is charged with directing the community-focused transformation of Fourth Avenue into a place that safely accommodates all road users: specifically pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers. This committee is also charged with directing all Task Force efforts relating to the MTA's subways and buses, taxi's and livery cabs, the Prospect Expressway and nearby Gowanus Expressway, and all other modes of transit. Anyone interested in joining this committee is welcome.
As a Fourth Avenue resident, I believe that all of the grand goals for the boulevard will be moot without a proper focus on safety. The street is a de facto highway, and few drivers respect speed limits or even traffic signals. As nice as it is to envision a livelier streetscape with sidewalk cafes, retail, and friendlier building facades, it all has to stem from a focus on making the experience of crossing and walking along Fourth Avenue safer.
Please add your voice, solutions, and ideas, to tonight's committee meeting. Everyone, even those who live or work no where near Fourth, can contribute. See you there.
If you can't make it tonight, there's also a Town Hall meeting scheduled for tomorrow night that will have a broader focus than the individual committees. It will be held at the St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Park Slope, 249 Ninth Street at 6 PM on Tuesday.