The below is an opinion piece by Logan Reeves. Op-eds do not represent the opinions of Greenpointers or its staff. All community members are invited to share op-eds with [email protected], for a chance to be published.
New York City’s Open Streets Programbegan last year amidst a pandemic and a city in panic. The need to follow the then CDC guidance, of social distancing, made this program appear to be just what the city…
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Hi, I live on this block and want to flag that there were no barricades when the fire happened. They were destroyed/removed days before.
What an absolutely moronic perspective. Cyclists have been killed over and over again while being ticketed and blamed for the violations from a motorist oriented society that does not care to call these “accidents” what they are – negligence.
Shut up Nerd
The central narrative here is inaccurate. The street barricades were not in place at the time of the North Henry St fire (remember, they were taken by a guy in an Amazon truck on April 12 and not replaced since), and FDNY officially stated that they were on the scene quickly as usual (3 min 6 sec, much respect, quote here: https://gothamist.com/news/greenpoint-open-streets-battle-newtown-creek-brooklyn-car-culture).
Separately, blaming Exit 34 traffic on a few street closures also doesn’t match the reality – the exits & entrance ramps near the bridge have had heavy traffic for many years, and the traffic persists even when barricades are not in place (like now). If anything, reducing the number of cars passing through Driggs improves the quality of life of those residents.
But finally, what is the vision proposed here? Don’t change anything? Let a handful of individuals drive as conveniently as possible? As cities around the world move away from cars (Paris, but there are lots of examples), is NYC’s 2021+ future really more driving?
Why even publish this if you feel it is so inaccurate that it requires multiple contradictions to core arguments? You don’t have to publish false arguments just for the sake of balance…
As a resident of the block of North Henry where this fire occurred, I would first point out that at no point between FDNY engine 229 (Richardson between Leonard and Lorimer) and the location of the fire would a fire truck have encountered barricades. More importantly, it’s extremely callous to use a tragedy like this to further an agenda that is trying to deny pedestrians’ rights in favor of continued deference to motorists.
I’m concerned that this piece has been published when it clearly has factual inaccuracies. The part about the N Henry fire is blatant fake news, yet it was still published. The author is exploiting a tragic situation (the fire) for his own means and Greenpointers is knowingly publishing this fake statement.
So the entire argument here is basically “I don’t like them”