Major Safety Upgrades Planned For Kensington & Windsor Terrace Streets; Hundreds Attend Meeting With DOT Commissioner

For parents and other neighbors who say they frequently feel as though their lives are at stake while navigating area roads fraught with short crossing times, speeding cars, unsafe turns, and more, the major safety improvements presented by the city Department of Transportation at PS 130 Thursday night were met with huge sighs of relief – as well as calls for those changes, and more, to come quickly to a neighborhood still reeling from the hit-and-run death of a 14-year-old Mohammad Naiem Uddin.

At the meeting organized by Councilman Brad Lander, DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and other officials met with neighbors who have, for years, been pushing for safer streets in our neighborhood – and, in the wake of Naiem’s tragic death at Caton Avenue and E. 7th Street in November, as well as the impending opening of PS/IS 437 in September 2015, the city finally seems poised to implement much-needed improvements.

“We feel very passionately about this because when someone is hit, we think that could have been us, our loved ones – our kids walking home from school, our mom walking to the grocery store,” Lander told the  crowd of a couple hundred people, including Naiem Uddin’s family, representatives from the offices of Assemblyman Jim Brennan and Councilman Jumaane Williams, PS 130 Principal Maria Nunziata and other school officials, Community Board 7 members, officers from the 66th and 72nd Precincts, and other area leaders. “It’s very personal, and we feel very vulnerable on the streets.”

Both Lander and the DOT commissioner gave their condolences to the Uddin family, as well as stressed the importance of having them involved in this process.

“Their bravery and ability to turn their grief into positive change is inspirational,” Trottenberg said.

The changes that the DOT will implement, all of which can be seen on the DOT’s website, range from curb extensions to making streets one-way (including E. 7th and E. 8th near Caton Avenue) and increasing time for pedestrian crossings, among a slew of other things. Some changes have already occurred, including a new stop sign being installed on Ocean Parkway, across from PS 130 and by the Fort Hamilton F/G subway stop.

Additionally, speed bumps have been approved (and will soon be installed) at Albemarle Road, between McDonald Avenue and E. 2nd Street; and Albemarle Road, between E. 4th and E. 5th Streets.

The upgrades, most of which are expected to be finished by the spring/summer of 2015 or before, include:

• Curb extensions at Caton Avenue E. 7th and E. 8th Street.

• Reduce Caton Avenue to one lane in each direction from Coney Island Avenue to Ocean Parkway.

• Increasing pedestrian crossing times at Caton Avenue and Ocean Parkway.

• Reducing the speed limit to 20 mph around the incoming PS/IS 437 (Caton and E. 7th Street) as well as PS 230 (1 Albemarle Road).

• Convert E. 7th Street to a one-way northbound road from Caton Avenue to Kermit Place.

• Convert E. 8th Street to a one-way southbound road from Caton Avenue to Ocean Parkway.

• High visibility crosswalks and additional school signage around PS/IS 437.

• A crossing guard stationed at PS/IS 437 (something which the DOT and Councilman Lander’s office have requested, but which still needs to land the go-ahead from the NYPD).

• Upgraded signage warning drivers that they are nearing PS 230.

There are changes that the DOT is looking into – but which are not definite. These include:

• Putting stop signs/traffic signals at: Caton and E. 8th Street, McDonald Avenue and Terrace Place, McDonald Avenue and Seeley Street, 19th Street and Seeley Street, 20th Street and Terrace Place, Vanderbilt Street and 20th Street/E. 3rd

• Additional pedestrian crossing time at E. 7th Street and Caton Avenue, Albemarle Road and Dahill Avenue, and Dahill Road and 12th Avenue.

• Speed bumps around the new PS/IS 437 area, including E. 7th and E. 8th Streets and Kermit Place.

Other projects will be implemented, but not in the immediate future, the DOT said. These include:

• Curb extensions at McDonald Avenue and Church Avenue.

• Pedestrian island at Ocean Parkway and Church Avenue.

Following the DOT’s presentation, numerous neighbors lined up to address the DOT. While many had kind words to say about the presentation, some also urged city officials to reconsider some of the impending proposals, as well as add other upgrades to their list of changes.

PS 230 Principal Maria Della Ragione asked that the DOT not implement signage indicating that vehicles cannot park around the school from 7am to 4pm, stressing that students then would no longer have the parked cars as barriers between themselves and speeding vehicles and instead would be subject to cars not heeding the regulations.

“People will be able to pull in and out,” the principal said. “We have 7-4 no parking for the lower school, and nobody pays attention to that. Now we have a buffer of cars that protect our students during dismissal and arrival.”

PS 130 parent Meema Spadola urged the DOT to also consider safety upgrades on Fort Hamilton Parkway.

“People exit the expressway, and they’re in the mindset that they can fly along at 40 and 50 miles per hour,” Spadola said. “I see people come flying off, and they zip onto Fort Hamilton Parkway and do not slow down.”

PS 230 PTA President Laurie Torres said additional traffic signage telling drivers to slow down around PS 230 is needed immediately.

“We need the signs now – we really can’t wait any longer,” Torres said. “Doest there need to be another fatality, God forbid, for signs to spring up? This has been years we’ve been asking for this.”

Rob Viola, a city planner with the DOT, told Torres that “things like signage will move faster.”

A number of speakers stressed that large trucks frequently travel down Caton Avenue at far greater speeds than is legal. Additionally, because Caton is a local truck route, only trucks with a beginning or ending point in Brooklyn are legally permitted to use the roadway – something that neighbors said drivers consistently flout.

“I have a 2-year-old who goes to a program at E. 7th and Caton, and we’ve nearly been barreled down numerous times,” one neighbor said. “…There’s a problem with crossing there – and a serious speeding problem there. At the corner of E. 5th Street and Caton, there are huge backups of cars – there’s a lot of danger on that corner… Can you not make that area a local truck route? I worry about my son getting killed one day.”

Another neighbor asked the DOT to also consider safety improvements at Coney Island Avenue and Caton Avenue.

“It’s a major road to cross if people are going to the Parade Grounds, and students will often go there,” he said. “One easy thing to do is put the leading pedestrian interval (additional crossing time) at Coney Island Avenue and Caton.”

The final speaker was Naiem’s sister, Rabia, who told the DOT that the family “wanted to ban turns completely at E. 7th and Caton.”

“We can look into that,” Viola, from the DOT, told her.

What do you think of the DOT’s plans? Are there other changes you’d like to see happen in the area?