[Updated] Flatbush Avenue Bike Lane Petition Builds Momentum This Week

[Updates 12/7 & 12/8: We spoke to the petition’s founders and added in their story throughout]

Local Council Members take note: A petition for a 2-way protected bike lane on Flatbush Avenue (covering the eastern side of Prospect Park) is gaining momentum this week, with more than the 500 requested signatures to prove the project’s community support. [With more than 100 signatures coming in since we published this story yesterday.]

The proposed bike lane would be similar to the bike lane on the “affluent” western side of Prospect Park, based on the petition images. “[The PPW bike lane] yielded reductions in speeding, fewer injuries and crashes, and drastically lowered the number of bikes riding on the sidewalk,” according to the petition.

The petition was started by two Flatbush cyclists Cal D and Paco, writing under the alias Flyingchopstick. They created the petition through Transalt Campaigns, Transportation Alternatives’ do-it-yourself petition website. TA advocates have to approve the campaign, and may also give guidance before publishing, said a TA spokesperson. The petition is headed for the desks of Council Members Laurie Cumbo, Brad Lander, Mathieu Eugene, and Borough President Eric Adams.

Flatbush Avenue is already a hot spot for improvements, that stretch was named a “Priority Corridor” in the 2015 Vision Zero report.

“This bike lane is a personal dream,” Cal told DPC, who commutes on her bike between Brooklyn and Manhattan. “I don’t feel safe as a woman riding after midnight [when the park is closed],” she said, citing no alternate to Flatbush Avenue, where a cyclist has to avoid speeding cars, unpredictable dollar vans, and weaving buses.

Among many benefits, the petition states that the bike lane would increase safety for cyclists and pedestrians on the busy Flatbush Avenue corridor bordering Prospect Park, the Prospect Park Zoo, and Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.

— Safety Flatbush Avenue, between Empire Blvd and Grand Army Plaza, is a non-residential strip that is plagued by speeding vehicles because of an excessively wide roadway.

— For southbound cyclists riding to Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Flatbush, Crown Heights and other neighborhoods east of the park, the only safe option from Grand Army Plaza is an unnecessarily long loop through Prospect Park, which also closes late at night.

Read the entire petition here.

The goal, Cal and Paco said, is to continue building momentum and community input — attracting the attention of elected officials to engage the DOT for a traffic study to determine the best course of action. In the spring, Cal was a part of Transportation Alternatives’ ‘Safe Streets PLG’ campaign, where “everyone mentioned this stretch of Flatbush Avenue from Grand Army Plaza to Empire Boulevard.” And based on the petition, there are at least 670 people who agree.

[Updated 12/8] Paco rejects the popular “cyclists versus cars” narrative. “The only battle in this type of advocacy is between safety and danger,” he said. “There is no reason a person should have to fear being killed crossing the street, and our roads are designed in a way that even the most mindful alert driver can still too easily severely injure someone.”

We reached out to the council members for comment and will update the story as soon as we hear back.

Bike lanes are contentious issues in many Brooklyn neighborhoods, and their installations have often been hard-fought battles or bitter defeats. The Prospect Park West 2-way protected bike lane divided the neighborhood between some cyclists and drivers in a dispute that went all the way to the New York Supreme Court. In 2011, Brad Lander supported the lane, calling it “an enormous success” writes Streetsblog.

But not all lanes get a chance to prove themselves. Earlier this year, the DOT scrapped their proposal for a bike lane on Clinton Avenue in Fort Greene after an explosive reaction from community members. In May, Council Member Cumbo withdrew her support for the lane after what she called “the community’s overwhelming response” against the new bike lane, while stressing that she remains an advocate for safer streets. In August, the DOT killed another bike lane plan at East 38th Street between Avenue U and Avenue V in Marine Park after severe blowback from residents.

Cal hopes this bike lane will be met with less opposition than its counterpart on PPW partly because that stretch of Flatbush Avenue isn’t a residential street, and already serves many pedestrians going to the park, the zoo, and the botanical gardens.

“Everybody deserves to be able to go from point a to point b without worrying whether they’ll make it there alive,” said Cal, who is clearly passionate about street safety. Though she understands that there will be opposition, she believes that a lane would serve pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers.

What do you think about the bike lane proposal for Flatbush Avenue on the eastern side of Prospect Park?

Will this make the streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians?

Will it interfere with traffic, parking, or other concerns? Let us know what you think in the comments below.