Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Parks

Eyes on the Street: State DOT Squeezes Van Cortlandt Park Greenway

By Stephen Miller | Apr 21, 2015 | 11 Comments

The walls are closing in on people who walk or bike on the Van Cortlandt Park greenway in the Bronx. A state Department of Transportation highway construction project has narrowed the shared bicycle and pedestrian path to just four feet, while leaving adjacent car lanes and a golf cart path almost entirely untouched. The cause of the greenway pinch […]

Will City Hall and DOT Finally Commit to Car-Free Parks This Summer?

By Stephen Miller | Apr 21, 2015 | 12 Comments

Spring is here, and that means the loops in Central Park and Prospect Park are increasingly crowded, with cyclists, joggers, and walkers squeezed by rush-hour traffic. Will the de Blasio administration finally make the parks car-free this summer? Last year, DOT repeated the same partially car-free regime in Central Park that the Bloomberg administration introduced in 2013. While the loop north of […]

Creating Safer Streets Linking the South Bronx to Randall’s Island

By Stephen Miller | Apr 14, 2015 | 6 Comments

The South Bronx neighborhoods of Port Morris and Mott Haven are a stone’s throw from 480-acre Randall’s Island, but a ring of highways and industry separates residents from all that parkland. Now, the New York Restoration Project (NYRP) is working with local advocates and health researchers to create better walking and biking connections between the South Bronx and Randall’s […]

DOT Safety Plan for Corona’s 111th Street Faces Uphill Battle at Queens CB 4

By Stephen Miller | Apr 6, 2015 | 16 Comments

A dangerous street that Corona residents have to cross to get to Flushing Meadows Corona Park is in line for a serious traffic-calming plan, complete with a two-way protected bike lane [PDF], but local community board members are balking at the proposal. Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the largest park in Queens, is ringed by highways that cut […]

The New Plan to Connect Downtown Brooklyn to Its Waterfront

By Stephen Miller | Mar 18, 2015 | 6 Comments

Starting in the 1930s, entire city blocks in Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, and DUMBO were razed for expressways and parks. Today, this jumble of on-ramps and disconnected green space separates Brooklyn’s waterfront from its downtown core. A new public-private initiative, called “The Brooklyn Strand,” seeks to knit these disjointed areas back together. On Monday evening, Claire Weisz […]

Hudson Square Plaza Revamp Leaves Shared Space Street for Another Day

By Stephen Miller | Feb 6, 2015 | 16 Comments

A plan to convert a two-block street on the border of Soho and Hudson Square into shared space is going to sit on the shelf — for now. The Parks Department and the Hudson Square Connection Business Improvement District are splitting the cost of a $6 million plan to overhaul a triangular park along Sixth […]

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