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CarFreeBedford, the site dedicated to removing automobiles from the main stretch of Williamsburg, has put up some pretty new renderings.
The plan calls for the complete banning of automobiles on the stretch of Bedford Ave starting at Metropolitan Avenue and passing through and ending at McCarren park. The cross streets would be left open to cars and trucks in order to allow for necessary deliveries. The current traffic as well as the B61 bus will be rerouted to parallel avenues including Driggs Ave and Berry St. Emergency vehicles will continue to have access to Bedford Ave.
From what we've heard, the plan is still very much a pipe-dream, but it'd be fun if it happened. [Via Gowanus Lounge and Streetsblog.]
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what's the point of all the small grass patches- latrines for hipsters' dogs??
yeah, let's make it even more shopping mall like.
bedford is dead - fuck it, let 'em have it.
i don't really get the uggs reference...aren't tourists and murray hill/upper east siders the only people still wearing those?
Uggs aren't a Williamsburg thing. Vintage slouchy boots? Yes. Uggs? Not so much.
Cobblestones are bad for bikes. And so are buses, which will pretty much wreck the bike path on Berry. Who is this good for? Shoppers?
Fuck em is right. Let Williamsburg burn for all I care. The hipsters will just let that grass go too shit just like that whole neighborhood.
I was photographing billyburg last week and most of the hipsters were wearing uggs... i wanted to smack em all.
Why is it that white people are always trying to get cars banned from different sections of the city. Last week it was "Lets take the cars off 34th in Manhattan and make a loop light rail like OMG!", this week its Bedford.
But 10 years ago I could have parked my beater ford on the steps of City Hall and nobody would have given a shit. Nowadays it seems like there's a concerted effort to beat the everliving fuck out of anything that can be considered 'fun' or 'mildly dangerous' from all corners of NYC.
NYC is supposed to be fun and mild-to-severely dangerous. That's what's made this city great in the past and the sole reason why this town has produced the cultural contributions it has.
But lets trade that all in for beaver ear hats and milquetoast living. Hooo-fucking-ray.
When is this idea going to die? I live on Bedford and me and most of my neighbors think this is a dumb idea. don't make bedford into the santa monica 3rd street promenade.
dont really understand the design, but Its kind of funny that the car service sign says car free brooklyn on it.
Why is it that white people are always trying to get cars banned from different sections of the city? (If you have any doubt at the racial charging of this fact, check out the rendered preview pics). Last week it was "Lets take the cars off 34th in Manhattan and make a loop light rail like OMG!", this week its Bedford.
But 10 years ago I could have parked my beater ford on the steps of City Hall and nobody would have given a shit. Nowadays it seems like there's a concerted effort to beat the everliving fuck out of anything that can be considered 'fun' or 'mildly dangerous' from all corners of NYC.
NYC is supposed to be fun and mild-to-severely dangerous. That's what's made this city great in the past and the sole reason why this town has produced the cultural contributions it has.
But lets trade that all in for beaver ear hats and milquetoast living. Hooo-fucking-ray.
as a 14 year Northside resident, I have to say this is dumbest thing I ever seen? Screw you, ya inept 3d Euro trash artist. I'm not walking another block to wait for the bus so bland vegan cafes can have more tables outside.... why are euros so stupid.... is it the water or something.....
those green patches of "grass" are some pretty half assed design.
I, personally, am all for this idea, along with nearly ever other pedestrianization proposal we have seen not only on Goth but on Curbed, Streetsblog, Gowanus and magazines.
Clean air and cars don't mix, livability increases when streets are pedestrianized, plans like this actually get people out of cars, this plan can have a different-textured bike lane, and it's about time we started thinking of the automobile's days in New York as numbered.
Everyone over there acts like its Boston, might as well look like it...
The Bedford Ave Ped Crowd just plows in front of (slow-moving) cars anyway, almost daring them to run them over, in the middle of a street, without looking. OK so you're sooo much better than we Brooklyn car-owners. I'm going very slowly and watching out for you, and you give me That Face? So snotty.
I don't get the Euro thing....what is the American way then? Build a highway over everything...what's so bad about a car free street?
I think people seem to have forgotten that hipsters don't live off the Bedford stop any more. Seriously, check who's getting on the L train there in AM rush hour. The hipsters all moved to the Morgan stop a couple years back.
I was photographing billyburg last week and most of the hipsters were wearing uggs... i wanted to smack em all.
Edex doesn't know the difference between turkey or chicken either.
by the way, nice use of the hipster-derived "billyburg". all this pent up anger, jealousy or whatever is really making you sound like a douche. best of luck with that self esteem deficiency.
first, it's "fewer" uggs. second, they're warm, people.
Yessssssss - Bedford Ave is for metrosexuals, Long Island fashionistas, and post-sorority girls. Lorimer-Morgan has the same range of rents, but vary in degrees of "HIPNESS" HIP OF MH TYY GOD PBR AND SKINY JEANS AND GRAFFITI SHOWS
Lets do it so that my loft can double its value.
Green grass in winter. So what is that Astroturf?
Restrict the access of private cars like Fulton Street Mall.
Um...grammatical note. It would be "FEWER Uggs" not "LESS Uggs." If it's a quantifiable entity--for example, a specific number of tacky boots--it would be "fewer." If, for example, it were a non-quantifiable entity--say, the amount of bullshit spewed forth by the Ugg-wearing, Billyburg irritants in question--it would be "less." Consequently, "fewer uggs, less bullshit!" I will run for Senate with that as my slogan. In the meantime, I will slink back into my Grammar-Nazi cave.
#18 is a chicken head jive-ass turkey... your hate-mail only fuels my love for people like you... keep it comin', loser.
I don't get why the residents are so opposed to the proposal... Bedford has excellent access to the L, and is in a somewhat traffic-choked area.
Likewise, property values in the area would *skyrocket* if something like this were put into place.
andrew:
people hate gentrification. not because it beautifies a particular area, but because they'll be inconvenienced when their rents go up. It's called being selfish.
These renderings are ugly as hell. Would look a lot better if it was all grass and some trees. There are pavers which allow grass to grow but still can be driven on by emergency vehicles, etc.
Personally I'd rather see a stoplight by the corner where Berry, N14, 15, and Nassau intersect. Or, maybe a couple of stop signs to replace current "pedestrian crosswalk" signs (which are a joke) and create more 4 way stops. But I guess that wouldn't fly because it would actually benefit people who didn't live off the Bedford stop.
this is lame. those grassy patches are going to be filled with dog shit in due time.
i like how the grass paths will be done before 'ikon ' and 'aurora' are.
NO NO NO NO! Have you guys learned nothing from the failures of 70s "urban renewal"? Listen, I HATE cars in NYC, and I really love it when there's a holiday and there are dramatically fewer of them. But look at, say, State Street in Chicago, which converted to a pedestrian mall in the 70s or early 80s--and put every retailer on the street out of business. It was a disaster. Finally in about 95 they re-opened the street to traffic, and it was like a new lease on life--the street was instantly more vibrant. Still, despite all sorts of money spent (new main library, parks, streetscape stuff, etc.) it has still only partially recovered. (Both Sears and Toys R Us were lured to the street by Daley, and both are gone; Carson Pirie Scott just announced they're closing, etc.) And look at Minneapolis! What a disaster pedestrian malls are there. The problem is, you take away the cars and the retail dies. It's been tried, and it has resoundingly failed. Better idea: Charge $20 to take a car into Manhattan.
news for you, boberson: NYC 2007 isn't Minneapolis 1979. time to update your curriculum, homey. pedestrianizing selected streets in nyc would be a huge boon for the economy, the environment, and quality of life.
btw, is retail dying on stone street in lower manhattan since they transformed it from a needle-strewn parking lot into a pedestrian-only restaurant zone?
how about that little willoughby plaza in downtown brooklyn? was it a better public space when it was filled with illegally parked cops or is it serving a higher purpose now in providing office workers and shoppers with a place to sit outside during the day?
broadway should be car-free.