Remember the proposed bike lane on Ocean Avenue and the major plaza improvements at the entrance to Prospect Park at the corner of Parkside and Ocean Avenue? No? Well, it makes sense: it was approved five years ago and nothing happened.
And now the project won’t be finished until 2026 at the earliest, according to a report by ace scribe Dave Colon.
To recap: The Prospect Park Alliance, the Department of Transportation and the Parks Department are all working on a major redevelopment of Ocean Avenue on the east side of Prospect Park. the work, first approved in 2019involves replacing cracked and broken sidewalks, adding an eight-foot two-way bike lane and a spruced-up and unified entrance plaza on Parkside Avenue that will one day it houses a monument to the great Shirley Chisholm.
The project was supposed to be completed in 2021, but was delayed by the pandemic and given a new completion year of 2023 … until it was delayed again, this time due to new management requirements rainwater. The city is finally in the process of awarding a contract for the whole shebang — a shebang on which the next mayor can cut the ribbon.
Patience, they say, is a virtue. Unless you’re a dad who wants to take his 6-year-old on a safe trip to the park, I guess.
In other news:
- Yesterday’s big story: Mayor Adams is going to hire Randy Mastro, a former Giuliani vice mayor, to be the city’s Corporate Counsel. Another fun fact about Randy Mastro? He is the attorney representing New Jersey in its attempt to overturn congestion pricing. So, um, welcome to the administration that should help implement it? (NY Times with the bona-fide scoop, but the Post details added)
- Read about all the good things that happened when Rochester got rid of an urban freeway scar. (Bloomberg)
- Protest is an American value – although the Senator from Arkansas. Tom Cotton wants protesters beaten if they block the streets. (Fox News)
- Rest in peace, Hayalde Yitel ben Eliezer Wertzberge, taken yesterday by a driver at only 10 years old (Streetsblog, PIX11, NY Post). Meanwhile, there have been some setbacks Gothamistwho seems to believe that the car, not the driver, killed young Hayalde.
- The City Council held a hearing on plans to ban “non-essential” helicopter flights (amNY), and you know carbon tax booster Charles Komanoff had the perfect take (Carbon tax center).
- The city offer a primer on trash containerization.
- And by Crain made a City of Yes primer.
- Non-Jewish taxi drivers are driven out of business in Rockland County. (Shtetl)
- Wow, the posh people in the suburbs have it bad! (Wall Street Journal)
- The Post following ours story of the weekend about the arborcide in Kissena Park.
- And finally, our Polk Award-winning reporter Jesse Coburn was on the Long form podcast!
