… but a clogged basement?
Kings Highway, near the corner of Ocean Avenue.
Archive for the tag 'kings highway'
Photo courtesy of PEDS.org, via Flickr
Kings Highway and Ocean Parkway are two major Southern Brooklyn roadways to soon be fitted with pedestrian countdown signals.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that 1,500 of the signals are being installed across the city beginning this month. The countdown signals use LED lights to display the number of seconds remaining before the light changes and pedestrians lose their chance to cross the street.
According to the Brooklyn Eagle, Ocean Parkway from Park Circle to Sea Breeze Avenue, and Kings Highway between East 22nd Street and East 98th Street, will feature the new signals.
The city said the countdown will reduce the number of pedestrians in the crosswalks during the “Do Not Walk” signal, and will also reduce the high rates of pedestrian involved accidents along these corridors.
The countdown signals were also a component of the DOT’s “Safe Streets for Seniors” program, which identified intersections that have higher accident rates among pedestrian seniors. Sheepshead Bay is a test site for the program, which targets corners along Ocean Avenue and Coney Island Avenue.
Following the first round of 1,500 intersections, the DOT will roll out the new signals along other corridors where need exists.
Another beautiful postcard being auctioned on eBay, this time depicting a Flatbush stretch of Kings Highway, looking south towards Gravesend. It was mailed and postmarked in 1930, meaning the illustration itself is probably from the late 20s.
A stack o’ stickers and a beer on me if anyone can identify the intersection and get a present-day photo of approximately the same angle.
Photo and tip by Arthur Borko
When Walgreens bought up the New York City-based Duane Reade chain in February, the growing corporate giant said there were no immediate plans to close any of the branches. But we knew better, and publicly worried that the number of stores that competed with their new sister branches would cause the company to shutter locations.
Well, six months later and that fear is becoming a reality. The corporate overlords are starting to cut back on redundant services. The Kings Highway Walgreens branch near Coney Island Avenue is now shuttered. Presumably because it competes with two other pharmacies with the same ownership – one across the street and the other on Kings Highway and East 14th Street.
A subway operator failed to search adequately for the body of a commuter that fell between cars, clearing the way for 10 more trains to run it over before being discovered, a report from the New York Post reveals.
The incident occurred on March 28 at the Kings Highway station of the N train, in Gravesend.
Here’s the story from the Post:
The tragedy unfolded as Arabell Lin, 25, who has a prosthetic right leg, was walking between the cars of a Coney Island-bound N train on March 28.
After she fell, she hit a device on one of the cars that triggers the emergency brake when the train encounters an obstruction.
The operator, whose name was not released, got out of the cab and spent seven minutes walking up and down the track, looking under each car for whatever caused the train to stop.
Then the operator climbed aboard and continued the trip.
A car and FDNY truck collided on Kings Highway and East 12th Street just minutes ago. A reader turned up on the scene shortly after the accident and couldn’t tell us who hit whom, or if the truck was on its way to an emergency. He said there appeared to be liquid on the ground. Looks like everyone involved is safe and sound.
UPDATE: We’re told this accident is causing major traffic backups.
Got any additional information or photos? Send it to us!
Photo by Ray Johnson
After months of complaints from residents and business owners, the Sanitation Department is adding corner litter basket collection along Sheepshead Bay’s commercial streets, according to Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz’s office.
Beginning July 1, Kings Highway, Avenue U and Sheepshead Bay Road will receive extra attention from the department.
“Not only did the overflowing corner baskets look awful, but they were a magnet for additional trash and an open invitation for vermin,” Cymbrowitz said in a press release. “It was getting so bad there was hardly a corner that was spared from this urban blight, and adding insult to injury, the mess would frequently sit on the corner for several days until the regular collection truck came by.”
Last July, Sanitation Department officials ended regular pickups of public trash cans, which happened as often as two or three times a day, seven days a week. Instead, trucks collected during their residential drive-bys, which occur about twice a week.
The additional service announced by Cymbrowitz’s office won’t restore that frequency of service, but does promise improvements. In addition to the residential drive-bys, basket trucks will pick up from Avenue U, Kings Highway and Sheepshead Bay Road twice a week. Residential trucks will also devote a portion of their shift solely to basket cleanings on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Business owners say the cleanup will be an improvement, but doesn’t go far enough.
Kings Highway businesses got a measure of relief from the Department of Transportation, which added an hour to the time limit of meters along the busy commercial strip.
The Kings Highway Business Improvement District championed the issue back in April, sending letters to the DOT requesting the meters be changed. They argued that shoppers need at least two hours to visit multiple stores and do their shopping. One-hour muni-meters installed six weeks ago just didn’t give enough time, and it was hurting businesses, they said.
“Our patience and persistence paid off because shopping, browsing and making multiple purchases at multiple locations cannot be accomplished in one hour,” Kings Highway Business Improvement District Executive Director Phil Nuzzo told Courier-Life.
The change to two-hour limits will take effect by the end of the summer.
Courtesy of Lisanne Anderson
From Courier-Life:
It’s official: the city has stopped picking up garbage.
A Sanitation official admitted this week that it ended regular pick-ups of public trash cans along commercial strips last July — instead only picking up the trash when trucks making residential runs drive by.
Now, pick-ups that occurred “as often as two or three times a day, seven days a week,” said Ignazio Terranova, are only happening once or twice a week.
It’s clear the city is not going to help us with garbage and litter in Sheepshead Bay. It’s time to start considering more creative solutions, whether that be teams of volunteers, or removing the cans, or what-have-you. With garbage in the streets, the neighborhood’s economy will stall and housing prices will also be hurt. Let’s not allow it to reach that point.
What’s your smart idea to keep our streets clean?
That's pretty. (Photo courtesy of Atomische • Tom Giebel via Flickr)
It’s no secret that parking is a huge problem along Kings Highway, but adding bicycle stations around the avenue is a wasteful solution, according to Community Board 15 Chair Theresa Scavo.
The Department of Transportation is proposing 122 new bike racks in the Kings Highway area, an addition that Scavo calls “excessive” and probably ineffective in alleviating traffic and parking problems along the bustling corridor.
“I believe the bike racks we have are not being utilized other than a few at the train stations,” said Scavo. She added that racks on the street and around Kingsborough Community College are everywhere and go unused. ”Yet there are no spots for cars at all,” she said.
The rack locations vary from Kings Highway and East 9th Street/East 10th Street, all the way down Kings Highway to Ocean Avenue. Department of Transportation is also planting dozens of bike lockups on Ocean Parkway and Coney Island Avenue from Avenue P to Avenue R. The racks themselves will not be the enclosed type preferred by commuters who cycle to subway stations. They will be traditional U-shaped racks.
Scavo requested the DOT reconsider the proposal, and officials from the agency promised another look before any installations.
The plans will undoubtedly fuel the fire between bicycling advocates and local leaders who think the city’s new bicycle-centric focus is harmful in Southern Brooklyn.
Do you think more bike racks are needed along Kings Highway? What about other locations in Sheepshead Bay?
