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The Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association revealed a laundry list of traffic safety proposals at their meeting last night, and lambasted their rival community group’s efforts for “patting themselves on the back.”

Executive members of MBNA and Community Board 15 Chairperson Theresa Scavo met with representatives of Public Advocate Bill de Blasio’s office on Thursday, July 29, to present their ideas. According to the group, the advocate’s office gave a warm reception to the suggestion and is now issuing letters to relevant agencies to spur action.

“I’ve got to say the Public Advocate’s representatives were extremely attentive,” said Scavo. “They questioned why DOT, why Parks, why [there hasn't been] reception from these various agencies.”

MBNA President Alan Ditchek is optimistic about the plan.

“[These are] very good ideas and certainly will go a long way to rectifying the situation in Manhattan Beach that’s happened here over the last few years,” said Ditchek. “I think we’ve got a very good list compiled and if we implement just some of these things we will certainly see safer streets.”

See details of MBNA’s traffic plan, what happens next, and read the rival group’s response to MBNA’s attack on their efficiency.

Allan Rosen is a Manhattan Beach resident. He has written several editorials for Sheepshead Bites regarding mass transit issues.

July 4 seemed to break all records in terms of traffic along Oriental Boulevard in Manhattan Beach. In the 33 years I have been living here, this is the first time I recall the line for the Manhattan Beach Parking Lot extending past the Westbrook along Oriental Boulevard. The wait must have exceeded one hour. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

Until the zebra stripes were put in, traffic used to line up along the curb, allowing two lanes for moving traffic. Since the zebra stripes, cars no longer line up along the curb but block the zebra stripes and the bicycle lane as well as the parking lane. The result was that traffic also was backed up to West End Avenue, because one lane for moving traffic was insufficient. Buses were delayed for about 15 or 20 minutes as they trudged along toward the last stop at Mackenzie Street. This delayed service all the way to Bay Ridge and Bedford Stuyvesant and was totally unnecessary.

The police were trying to guide traffic but were mostly ineffectual. Several years ago they blocked off the malls forcing cars leaving from the deadend blocks into the traffic making it even worse. They did not make the same mistake this time.  What they should have done was to arrive early and instruct cars to line up along the curb. The zebra stripes could then have been used as a bus only lane or an extra lane of traffic for this day only. Let’s just hope that Labor Day is not just as hot as Memorial Day and July 4.

Courtesy of dimaruss34 via Flickr

Some Manhattan Beach residents are saying the MTA dropped the ball in their preparations for Memorial Day, leaving hundreds of people stranded and in the rain along Oriental Boulevard.

The critics say the problem is that thousands flooded to the beach, but, when weather soured, there was only one bus to serve the crowd. According to the Manhattan Beach Community Group:

Late afternoon there was a thunderstorm and the beach emptied. Manhattan Beach is capable of holding 10,000 people and in the lot approximately 900 cars. The problem now became that there was only one bus available to thousands of people trying to get home.

For the past two summers, the Manhattan Beach Community Group (MBCG) has been requesting additional buses on hot summer weekends and holidays such as Memorial Day. The situation of weekend schedules for these busy days is unacceptable and does NOT WORK.

The MTA needs to devise plans to provide buses to ensure no one gets hurt and people can go home in a safe way. Hundreds of people waiting at a bus stop is dangerous.

Following a stabbing and other criminal incidents at Coney Island, police began directing beachgoers to neighboring beaches. Manhattan Beach quickly became overburdened, according to the MBCG. Police responded quickly, said MBCG President Ira Zalcman, and the day was without incident. But the MTA let down riders.

Some disagree with MBCG, saying the MTA did their job. Keep reading to find out why.

Click to enlarge

Drivers exiting Kingsborough are getting a warning.

In addition to electronic signs around the school reminding students and faculty to drive safely, cars leaving the gate are being stopped by security and given a flier from the Department of Public Safety and the Office of Student Life. And they’re not just being given to students – we got our copy from a mother who was picking up her daughter at Leon M. Goldstein High School (located on KBCC’s campus).

The flier, pictured at left, reminds drivers that the speed limit is 30 mph, and that “a good neighbor policy is to avoid reckless driving and speeding on Oriental and Shore Blvds.” It adds:

Recently, there have been several accidents on these roadways involving pedestrians, students and faculty, resulting in serious injuries. Please realize that speeding, reckless driving, cellphone usage and texting while driving are against the law and will be strictly enforced by the NYPD.

Members of the community are seeing it as a sign the school is taking the situation seriously. Both of the neighborhood’s civic groups (Manhattan Beach Community Group and Manhattan Beach Neighborhood Association) have criticized the administration for not doing enough to encourage safe, responsible driving.

“We’re happy the college finally saw there was a need to get people to slow down and drive carefully in our community,” said MBCG President Ira Zalcman.

Find out what more the school can do, and to see where Manhattan Beach’s latest speed trap is

Courtesy of David B.

In Manhattan Beach, six accidents in eight days – including one that may have involved a fatality – has fueled requests for a concentrated ticket blitz.

Two accidents occurred this week on Shore Boulevard, including a fender bender yesterday pictured above. The day before, another accident happened on Shore Boulevard. No one was hurt in either incident.

Last week there were two accidents in one day, and one on Thursday, on the same Oriental Boulevard intersection. One included a motorcyclist who was thrown from his bike. We’re told the cyclist was killed, but have been unable to verify the information.

All of these accidents involved students of Kingsborough Community College, according to the Manhattan Beach Community Group.

Friday’s accident knocked down a telephone pole near West End Avenue and Oriental Boulevard.

MBCG is now asking on its website, “When will it stop?” The group is demanding a ticket blitz next Monday through Thursday between the hours of 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. going west on Oriental Boulevard and Shore Boulevard.

Courtesy of local broker

Reader local broker spotted this scene going down by West End Avenue and Oriental Boulevard in Manhattan Beach. We’re not quite sure what caused the light/telephone/electrical pole to fall, or if it damaged any property, but everything looks like it’s in capable hands now. The pole appears to have been sawed in half (with the top half lying at the fireman’s feet) to reduce the stress until they rip it out of the ground. Anyone with information on how this happened?

Following two severe accidents yesterday, including one that involved pedestrians, another accident happened at the same intersection. Manhattan Beach Community Group posted this item on their website:

After two accidents yesterday which involved up to 4 people going to the hospital, we have been notified that another accident has happened. This morning a motorcyclist exiting Kingsborough Community Hospital hit a car making a turn onto Mackenzie St. That is the same corner as the first accident from yesterday. The motorcyclist flew over the car and has been taken to Coney Island Hospital.

The weather is getting warmer and the younger people that visit our community are being tempted to speed. This must be addressed. The MBCG has been bringing up the dangerous situation on Oriental Blvd. for years and with urgency the last 6 months. This includes the zebra stripes, concrete planters and speeding. All accidents in the last 24 hours involved KCC students.

Can Kingsborough Community College do more to ensure safety along Oriental Boulevard? If so, what – and when will they take charge?

UPDATE (9:25 p.m.): It appears there were two accidents. The Manhattan Beach Community Group has reported on the incidents on its website, saying that both accidents appear to have involved Kingsborough Community College students. MBCG has been struggling to improve traffic safety on Oriental Boulevard for years, and often wrestles with the large influx of automobile commuters coming into the school. Here is their report:

In the span of one hour this afternoon there were 2 car accidents today in Manhattan Beach. Both on Oriental Blvd. First at Mackenzie St. and the other at Ocean Ave. Both occurred around 2:30 -3:00 PM.

We don’t have all the facts but we heard that pedestrians were involved and we’re lucky to some degree. We have been told that in the first accident a car leaving Kingsborough Community College going west on Oriental Blvd. may have been speeding when it tried to avoid a car coming in the opposite direction trying to make a u turn or turning into Mackenzie. 3 girls were crossing at Mackenzie St. and may have been hit. Reports are that they were taken to the hospital. The car that may have hit them also went up on the street and grass of the corner house.

Very shortly after this accident, we were told that a car driving on the bike lane, yes on those zebra stripes, was involved in an accident and went up and into the garage of the corner house on the west side of Ocean Ave. It smashed the car parked inside the garage which had to be towed. We were also told the owner of the car just parked and left the garage. The garage door was destroyed by the impact.

Kingsborough students may have been involved in both accidents. We at MBCG have received numerous complaints that some KCC students leaving the campus on Oriental Blvd. accelerate rapidly going west.

The MBCG has made vehicular and pedestrian safety a major issue. Just last month, at our March meeting, a plan for “radarsigns” was announced. The College must realize that they can no longer ignore, as they say, what happens outside the gates. Everyone is in danger when people speed and drive recklessly.  The College needs to work with us to help implement a plan to keep all of us safe.

UPDATE (4:19 p.m.): We are less and less certain that a) pedestrians were hit and b) the car hit a home. It seems now that the two cars hit each other, and one pulled/rolled into the driveway of a private residence. Not sure yet. We’ve just added the photo above, taken with a cell phone by another Kingsborough student. The accident happened somewhere around 2:30 p.m.

ORIGINAL STORY: We just heard from a Manhattan Beach resident that a car accident involving two cars, pedestrians and a home has occurred near Kingsborough Community College.

Though we haven’t yet been able to verify all of the information, it seems a car traveling on Oriental Boulevard towards the school was seeking to make a left turn onto MacKenzie Street. A car coming out of the college’s gates came to the intersection and struck three female students from Kingsborough. The car then drove into a home.

Again, we have not yet verified this information, and we haven’t heard about the condition of anyone involved. We’re told 61st Precinct’s Captain Mastrokostas is on the scene.

If you have any more information, please let us know. We’ll update as we find out more.

A street sign honoring Iraq War veterans appears to have been stolen from a Brighton Beach corner, leading residents to point the finger at anti-war activists.

The sign renamed the corner of Corbin Place and Oriental Boulevard as Heroes of Operation Iraqi Freedom Way in 2005. According to the Daily News, residents took it as a “symbol of the contributions to the war effort made by local immigrants from Russia and former Soviet countries.”

The sign vanished in December, and Raisa Chernina, founder of Be Proud Foundation, which lobbied for its installation, claimed unpatriotic critics of the Iraq War stole the sign because it appeared to support President Bush.

“I have no doubt about it, because so many people were against the war,” Chernina told Daily News. “But they mix people fighting the war with the war itself.”

Supporters are rallying at the corner today to demand the sign’s replacement. The Department of Transportation has already said they will install a sign soon.

Around noon today, a BMW zooming down Oriental Boulevard towards West End Avenue lost control, vaulted over the median, and plowed into the park fence on Hastings Street, said Flori Kostoff of the Manhattan Beach Community Group.

According to Kostoff, the car had several passengers, one of whom was taken to the hospital. His condition is unknown. The others were arrested.

Kostoff was dispatched to take photos for the group as part of their ongoing campaign for stronger enforcement of traffic laws on Oriental Boulevard. When she arrived, she said she heard one passenger ask the police if it would take long because he needed to get to an exam. She also said none of them copped to being the driver of the car. The owner was charged with excessive speeding, but he said he was not behind the wheel.

The car left skid marks in the street, damaged a fence, and rendered a bench useless. Kostoff says it could be up to two years for the bench to be replaced, as thats how long it has taken for other benches in the area that were damaged in automobile accidents.

This is an ongoing story. It will be updated as more information becomes available.