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From The New York Shitty Inbox: NAG Needs Your Help!
This item comes courtesy of the folks at NAG (Neighbors Allied For Good Growth):
Everyone in North Brooklyn knows that McGuinness Blvd. is dangerous, especially for the most vulnerable road users: pedestrians and cyclists.
NAG is currently continuing a traffic monitoring effort started last year by NAG volunteer Les Brown, at the intersection of McGuinness Blvd. and Nassau Street. (Check out this article for more). We’ll be using Transportation Alternatives’ Traffic Monitoring Kit to tally egregious traffic violations and will need two people/shift for the following shifts:
Tuesday 4/19 am (one hour of 7:30-8:30 or 8:30-9:30);
Wednesday 4/20 am (one hour of 7:30-8:30 and 8:30-9:30) and pm (one hour of 4:30-5:30 or 5:30-6:30) shifts;
Thursday 4/21 am and pm;
Friday 4/22 am.Below are some videos of pedestrians crossing, showing lack of pedestrian refuges and, in the second video, the heavy truck traffic volume. With long wait times between traffic signals, many pedestrians cross against the light and then are stuck in the middle of McGuinness without a proper refuge. According to crashstat.org and recent news, there have been at least 12 fatal crashes between 1995 and 2010 on McGuinness Blvd. and the street is part of the DOT’s “focus areas” under its Safe Streets for Seniors initiative. This data collection will help NAG in its continuing effort to advocate for traffic calming measures on this dangerous street.
To volunteer, please contact Summer Greenstein at summergreenstein (at) gmail (dot) com.
For more information about McGuinness and this project see:
and videos of pedestrians crossing McGuinness at Nassau:
Follows is my favorite bit of McGuinness Death Race 2010 goodness. It hails from the intersection of Green Street and was shot by yours truly. I call it “30 MPH?”. This was shot May 12th of last year.
And then of course you have this, which was shot by Kitchen Prof on 27th of January this year.
Here’s the deal: anyone who lives in Greenpoint knows this thoroughfare is very, VERY dangerous. Speeding along this stretch has gone virtually unchecked and some of our fellow Garden Spotters have been hurt— or have died— as a result. Those of you, dear readers, who have the ability to volunteer for this study please contact Summer at the above-listed email address. Thanks!
Photo Credits: The photo gracing the beginning of this post was taken by Jay Lombard.
Spotted On North 12 Street: Witnesses Wanted
Filed under: 11211, 11222, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Williamsburg, Williamsburg Brooklyn
When I see fliers such as this my heart sinks. Granted, there are a fair number of negligent bicyclists to be found on our streets. I complain about them. Often. However, they are child’s play compared to the influx of cabs and livery drivers who now negotiate north Brooklyn’s streets. I have seen their driving personally on multiple occasions. It is terrifying. If you or anyone you know witnessed the above-described accident please call Mike. Fault-finding and accusations aside, all parties involved need to know what happened.
On a related note, I was (fairly) recently contacted by a gentlemen who is interested in speaking to anyone who might have witnessed Solange Raulston’s untimely death on McGuinness Boulevard last year. His name is Dave and you can reach him at:
davepagl (at) pipeline (dot) com
Thanks!
Miss Heather
Spotted On McGuinness Boulevard: Missing Ghostbike
Many of you are no doubt familiar with the senseless death of Solange Raulson. For those of you who are not, she was struck and killed by a truck at the intersection of Nassau Avenue and McGuinness Boulevard December 13, 2009. Many questions have arisen about how this tragic event came to pass and how it is being handled by the N.Y.P.D. Most remain unanswered. But two things can be asserted with 100% certainty: she died too young and is missed by many.
ghostbikes.org erected a memorial at this intersection (which you see at left) to serve as a reminder of Ms. Raulston’s life— and death. Now jump forward to today: as I was running errands I made an interesting discovery.
This item has gone MIA. I find this curious as the other memorials at this intersection were untouched. Does anyone have the 411 regarding what happened here? If so, please share via comments or contact me email at missheather (at) thatgreenpointblog (dot) com.
Thanks!
Miss Heather
From The New Shitty Inbox: Fatality on McGuinness Boulevard
When I received word about this (which comes courtesy of Gothamist’s news map) last night my heart sank. If my memory serves me correctly this makes two fatalities at this intersection this year. Obviously I do not know if the following was a factor (the details are scant) but it has been my observation that the cross walks at this intersection (and a number of others along McGuinness Boulevard) simply do not allow enough time for people to cross —especially in light of how fast motorists drive along this thoroughfare. Thoughts, anyone?
Miss Heather
UPDATE, 12:26 p.m.: I have just gotten word that pedestrian bicyclist (see comments) who was struck was a friend of a New York Shitty reader. Eryana writes:
…you may already know this by now, but yesterday’s fatality on Nassau and McGuinness was a Brooklyn soul DJ who was actually in a friend of mine’s band.
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