Boerum Hill intersections are still dangerous enough that it merits a public hearing a year and a half after the city lowered the speed limit throughout the brownstone enclave.
Councilman Steve Levin (D—Boerum Hill) is inviting local groups such as the Boerum Hill Association and the Forth on Fourth Avenue committee of the Park Slope Civic Council to a forum on Feb. 4 to discuss fears that drivers are not abiding by the 20-mile-per-hour speed limit in place throughout the so-called “slow zone” bounded by Smith Street and Union, Third, and Atlantic avenues, according to an activist.
“There is a question of how effective it is,” said Park Slope Civic Council member and Boerum Hill resident Grace Freedman. “Some people do not even seem to know about it, so there needs to be more education or better signage.”
The car squeeze, which includes blue signs announcing the special designation and speed humps, was enacted in 2012 to stop drivers from using the brownstone as a fast track to East River bridges. The city has yet to release speed and crash data on the borough’s first death-machine-diluting program.
Freedman said she wants to see police at the 84th Precinct take a lesson from Park Slope cops and dispatch undercover officers to catch drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians between Fourth Avenue and Court Street. Councilman Levin has vowed to keep working with the Boerum Hill fuzz, according to the pol’s spokesman Matt Ojala.
“Enforcement is a central component of street safety,” he said.
Locals will break into groups and throw out their own ideas at the meeting inspired by the Park Slope Street Safety Partnership, which has applauded Mayor DeBlasio’s “Vision Zero” plan to bring citywide traffic deaths down to zero by 2024.
“People said, ‘Why can’t we do the same thing here in Boerum Hill?’ ” Ojala said. “People feel empowered, and now is the time for action on street safety.”
Boerum Hill Street Safety Forum at the Belarusan Autocephalic Orthodox Church (401 Atlantic Avenue at Bond Street in Boerum Hill). Feb. 4, 6:30-8:30 pm.
