Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, is an area where families have stayed for generations. Even when people leave the area, they come back to their favorite businesses.
“They’d come down, they’d pull up in front of the store, find a parking spot, come in, get a sandwich, get a cup of coffee, get some pounds of coffee to take home,” said Joan D’Amico, of D’Amico Coffee. “Now there’s nowhere to park. Nowhere.”
What You Need To Know
The city Department of Transportation presented the plan for the 1.3-mile protected bike lane in June, and representatives said they engaged with hundreds of businesses
Business owners filed a lawsuit against the city, saying they don’t know of any business who knew about the bike lane, and would have liked to be consulted on the parking taken away and the loading zones, which they say are hurting business
NYC DOT says the design is proven to make streets safer and help businesses, and are looking forward to defending the design in court
D’Amico’s late husband was the third-generation owner of the Court Street shop, and she says business is down 10% to 20%.
She blames a new protected bike lane and the removal of parking along the street that came with it.
The city transportation department cited crash data over the last four years to support the need for the bike lane, including two deaths.
“From what we were told, the two fatalities that were being used as their plan of action to do this were on Hamilton Avenue and Atlantic Avenue,” five-decade resident Robert Jackson said. “And I believe one of them was at like 2:30 in the morning, and it was a driver that passed a red light.”
He and others say the bike lane hinders emergency vehicles. Cell phone videos from residents show police cars and an ambulance stuck in what is now one travel lane. It led the Court Street Merchants Association to file a lawsuit against the city.
“All the businesses are complaining,” lifelong resident Mark Scotto said. “And what we’ve heard is that DOT and the community board reached out to us. And that over 200 businesses agreed with this. We can’t find one.”
Scotto says many of his neighbors didn’t know about the bike lane until it was installed in October.
But the city DOT presented the plan in June to Community Board 6. Its chair, Eric McClure, who also leads the pro-street safety group StreetsPAC, told NY1 by phone they try to inform the public through the digital signs on the LinkNYC kiosks.
Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon says the DOT should probably do more than the mandatory community board outreach.
“Most people don’t even know the community boards exist, let alone what’s on the agenda,” Simon said. “So I always suggest that the agencies talk to more people, and that if you talk to leaders in the neighborhood, they will tell you what other groups you can reach out to.”
In a statement, the DOT said it looks forward to defending the redesign in court and that “Protected bike lanes have proven to improve safety for everyone on the road, while also helping support local businesses.”