By Dean Balsamini – NY Daily News
Safety comes second on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, where concrete barriers designed to aid pedestrians are being destroyed to make way for giant West Indian Day Parade floats.
This week, the city will jackhammer away the barriers, angering area residents who fought for years to have them built.
“It compromises the safety of the people. It’s not good,” fumed Debora Goldstein, 40. “The parade is one day out of the year. The main thing is the pedestrians, the kids and the schoolchildren.”
The West Indian Day celebration — slated for Labor Day, Sept. 5 — is one of the city’s biggest parades, annually drawing more than 1 million people to Crown Heights.
And that’s precisely why removing the barriers is a terrible idea, according to area residents.
“The city should not be making things more dangerous,” said longtime Crown Heights resident Chaim Patterson, 65. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Activists fought for years for the barriers, which were finally installed last December at two dangerous spots where Eastern Parkway intersects Brooklyn Avenue and Kingston Avenue.
But parade officials convinced the city to remove the medians so that bulky floats and wide-load trucks can navigate the roadway, a high-ranking police source told The Post.
A Department of Transportation spokesman confirmed that the agency and NYPD will remove the two medians “due to safety concerns involving parade participants.”
“We are looking at potential replacement treatments in the area and for the long term,” said DOT spokesman Scott Gastel, who refused to address questions about the cost of installation — and removal — of the barriers.
Rabbi Eli Cohen, executive director of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Center, said, “ It seems like trying to deal with one safety issue has created a different safety issue.”
I see nothing wrong with what #35 said.
And I expect any Torah following Jew, to have similar sensibilities.
You can’t change some else culture. You should visit some parts of Africa or some parts of Europe.
Or move that’s the final solution for your sensibilities.
The city is racist against the black Labor Day parade, move it to Manhattan.
Every year my family and I try to avoid this disgusting obscene parade. I’m sure the originators of the parade meant well as I’ve heard from some of my Black home-owner neighbors – who are just as disgusted by it as we are. The paraders are indecently dressed, if at all, and the the lack of control always ends up in violence and crime. My advice, get out of the area for the day and don’t come home until after 11pm. There are just some things in life we can’t change.
Stupid selfish drivers need to slow down stop endangering the people crossing the street so you will get home one minute later
Bs’d Pray for rain!
it makes a whole big differents when people’s lives R in real danger & the facts speak 4 themselves !!!
People should bring a few animals (especially dogs) to the areas where the barriers used to be. If any animal is so much as threatened by possible harm due to lack of a barrier every animal rights fanatic and group will clamor so loud for a return of the barriers, that they would be reinstalled overnight, with no questions asked. The world worships animals and nothing but nothing is allowed to harm or even remotely threaten an animal these days. Humans, they could not care less about, but their attitude is no one had better dare threaten an animal (especially… Read more »
Brooklyn officials & businesses view the parade as an asset to the Borough as it is the only major event of it’s kind we have, regardless of whether they could reroute or not to Manhattan. Problem is most Brooklyn’s thoroughfares are not made to accommodate something so large as well as Manhattan’s 5th Ave. & so forth.
The parade is only one day, till 6pm and we have Simchas Bas Hashavas, till 6 am in the morning, for a couple of days, I know at least nobody winds up getting killed , but there is still music going on till the wee hours in the morning
Move this so called parade to Manhattan.
The JCC is good for nothing let them at least work out a deal with the city to move this unwanted menace out of our area.
These barriers solved nothing everyone I know that ever died on one of these Intersections were Jay walking. And I knew two personally who died on Utica and eastern parkway.
I have read articles over the years that the organizers of this parade have wanted it moved to Manhattan for many years . This is a huge parade & the organizers feel discriminated against that they are ” stuck” here in Brooklyn. They have been told that all permits for Manhattan have been reserved for years . So the final irony is that THEY don’ t want to be here & we agree ! So all of our community leaders & political machers should really get to work on this ASAP. Moving it to Manhattan would be a true win… Read more »
One year I actually made the effort to communicate with the group which officially runs the parade. You’d be surprised to hear that a parade with a million plus participants is run by a small group of senior citizens out of a Rodgers avenue store front. I’m not knocking the organizers but I quickly learned that they have no control over anything other than selling tickets to the pre parade and getting permits for some of the floats. Every other parade has a clear chain of command.
To # 6, if any cars did crash into the barriers that’s not so terrible as them hitting vulnerable pedestrians as they very likely would have done in such a case. To # 19 I personally do not believe raising the speed limit and removing the barriers is such a sane suggestion. The parade has nothing much to do with the issue it seems. In recent years it’s been routed much more professionally and seems to be altogether improved. It’s been part of the Brooklyn neighborhood for some years.
If you can’t drive slow don’t drive stop endangering the people lives
The city should build pedestrian bridges over Eastern Parkway, instead of the pedestrian islands. Then people could cross safely year round without waiting, even during the parade.
If you’re a driver you hate the barriers, but if you’re a pedestrian you love them. I had thought they were a good thing, as every time I cross a big street I now become more yirei shomayim for sure!
If will ever happan in Los Angeles…..!!!
Hate those barriers walking people should watch where they walk and the speed limit should go up to forty
so cancel the parade so none of them get killed this year!
If the parade is moved that will be the end of simchas Bai’s hhashoava and lag b’omer parades.
Even though the reasoning is wrong it is the best thing for those to be taken down. I have seen fire trucks and ambulance stuck in traffic for over a minute waiting for traffic to clear. I actually called city to take them down. I live on eastern parkway and they are a real hazard. It is important to teach our children how to cross safely and then daven for siyata dishmaya.
I understand they do not actully have a permit for this parade ….
We need to make Crown Heights great again.
We should take the city to court to block this!! Or will the local ‘elected’ officials rather rub shoulders with the revelers then take care of their community!!?? Time will tell.
EXCELLENT IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHO NEEDS ALL THE NOISE , CRIME, PRUSSKEIT AND MESS HERE AND NOW TAKING AWAY THE BARRIERS????????????????????
This whole parade is illegally being held in crown hights every year ! The reason being that the police cannot under these circumstance protect the residents of crown heights if g-d forbid… ! As we see people R killed almost every year Thats the reason why all very large parades R held in Manhattan in a commercial districts on weekend’s & conform 2 limited daytime hours not camping out 4 ,24 hours commiting A whole sloow of antisocial illegal activities from public urination 2 public drug & alcohol use obstructing firehydrents , preventing resident’s access 2 there homes & the… Read more »
On one of the busiest travel day of the year decades of Misery
All those barriers do is encourage j walking
No common sense. Just blow taxpayer money. The system is corrupt!
It is time to relocate the parade. Atlantic or Flatbush aves would be preferred.
Those things were more dangerous than safe, it blocked the emergency lane and caused cars to crash into it
those barriers really bothered them they were just waiting for the day theyd be able to remove them with a sorry excuse
They shouldn’t have put them there in the first place.
They’re dangerous – it gives pedestrians a false sense of security.
the problem is how long will it take to replace
Here’s an idea..how about we move the parade to where all other parades are…Manhattan!! It is utterly racist to relegate the largest and the only black parade to a borough outside of Manhattan.
Is permanent safety concerns of local residents of no consequence? These intersections have proved to be very dangerous for local pedestrians much too often. Also the financial loss in destroying something so recently constructed is of no consequence? Is there no other way to accommodate this parade? Wow, I hope they know what they’re doing, cause I sure can’t figure it out. But that doesn’t matter I guess.