Although I don’t often delve into urban planning policy here, it is of course closely intertwined with public transit policy. Walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods that are pedestrian-friendly will feed a smart, growth-oriented transit system and vice versa. One of the city’s greatest misses in the recent decade is, unfortunately, a three-avenue-block walk from my apartment, and I frequently see how poor urban planning can lead to some very pedestrian-unfriendly areas even amidst a wealth of transit options.
That avenue is Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn as it zooms past Park Slope. A change in zoning regulations in the early 2000s led to a renewed interest in development, but because of parking requirements and generally shoddy construction, the area is filled with ugly buildings with no commercial frontage on the avenue. It turned what could have been a grand boulevard into a wasteland with isolated pockets of alluring drinking establishments.
Today, in The Wall Street Journal, Robbie Whelan explores the mistakes made along Fourth Avenue and the street’s current state of affairs. As one with close ties to the area, I found the piece to be both depressing and illuminating. Hopefully, the Department of City Planning has already learned from its mistakes, and we can avoid creating through zoning boring streets in what should be a vibrant neighborhood.
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And our BEEP, Marty, wants to make it Brooklyn Blvd., a complete, car only street as only he can Mr. Anti-Prospect Park Bike Lanes. Bikes are to blame by the way for the motorist rage in case you didn’t already know.
http://www.brooklyn-usa.org/pr.....y14_FR.htm
It is true that ground-floor commercial space is not always required for a grand boulevard. I’m not sure I’d use Grand Concourse in its current state as an example, but Ocean Parkway and Eastern Parkway are fine examples, as is Park Ave in Manhattan. Traffic moves through just fine, and large and prestigious buildings prosper (especially at the north end of Ocean and west end of Eastern).
That said, Fourth Avenue will never be one of the parkways, as it was built without the median strips and green space, and there’s no room for them now. So, we’re stuck with what we’ve got, and what we’ve got probably would have been improved with some retail here and there. Lack of retail on Fourth Ave will be a much smaller concern, however, if Third Ave continues to take off, because right now, those who live below Fourth Ave have quite a hike for anything but a bodega.
I live on 6th Ave in Park Slope and — other than a few corner bodegas and restaurants — we have little in the way of street facing retail. Yet 6th is a very pleasant experience for peds. We have charming homes, many trees, and moderate to light traffic in only 2 lanes that make it so. Ocean and Eastern Parkways may have more traffic, but their greenery and charm help to make up for it.
Contrast that to 4th Ave’s blank walls, air vents, parking garage entrances, and curb cuts and a complete lack of charm or greenery. Throw in 6 lanes of heavy traffic and you have a horribly pedestrian-hostile environment. To me, those are much bigger issues than the lack of retail.
Perhaps I wasn’t clear enough in the post, but I think the WSJ article is. The blank walls, air vents, garages and curb cuts along with the six-lane semi-highway add up to a pedestrian-hostile environment. Retail would help dull that pain, but they’re all symptoms of the same illness for that street.
You think they see it as a mistake? They probably see it as a smashing success. They’ve been building cruft like that for decades.
This may be of interest to Ben and a few others: the DC Metro is getting a bit more complicated (in a good way, methinks).
The Grand Concourse does need an overhaul. It would be nice to restore it to the Grand Boulevard that it was.
You get a neighborhood that gets down on its heels for a while, and the zoning rules tend to become a little laxer, under the idea that getting any business at all in there is better than nothing. Fourth Avenue’s ‘look’ is the result of the area’s post-World War II decline, and turning around a situation like that takes either time (because most of the current occupants will be grandfathered in even if the zoning rules are changed to allow for more street-level stores), or it takes deep pockets (private or public), to basically make the current tenants an offer they can’t refuse in order to redevelop the area.
Funny. Just Saturday, I was in at 11th St and Fourth Avenue. I noticed a newish apartment building on the west side of the avenue and I thought that it was one of the ugliest buildings I’ve seen in a long time. Right by one of the more prosperous parts of NYC.
Some of our builders / investors don’t know what they’re doing.