October 25–31, 2019 Brooklyn Paper • www.BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 260-2500 AWP 11
It’s all in the timing
City adjusts traffi c lights for cyclists in Boerum Hill
Ferry ‘security’ under scrutiny
Complaint accuses staffers of refusing Muslim families
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opened across the street from
Barclay’s Center in late 2018 ,
and the second, Columbia
Care, opened in Downtown
Brooklyn on April 20 — offering
locals a high they’ll
never forget with weed suppositories
!
And while Remedy doesn’t
have reefer for your butt, Erkes
said they could always get
some if patients demand it.
Patrons also won’t find
weed-infused munchies,
which are also banned under
state law.
Instead, Remedy will have
products with the non-psychoactive
cannabis compound
cannabidiol — commonly
known as CBD — which can
help with pain, anxiety, and
sleep troubles.
To help skeptical Brooklynites
with their shopping
experience, the new outlet
will aim to help and educate
patients who might be
new to using weed for medical
reasons, said Erkes.
“We recognize there’s a lot
of people that haven’t used
cannabis as medicine before
and we want to help educate
them on all the different forms
of delivery, different strains,
and the different symptoms it
can help with,” he said.
Get your legal weed at
“Remedy” 178 N. Fourth
Street, at Driggs Avenue in
Williamsburg, www.remedyny.
com, (917) 793–1107.
Open everyday 10 am-7 pm.
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
They’re taking the green
light away from motorists —
and giving it to the cyclists!
City transportation honchos
quietly enhanced the flow of
bicycle traffic at the expense
of motorists in Brownstone
Brooklyn nearly a year ago,
the city’s top transit official
announced Wednesday.
“In a year when two thirds of
cycling fatalities have unfortunately
been here in Brooklyn,
we are excited to embark on innovative
new safety projects,”
said Department of Transportation
Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.
The cloak-and-dagger bikesafety
scheme — which the
department rolled out in December
— saw for longer delays
between green lights at
successive intersections along
two one-way streets in Boerum
Hill, allowing traffic flow to
better synchronize with the
slower speeds of cyclists compared
to drivers.
Traffic lights along the
eight-block stretches of Hoyt
and Bond streets — between
Schermerhorn and Baltic
streets — has been secretly
turning green 11 to 12 seconds
after the previous light in an effort
to match the average pace
of bikers, who regularly travel
around 15 miles-per-hour, according
to the agency.
Before that, the lights turned
green seven seconds after oneanother
to cater to the roadway’s
25 miles-per-hours
speed limit.
Clinton Hill cyclist Shoshana Simpson said she liked
the city’s move to synchonize traffic lights with bicyclist
speeds.
Photo by Derrick Watterson
Vehicle speeds have slightly
slowed on Hoyt Street, while
remaining the same on Bond
Street — and there was no
sign of increased traffic along
neighboring roadways, according
to the department.
Meanwhile, the adjustments
saw fewer bikers running red
lights along the stretch, according
to the agency.
One Clinton Hill cyclist said
she liked the agency’s move and
that the lights on the streets
align well with her speed.
“They run pretty well,” said
Shoshana Simpson. “If it’s going
to be better for cyclists, I’m
in favor of it — it’s my main
mode of transportation.”
Transit bigwigs chose the
two streets because they feature
some of the borough’s busiest
bike lanes, with more than
500 pedalers-per-hour during
rush hours — which usually
outnumbers cars, according to
the agency.
The push to improve street
safety comes at the tail-end of
a particularly deadly year for
cyclists in Kings County —
where 17 bikers have been
killed in traffic accidents,
compared with just nine in
the other four boroughs.
Most recently, an unlicensed
driver ran down 10-year-old
Dalerjon Shahobiddinov while
he was pedaling in a Kensington
crosswalk on Oct. 5, according
to police.=
Since the pilot program began
10 months ago, vehicle
speeds have slightly slowed
on Hoyt Street, while remaining
the same on Bond Street
— and there was no sign of
increased traffic along neighboring
roadways, according to
the department.
Meanwhile, the adjustments
saw less bikers run red lights
along the stretch, according to
the agency.
Transportation officials
plan to replicate the project
next year on Clinton Street
between Brooklyn Heights
and Carroll Gardens, along
with 43rd Avenue in Queens,
and Prince Street in Manhattan.
Mayor Bill de Blasio is
touting the new transit scheme
as part of his “Green Wave”
bike initiative — a sweeping
$58.4 million plan to build
80 miles of additional protected
bike lanes by the end
of 2021 — even though the
secret light adjustments predated
his July “Green Wave”
announcement by roughly
eight months.
Street design gurus also unveiled
two new miles of protected
bike lanes on Fountain
Avenue — between Pitkin and
Seaview avenues — in East
New York, marking 100 miles
of protected lanes the city built
under the de Blasio administration.
Brooklyn’s
boulevard
battle lines
By Kevin Duggan
Brooklyn Paper
Crew aboard a city ferry forbid
a group of Muslim families
from boarding a Brooklynbound
boat last month because
they posed a “security issue,”
according to an attorney for
the jilted passengers.
“We believe that it was because
of who they were and
how they looked, there’s nothing
else that explains that this
group — three mothers and 11
children — were labelled a security
issue,” said Ahmed Mohamed,
an attorney with the
the Muslim civil rights group
the Council on American-Islamic
Relations.
The three mothers, two infants,
four young boys, and two
young girls — who remain
anonymous in the complaint
— were waiting to board a
Kings County-bound watercraft
from Manhattan’s Pier 11,
when two crew members whispered
something to each other,
before informing the families
that boat security had decided
to deny their passage, according
to the complaint.
The employees escorted the
distraught mothers to security
staffers, while the ferry’s passengers
watched the scene unfold
— but the head of the pier’s
security was confused about
his colleagues’ claims of security
issues, according to the
document.
The complaint goes on to
accuse another ferryboat employee
of raising her voice to
the families in a “rude” and
“unprofessional” way.
That employee informed the
families that they were being
denied service because their
kids had allegedly stood on
their seats aboard a previous
ferry ride during a trip from
Brooklyn to Manhattan earlier
that day.
A spokesman for the agency
said they are investigating the
incident to make sure no rider
is discriminated against based
on their background.
“We are aware of the complaint
and are currently investigating
the incident. NYCEDC
takes these matters seriously,
and is committed to ensuring
that no person is denied services
based on race, color, national
origin, age, sex, religion,
gender identity or disability,”
said Christian Ficara.
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