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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, DECEMBER 1, 2019
Cars invade P’Heights
Locals fear traffi c chaos due to large Pacifi c Park garage
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Residents living around the
Pacifi c Park mega-development
in Prospect Heights are wary of a
new 455-space parking garage being
built near the Barclays Center
arena, claiming developers and
their allies in state government
have failed to prepare the neighborhood
for the infl ux of hundreds
of additional cars.
“You’re degrading that environment
— without developing a
plan,” said Prospect Heights resident
Peter Krashes.
Manhattan development fi rm
TF Cornerstone is working in
partnership with Empire State Development
— the state’s economicdevelopment
arm — to install the
massive, subterranean lot beneath
two upcoming residential towers
located on Dean Street between
Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues.
The new garage would be accessible
via the single entrance to an
existing 303-space parking facility
located near Carlton Avenue, and
would cause traffi c on the already
narrow, one-way artery to devolve
into gridlock, according to residents
at a community meeting.
“If you’re anticipating approximately
800 more cars to an area
that’s already extremely congested,
what provisions are being made to
address the addition of 800 cars to
what’s already an extremely congested
area,” said Daphne Eviatar
at a “quality of life” meeting hosted
by the state agency’s project task
force, the Atlantic Yards Community
Development Corporation.
That question was asked over
and over at Tuesday’s meeting, but
representatives for the Empire Development
Corporation struggled
to provide an answer. One liaison
for the state agency claims that the
issue has already been the focus of
adequate study, and that actions
have been taken to “mitigate” the
effects of hundreds of additional
cars. The rep did not, however,
provide specifi cs examples of what
measures have been taken.
“When the project was fi rst approved
in 2006 and 2009, there was
an analysis that was done looking
at what the traffi c impact would be
on the community and mitigations
have been put in place,” said Tobi
Jaiyesimi, the state’s project lead.
Spaces at the upcoming parking
garage will not be reserved strictly
for residents, and Barclays-bound
patrons are expected to take advantage
of the new accommodations.
However, locals questioned
the wisdom of building additional
facilities for drivers in one the borough’s
most transit rich areas —
the Barclays Center is serviced by
nine subway lines and the Long Island
Railroad — and one resident
insisted the garage would simply
invite more drivers into the area.
“Everybody knows that if you
build parking, cars arrive — that’s
a simple vision of any city planning,”
said Louis Galdieri.
Developers previously planned
three entrances for a larger garage
with 910 spaces for the fourtower
block, a 2014 environmental
impact statement shows, but the
addition of the gym may have led
to the reduction, local watchdog
journalist Norman Oder wrote in
his blog.
A spokesman for the state
agency would not say why the number
of entrances were scaled back
from three to one, saying only that
plans shown to the public in 2014
were “illustrative, not defi nite.”
Locals fear traffi c chaos from Dean Street parking garage. Google Maps
Truck collapses into
Park Slope sink hole
A fi ve-ton construction truck collapsed
into a large sink hole in Park Slope
on Nov. 21, according to authorities.
The massive water main construction
truck — carrying tools and supplies
for Liberty Water and Sewer — collapsed
into the nine-by-seven foot hole
in the street at 15th Street and Fourth
Avenue at around 11 am.
The roadway collapsed due to a leak
on a private pipe belonging to a home on
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BY TODD MAISEL
15th Street — just feet away — according
to reps with the Department of Environmental
Planning.
No gas mains were affected by the collapse,
and no one was reported injured,
Fire Department officials said.
This incident came just days before
another massive sinkhole opened in
Sunset Park — and unleashed a massive
flood that engulfed the nearby streets —
that was caused by a water main break,
according to authorities. Police cordoned off the sinkhole that swallowed a truck on 15th Street. Photo by Todd Maisel