Why is Trans Alt Walking in Bay Ridge on 11/12?
I saw the announcement below and wondered whose REALLY running the event at 12:00 pm?
1) Bike South Brooklyn is a small group of cyclists that live OR WORK in Bay Ridge. (See below)
This group pushed for painted bike lanes in our community several years ago. Many people don’t use the bike lanes chosen by this group because they don’t feel safe on those streets.
Bike South Brooklyn also helped select the loading zones throughout Bay Ridge. Neither Bike South Brooklyn or CB 10 told Bay Ridge that Councilman Justin Brannan voted in favor of the loading zones and was lobbied over them. (See here)
What has Bike South Brooklyn done on 4th Avenue? In July, when a Bay Ridge resident was killed on 4th Avenue and Senator Street, they didn’t do anything.
There wasn’t even a prayer service and no one mentioned the woman’s name. (See here) Brooklyn South didn’t call for politicians to have a moment of silence for the woman or make any changes to the street.
In August, Brooklyn South and BREG shared this logo on Instagram:
They also shared that Fourth Avenue is too large with two lanes each way and it only needs one lane each way. They posted a photo that was not taken during a quiet time in the day, not at rush hour:
At September’s Community Board 10’s meeting, neither Bike South or BREG spoke about this initiative to change 4th Avenue. Both groups are represented on CB 10.
The biking group has a survey and they don’t care if you live in the area, as their survey asks:
Brooklyn South knows people don’t want another painted bike lane because people are not using the ones that they requested.
The press release for this event had a quote from a Brooklynite that lives in another neighborhood:
2) BREG – Bay Ridge Environmental Group was formed in 2021, right after Nicole Malliotakis won the congressional seat. They wrote that the group was composed of current and former members of Bay Ridge. (Info)
This March, BREG had their first Earth Day Event at Cannon Ball Park. Strangely, a Bay Ridge resident saw that the park was meticulously cared for and painted before the event. (See below)
Why didn’t BREG celebrate Earth Day last year?
What has BREG done on 4th Avenue so far? They had a very small cleanup with AAA (Arab American Association). (See here)
BREG hasn’t planted trees or even requested trees for 4th Avenue at the Community Board 10 Meeting. CB 10 has money – they could have purchased a few trees.
Also alarming is that BREG Members haven’t stood up for other environmental issues both inside or outside of our community including:
A) In September 2022, Dyker Heights residents went to Community Board 10’s Meeting and told CB 10 that both Senator Gounardes and Councilman Brannan did not do anything about the sewers flooding into their basements. Residents said they were in waist deep water. (See video) Last month, a resident came back and said his basement was still flooding and he and his wife were cleaning sewer sludge from their basement.
B) BREG didn’t care that almost 1000 trees were removed from the East River Park in Manhattan. No one in the group spoke out against Councilman Justin Brannan dodging the activists calls and then not being allowed into his office. (See video) Brannan told the activists he would request a hearing for them, but didn’t. I contacted BREG about this several times and their president wasn’t interested. (See article) (See Park)
C) Other environmental groups speak out about NYC becoming less green, as parks are being traded for development. Why isn’t BREG interested interested in trees being removed from this Brooklyn park?
3) Why are people who don’t live in our community any longer speaking into our community? This Summer during the 3rd Avenue Festival, I spoke to someone who I thought was part of BREG. After she spoke for awhile, I asked her: “Do you live here in Bay Ridge?” She didn’t.
Transportation Alternatives (Trans Alt) is a group that has existed for many years. They are against people having cars and parking on the street as well.
When Carol Langdon was killed outside of a car dealership in Bay Ridge, Transalt had a press release. (Info) But Transalt never returned to Bay Ridge to see if politicians held the dealerships accountable. While the dealership where the accident happened is not parking on the street, other ones are.
Below I wrote shared about Gounardes accepting money from Bay Ridge Automotive Management Corp. Politicians incorrectly label the tweets as having sensitive data. The disclosure statements for NYC and NYS politicians are available publicly, so residents know what is going on.
People are hearing more about Trans Alt because communities have to stand up against them. Trans Alt has lobbyists so they are able to get attention. Senator Gounardes has been seen at press conferences with them. (See here)
4) The Press Release for today’s event had several groups on it. Families for Safer Streets is one of those groups. Families for Safer Streets came to Bay Ridge during Gounardes and Golden’s election. In 2022, politicians across NYC shared the map below all over social media because their neighborhoods improved – ours did not.
We didn’t see Families for Safer Streets or any of these groups speak out when District 43’s streets became less safe in 2021. A new map Vision Zero Fatalities for 2022 has not been shared.
Hugs,
marlene
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