In the past week or two, there has been a petition circulating in the neighborhood opposing turning Wythe Avenue into a truck route – a solution first proposed here. Is DOT up to something constructive? Maybe – if so, hopefully they are doing it right this time.

Running Kent Avenue one way makes a lot of sense for reasons other than making room for the greenway (as Congresswoman Velzquez has said). It will mean a spillover of traffic onto Wythe Avenue, but done properly, it should not mean a reduction in quality of life on Wythe. The big thing is that DOT needs to make the changes to Wythe and Kent in conjunction with larger changes to the neighborhood overall. In a nutshell, DOT needs to recognize that Williamsburg and Greenpoint have been zoned away from manufacturing (ideally, they would have done this in 2005, when the rezoning actually happened, but I digress). DOT also needs to enforce the existing rules, and get through truck traffic off the streets of Williamsburg and Greenpoint.