*The first item on the agenda of last night’s Transportation and Public Safety Committee meeting was a presentation by Aqualis Grill at 773 Fulton Street. Representatives were there requesting a sidewalk café license for five tables outside the restaurant.

*There were several residents in attendance to support a proposal by Green Fort Greene & Clinton Hill to add extensions/links to existing bike lanes running through our neighborhood. The presentation was given by Mike Epstein, who is also a member of the Transportation and Public Safety Committee. Mr. Epstein’s presentation highlighted the need to address the following problems:

• Bike lanes on dead end streets
• Gaps between bike lanes
• No safe westbound bike lane crossing Flatbush Avenue
• No safe bike lane crossing Atlantic Avenue

He shared a graph demonstrating that the majority of pedestrian and bike crashes in our area occurs along Flatbush Avenue (at the intersections of Fulton Street, Lafayette Avenue and Atlantic Avenue).

The three proposed links are:

• Extending the existing Ashland Place bike lane (currently ends at DeKalb Avenue) southward on Rockwell Place to Lafayette Avenue; a contra-flow lane (against the normal flow of traffic) westward on Lafayette across Flatbush to Schermerhorn Street and Third Avenue; then a contra-flow lane southward on Third across Atlantic.
• Extending the eastward bike lane on Lafayette Avenue (currently ends at BAM) to Carlton Avenue; then add a northward lane on Carlton to Willoughby Avenue. This will allow riders to travel east through Fort Greene and Clinton Hill on Willoughby.
• Extending the Vanderbilt Avenue bike lane (currently ends at Dean Street) northward across Atlantic Avenue to Flushing Avenue; create an interim (future site of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway) lane on Flushing to link several neighborhoods to the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges.

The Committee voted in support of the concept (not the specifics) of the extensions.

*Ms. Galin Brooks, who has been soliciting feedback on the “Community District Needs” from each committee, ended the evening with a brainstorming session highlighting some of the transportation and public safety needs within Community Board 2. The list includes:

• Traffic enforcement!
• Countdown signals at major intersections
• Red light, speed and bus lane cameras
• Residential parking permits
• Addressing continuous subway disruptions
• Addressing annual treats of subway and bus route cuts

Her findings will be prioritized and presented to city officials.