Some of you know me already, probably because I chair the transportation committee for Brooklyn Community Board #1 (Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick) and you've seen me at meetings.  While I’ll post here about various transportation issues, I hope to branch out into other topics (though today is not that day).

I'm a Brooklyn native and lifelong borough resident who's watched in consternation as local neighborhood streets – where I used to play because the "local" park was too far away – grew too dangerous and/or unpleasant for any human to safely linger.

Although we're city dwellers, we have incrementally permitted the texture and quality of our public spaces to be dominated by vehicles, and we've now reached a point where we're under virtual house arrest because it's not safe or enjoyable to be outside.  That's not the Brooklyn I grew up in, I don't think that should be defined as progress, and that's why I joined the community board.

We need a people-first policy that guarantees safe passage so humans at all ages and levels of physical ability can use our streets; we need better truck management to ensure delivery of goods and services without ruining the peace of neighborhood streets; we need to speak out for attractive, safe public transportation; and we need to focus on smarter mixed-use development to reduce car dependence.

My next couple of posts will be about car dependence, land use and transportation (hint/spoiler: they’re interrelated).  I’ll throw some truck traffic advocacy in there too because we’re far past tipping point, but this mayoral administration has yet to cop to it (pun intended).

Last:  Please understand that my posts here are not made in my community board capacity, and the views I express here are my own and not to be interpreted as official CB1 votes or positions unless I specifically note it.

Thanks for reading.