Safer Sidewalks on 4th
Sidewalks are meant for people and streets are made for cars, trucks & bikes. But there are times that people must venture into the street and the safest place is in "crosswalks". For some reason, there seem to be NO rules for when vehicles "use" sidewalks.
Driveways are a common reason for cars "using" a sidewalk. But there are also businesses that use our sidewalks without driveways - the length of the business becomes one wide driveway. Businesses such as gas stations, auto repair shops and car washes are the most common ones.
Unfortunately, through the years, some businesses have encroached more and more on our sidewalks and now commonly consider the entire sidewalk as part of their business operation.
For example, repair shops parking cars on the sidewalk or actually working on them there. Car washes wiping down cars as they come out is another example.
Sunset Park's 4th Avenue has hundreds of elementary school students walking to class on sidewalks that "belong" to cars more than people. And each day they must play a game of chicken with metal vehicles a hundred times heavier than them. The "rule" of the sidewalk is the same as the rule at sea - "the larger object has control, the smaller ones must stay out of their path". That may be wise in the ocean, but in the streets of New York the opposite rule applies - a person in a crosswalk, even when crossing against the light, has priority over vehicles of all sizes.
We are asking for a logical compromise. We are asking that each instance where vehicles are allowed to cross 4th Avenue sidewalks, a narrow crosswalk be painted for pedestrians. Businesses must respect that crosswalk and not park blocking it, and when a vehicle crosses it they must yield to pedestrians. A simple and inexpensive way to return sidewalks to safe venues for pedestrians.
The wet sidewalks create a danger of slipping but this danger and the continual movement into the flow of traffic or parking partially on the sidewalk and partially in the street will pose an even greater danger when our protected bike lane is installed.
Note how pedestrians have to walk a "slalom" to traverse their sidewalk.
This car wash is the worst. The City allowed them to build to the existing building line and thus there is virtually no sidewalk whatsoever.
This gas station and P.S. 172 is a great example of the community and a business working together (with the help of the police station across the avenue). Unseen in the photograph are blue NYPD police barricades used along the gas pump line to focus cars and to remind drivers of pedestrian safety needs.
The first car wash pictured above demonstrated a willingness to work with the community and agreed to let us paint a sample crosswalk.
Pedestrians were thrilled and it was no hindrance to business, but the paint wore away very quickly. We need DOT quality paint and cross-hatching.
Some simple signage - "Yield to Pedestrians" would help to reinforce the safety plan.
To help convince the need for our "safe sidewalks" we might have to do a pedestrian count. Obviously, businesses that open after the children are safely in school pose less of a danger - but only until dismissal time.
Feel free to volunteer to help us on this project or share your ideas.
The car wash near 31st Street has virtually no sidewalk for pedestrians. The customer's cars leave a narrow band of sidewalk and that area is taken up by the carwash employees.
This is a public sidewalk not private property belonging to a business. The City should never have allowed this, but now the owners end this practice and be grateful for the many years we allowed them to do this at our expense.