Stephanie Wong Spoke Out for Sunset Park Against Keith Bray and the DOT’s One- Directional Plan for 8th Avenue
Community Board 10 had a Traffic and Transportation Committee Meeting last week.
I was cheering for Stephanie Wong and the united group of people present at the meeting. Stephanie Wong went “all Brooklyn” on Keith Bray and the DOT’s ridiculous one-way direction plan in Sunset Park. I was raised in Sunset Park and the people are all heart and speak their mind. They stand up for each other.
Stephanie Wong told the DOT: “You don’t live here. We live here. We work here and we shop here – not you. You sit at your desk in front of your computer. We know what we need – not you. This plan is for DOT – it’s not for us.“
Wong requested a better plan where the community has a say. This plan did not include the community and DOT has failed. She said, “We are not invisible. We have raised our voices.” Then she spoke in Cantonese and the community cheered for her! (Stephanie Wong, if you ever see this, please run for office because Brooklyn needs you.)
Peter Abbate was awake and easily roused the crowd. They cheered for him because the community was not involved in this plan (95% of the merchants are against the plan). Abbate was able to point out many problems with this plan.
Although Sunset Park is represente by Carlos Menchaca, he was not present at the meeting as he is terrm-limited and will be out of office in January. No other elected official was present for this meeting. Councilman Justin Brannan should have been there to support Abbate as the end of our district is involved. Abbate called out the DOT representatives for not revealing who was supporting this one-way plan.
The meeting was at Park Asia which was a great move by Community Board 10. I like that an interpreter was present to include everyone as well! You can watch the meeting here:
Community Board 10 Members did a great job standing up for our area and Sunset Park as well.
Jayne from Community Board 10 is the principal of PS 69. SHE KNOWS THAT COMMUNITY AND CARES because her children and their families live there. A one-way conversion near the school didn’t solve the traffic problem and she fears that the one-way conversion will hurt 7th and 8th Avenue.
Joe from the Community Board 10 said the bus stops were too far apart for the seniors.
Josephine made sure everyone’s concerns were presented at the meeting.
Steve Harrison said this change would hurt the commercial cyclists on 8th Avenue. I always appreciate Steve’s view because he sees things from different angles and always presents a unique view on something.
Dean from Community Board 10 called out the Mayor for trying to push this on the community before the mayor left office. Dean’s a great representative for the community.
When I went on social media to see what the people said about the meeting, people spoke out against Abbate and didn’t seem to understand that Sunset Park is fighting this because it will hurt small businesses. (See here)
Sunset Park is an immigrant community and the area is constantly taken advantage of. Someone is doing the wrong thing here and Bay Ridge will be affected because 65th Street and 7th Avenue will become more dangerous.
Finally, if you are passionate against this one direction plan, I urge you to send Keith Bray a message here. WHY? Keith Bray hates to be bothered and will do whatever he can to get rid of you so he doesn’t have to hear from you ever again. (We got our street paved right away when we bothered him.) So if you have something to say – let him know!
Hugs,
marlene
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »