At a recent forum (coverage in Bklyner), the two mantras I stressed to understand Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park were "It's a never-say-never project" and "The devil's in the details." (Yes, I'll write about that forum.)
Let's not forget another important mantra, one of five: "It's a very tight fit."
That means that the project, which is wedged into a residential neighborhood at the southern and eastern borders, offers little margin for error during construction activities and arena operations. One small change can have ripple effects.
Consider the scene I viewed this past Sunday afternoon, 6/23/19, at around 4 pm, at Dean Street and Sixth Avenue.
What was going on?
Well, the B65 bus that typically travels east along Dean Street had to be diverted because of a block party.
But Sixth Avenue was already narrowed--note standard 8-foot scaffolding--because of construction at the B15 site, 664 Pacific Street.
In fact, it could--and perhaps should--have been narrowed more, to protect neighbors from the incredibly loud sounds of excavation at that site.
After all, Empire State Development, the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, had previously decreed 16-foot fences necessarily to protect residents on Carlton Avenue and Dean Street from noisy, work. That constricted those blocks considerably, given the need to encroach on the streetbeds.
Had such 16-foot fences been required for Sixth Avenue here, plus segments of Dean and Pacific streets, that might have protected neighbors but significantly constricted vehicular passages.
Two temporary factors
On Sunday, when I took that photo, Sixth Avenue was further constricted for two reasons. First, a police vehicle parked in a small area where the road widened, because the fence angled back. That might not cause a problem for regular-sized vehicles, but for a bus--or a truck--it posed problems.
Second, as hinted in the foreground of the photo, two-lane, two-way traffic on Sixth Avenue was hindered by a vehicle (a taxi, actually) standing outside the residential building 38 Sixth Avenue. Southbound vehicles had to go around it.
After a lot of honking, and some adjustment by southbound drivers, the bus managed a turn, and continued its route. No huge harm done, beyond the temporary noise.
It was a reminder, though, that the margin for error is slight. It's a very tight fit. And the residents forced to endure loud drilling during weekday and Saturday work--for a school that might've been in another location, farther from existing residences--surely know that.
Let's not forget another important mantra, one of five: "It's a very tight fit."
That means that the project, which is wedged into a residential neighborhood at the southern and eastern borders, offers little margin for error during construction activities and arena operations. One small change can have ripple effects.
Consider the scene I viewed this past Sunday afternoon, 6/23/19, at around 4 pm, at Dean Street and Sixth Avenue.
What was going on?
Well, the B65 bus that typically travels east along Dean Street had to be diverted because of a block party.
But Sixth Avenue was already narrowed--note standard 8-foot scaffolding--because of construction at the B15 site, 664 Pacific Street.
In fact, it could--and perhaps should--have been narrowed more, to protect neighbors from the incredibly loud sounds of excavation at that site.
After all, Empire State Development, the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, had previously decreed 16-foot fences necessarily to protect residents on Carlton Avenue and Dean Street from noisy, work. That constricted those blocks considerably, given the need to encroach on the streetbeds.
Had such 16-foot fences been required for Sixth Avenue here, plus segments of Dean and Pacific streets, that might have protected neighbors but significantly constricted vehicular passages.
Two temporary factors
On Sunday, when I took that photo, Sixth Avenue was further constricted for two reasons. First, a police vehicle parked in a small area where the road widened, because the fence angled back. That might not cause a problem for regular-sized vehicles, but for a bus--or a truck--it posed problems.
Second, as hinted in the foreground of the photo, two-lane, two-way traffic on Sixth Avenue was hindered by a vehicle (a taxi, actually) standing outside the residential building 38 Sixth Avenue. Southbound vehicles had to go around it.
After a lot of honking, and some adjustment by southbound drivers, the bus managed a turn, and continued its route. No huge harm done, beyond the temporary noise.
It was a reminder, though, that the margin for error is slight. It's a very tight fit. And the residents forced to endure loud drilling during weekday and Saturday work--for a school that might've been in another location, farther from existing residences--surely know that.
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