As shooting incidents near Barclays Center snarl traffic, talk of new resources (from arena that benefits from zoning override) to ensure safer streets. OK. Though why not start with regular enforcement?

As I've said, the Barclays Center is a very tight fit, wedging in arena into--at least at the south and east ends--a residential district, and bordering two large malls and busy avenues.

There's little margin for things to go wrong, so even routine arena operations--especially for events that draw patrons driving their own cars or paying for a taxi/car service--can snarl streets nearby, and impose illegal parking and idling on residents.

That, I've suggested, could be ameliorated through automated enforcement, as long as there were the political will, which has long been absent.

Now, shootings nearby

In the past, week two separate shootings on Flatbush Avenue shut down blocks around Barclays for hours, prompting calls for a response involving the arena.

Not sure arena operators were indirectly responsible for two shootings nearby, but I bet significant $ for public services/safer streets could be raised if NYC enforced illegal parking/idling restrictions near arena https://t.co/fCsiMJvNv3
+then there's the tax-exempt property...

— Norman Oder (@AYReport) October 8, 2021

Enforcement is enforcement. Dedicated resources for dealing with a neighborhood hotspot associated with a State-sanctioned zoning override would be "special."

— Gib Veconi (@GibVeconi) October 8, 2021

Fair enough.

My point was they haven't even tried regular enforcement, which indicates an unspoken hands off arrangement.

— Norman Oder (@AYReport) October 8, 2021

My initial post concerned illegal parking/idling during arena events, but the presence of the arena has, not surprisingly, lured popular, high-volume restaurants like Shake Shack and, more recently, Chick-fil-A along Flatbush. And those restaurants draw drivers who double-park.

Local officials should be talking now about more/better enforcement, and/or redesign of Flatbush Avenue?

Is the arena indirectly responsible? Sure--and it can't be good for the arena to have streets shut down when an event is scheduled.

Knock-on effects

So Veconi, who with others unsuccessfully advocated for a Neighborhood Protection Plan that would have instituted residential parking permits near the arena, has a point. The city's willingness to let the state override zoning, which otherwise would bar arenas within 200 feet of a residential district, has serious knock-on effects.

Those have been exacerbated by the city's tacit unwillingness to provide even regular enforcement--it's part of the cost, imposed on locals, of having a "world-class" arena. Maybe these latest incidents will spur action to both regular and special enforcement.

Not traffic but guns

But there's also an argument for, well, cracking down on guns and those who shoot them. 

After all, there was a third shooting relatively nearby, at a playground that's part of the Gowanus Houses as Wyckoff and Bond streets. That can't be blamed, even indirectly, on the arena. (Here's the GoFundMe for the teen victim.)

The summaries

From the New York Daily News, 10/2/21, Motorist veers into oncoming traffic after he’s wounded in shooting near Barclays Center in Brooklyn:

A motorist veered dangerously into oncoming traffic near Brooklyn’s Barclays Center after a pistol-wielding man fired at his car and wounded him, police said.

The 21-year-old victim was behind the wheel of his Nissan Xterra on Flatbush Ave. near Atlantic Ave. at 3 p.m. Friday when the suspect fired multiple shots into his red SUV, said cops.

From Patch, yesterday, Man Opens Fire Near Barclays Center, Cops Say:

A suspect who opened fire near the Barclays Center on Thursday afternoon is still on the loose in Brooklyn, according to police.

The man fired off a gun near Flatbush Avenue and Pacific Street just before 3 p.m. according to an NYPD spokesperson. He did not hit anything with the bullets, the spokesperson said.

Police originally said officers on the scene had shot at the suspect, but later said those reports were incorrect. Officers did not fire back at the man, an NYPD spokesperson told Patch around 5:15 p.m.