Committee News

Work with T.A.'s professional staff to make a difference in your part
of the city. Whether you are a good talker, artist, letter-writer or just a concerned citizen, T.A.'s advocacy committees need you.

Brooklyn Committee

Committee Chair: Clarence Eckerson, Jr.
Meets: Third Monday of the month at 6:30 pm at a location TBD. See Calendar, p. 26. Send us ideas for meeting spots.
Contact:
Web Site: transalt.org/Brooklyn and carfreeprospectpark.org
E-mail: Brooklyn@transalt.org
List serve: Brooklyn-list-subscribe@topica.com
Advocacy Campaigns:

• Car-Free Prospect Park: Cars do not belong in Prospect Park. www.carfreeprospectpark.org 
• Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming: Your neighborhood is not a BQE service road. Help win real pedestrian, bicycle and traffic calming improvements. gowanus@transalt.org 
• Brooklyn Hazard ID: Identify dangerous street conditions in Brooklyn. HazardID@transalt.org 
• East River Bridge bicycle counts: Document the number of cyclists to make a stronger case for cycling improvements. Bridgecounts@transalt.org 

Updates:

• Car-Free Prospect Park: Brooklyn T.A. staged a successful Halloween rally in Prospect Park. Members marched for a three month car-free trial and an extension of the Summer Hours to year round.
• Brooklyn Hazard ID: The crack squad is now checking up on how many potholes and road hazards have been fixed and will report its findings to the DOT.

Other:

Contact the committee if you are interested in being a part of a sub-committee participating in the South Brooklyn Transportation Study.

Visit the Brooklyn Committee Web site.

Bronx Committee

Committee Chair: Rich Gans
Meets: Once every two or three months. See T.A. Calendar, p. 26.
Contact:
E-mail: Bronx@transalt.org 
Call: 718-653-2203

Goals:

• re-open the Highbridge bridge, a pedestrian and bicycle bridge across the Harlem River.
• reinstate car-free sundays on the Grand Concourse.
• win a new segment of the Hudson River Greenway in Riverdale Park.
• pedestrian and cycling safety improvements.

Car-Free Central Park Committee

Committee Chair: Ken Coughlin
Meets: Regular petitioning in park, occasional meetings. Check www.car-freecentralpark.org.
Contact:
Web Site: www.car-freecentralpark.org 
E-mail: CentralPark@transalt.org 
List serve: Centralpark-subscribe@topica.com

Goals:

• collect 100,000 signatures on our petition to City Hall.
• Win a three month trial closing of the park to traffic.
• reach out to community groups.

Updates:

• In October, the petition drive passed 43,000-signatures.
• The car-free central park campaign's petition effort will continue over the fall and winter as weather and scheduling permit. If you know of an upcoming special event where we should petition, e-mail us at centralpark@transalt.org 
• We had a presence at a panel discussion on "an investigation into New York's parks politics," Tuesday Nov. 12 at the New York Public Library. Panelists included Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

Visit the Car-Free Central Park Web site.

Gowanus Expressway Task Force

Committee Chair: Michael Cairl, Gowanus Community Stakeholder Group Vice-President
Contact: Gowanus@transalt.org
Goal:

• T.A. is a core member of the Gowanus Community Stakeholder Group, which seeks to ensure full environmental review and an unbiased study of what it will take to replace brooklyn's hulking elevated Gowanus Expressway with a tunnel.