What: Rally
When: November 8, 1999, 12-12:30 pm
Where: Grand Army Plaza entrance, Prospect Park.

Monday, November 8th marks the return of Prospect Park to the 'dark ages', as weekday car-free hours are rolled back and cars are once again allowed on the loop drive 24 hours a day. To mark the occasion, park users will demonstrate at the Grand Army Plaza entrance to the park to pose the question: "Why exactly are the cars back in the park?"

In February, DOT Commissioner Wilbur Chapman announced an extension of weekday car-free hours in Prospect Park to 9am to 5pm and 7pm to 10pm, and promised to study the effects of the new hours. The new car-free hours proved a resounding success: joggers, walkers, cyclists, skaters, and families basked in newfound tranquility, and children - for the first time - could safely enjoy a car-free park after school. Park officials reported no problems, and traffic was not noticeably affected. However, despite the success and an unfinished study, DOT has irrationally and unceremoniously dumped the weekday car-free hours.

Prospect Park is Brooklyn's crowning jewel-an oasis from the noise, tumult, and hectic pace of city streets. But when the park is open to automobile traffic, it becomes a dangerous and hostile place where pedestrians and bicyclists, children and families, must take their lives into their own hands. DOT took a step in the right direction last spring when they extended the car-free hours. But by once again allowing cars into the park 24 hours a day, they are turning Frederick Law Olmstead's masterpiece into a no-man's land. If the goal of this move is to discourage park use and to endanger users, then DOT will succeed magnificently. Everyone want to know-why not keep the weekday car free hours?

Alan Mukamal, chairman of Transportation Alternatives' Brooklyn Committee stated:
"DOT and Parks added 3 hours a day to the existing "summer" hours in March. While not the car-free trial period that the community, four council members, Community Board 6, many community groups, and countless park users had strongly advocated for, the public ate up these new, critical, after-school hours. DOT and Parks now want to take these hours away again. Can we now afford to roll-back this great boon to all of Brooklyn's quality of life for the mere convenience of a handful of motorists?! No way!"