From: gap-coal@googlegroups.com [mailto:gap-coal@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Aaron Naparstek
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 1:17 PM
To: gap-coal@googlegroups.com
Subject: Sunday's GAP Coalition Meeting, Follow-up & News

Dear All,

Sunday's meeting of the Grand Army Plaza Coalition was productive and
energizing. In case you missed it, below is a brief recap, some
follow-up notes, and one very exciting new development:

Tupper Thomas, president of the Prospect Park Alliance presented plans
for the redesign of Eastern Parkway. She also unfurled a big, detailed,
full-color Grand Army Plaza redesign plan from the late 1980's that
included a number of very innovative pedestrian and public space
improvements. 

We decided that a good short-term project for the Coalition would be to
push the city to install a pedestrian signal and crosswalk linking the
greenmarket to the arch. There is already a traffic signal and painted
white stripe and, technically, enough time for pedestrians to cross at
this location (especially if the traffic lanes could be narrowed
somewhat). Tupper is calling DOT's new Brooklyn Borough Commissioner to
set up a meeting. You can see the crossing in the aerial view of GAP
that I have uploaded.  

Janet Kinney, Cindy Friedmutter, and Arthur Chang from the Brooklyn
Public Library were all in attendance and we decided that next month's
meeting would include a presentation on the library's plans for its new
front plaza. Keeping with the monthly schedule, we set our next meeting
for Sunday, May 21, 6-8 pm at the Brooklyn Public Library.

Christopher Hrones, who works professionally as a transportation planner
for one of the area's major engineering firms, offered to lead a
walk-through and "safety audit" of Grand Army Plaza on Saturday, May 6
at 2 pm so that we can all start getting on the same page about specific
problems and potential solutions at GAP. I'll let Chris explain it in
more detail here on the Google Group. 

Transportation Alternatives is making a major contribution to the
Coalition. On Monday, executive director Paul Steely White confirmed
that TA would hire the renowned Danish urban public space designer Jan
Gehl to do a "quality analysis" of Grand Army Plaza. Gehl will be in
town on Friday, June 2 to discuss his findings. Between now and then
Jeff Risom at Gehl Architects in Copenhagen will need volunteers to help
with some data collection around GAP. Stay tuned for more details. And
learn more about Gehl here:
http://www.pps.org/info/placemakingtools/placemakers/jgehl

I think there are probably some good ways to connect Chris's audit
project and Gehl's analysis. Chris and I will discuss this and let you
guys know what we come up with. 

--Aaron Naparstek