By Lillian Rizzo
In the middle of West Sixth Street lies a cement island that is a refuge to some and aggravation to others.
Smack in the middle of the former-four lane street, the pedestrian island was added in June by the Department of Transportation in hopes of making an accident-prone corner safer. But the island has caused nothing but headaches for the local business owners down the block.
“The reason we had it done was because we had three pedestrians killed on West Sixth,” said traffic officer Sgt. Joseph D’Esposito of the 62nd Precinct. He added that despite the fatalities he had not called to request the traffic island.
D’Esposito said from January to May 2010 eight reported pedestrian accidents occurred at the intersection. Since May 5 there were only and no one was injured. Since May there were only two accidents and no one was injured.
DOT spokesperson Nicole Garcia said the island was created as a city initiative to make streets safer for seniors, allowing them more time to cross. The island gives them a midpoint in the wide intersection.
But the addition also cut out two lanes of traffic and eliminated the left turn onto Kings Highway, causing the uproar from Kings Highway business owners situated on the left of West Sixth Street.
At first drivers didn’t notice the two new signs indicating no left on the corner and made illegal turns, according to Kings Highway business owners. Once it was apparent they couldn’t do this anymore, getting to east side of Kings Highway after going south down West Sixth Street became a hassle.
Rather than going down West Sixth Street and all the way around the block to get to the corner pizzeria, Key Food, and other small stores, drivers just kept on going straight. As a result, the businesses suffered the effects almost immediately, according to Century 21 owner and realtor Robert Scaglione.
“I have five firehouses that shop here and they all complain,” said Randy Abed, who has owned Key Food for 15 years. Abed said his business took a direct hit. When customers were forced to travel the extra blocks to get to the front of Key Food they would lose out on parking spots. Instead they would just go down the block and make a right at the competing Met Food, where parking was easier.
To compensate for the non-left turn inconvenience, Abed hired a valet service for $800 per week. He said the service, which he pays for himself, brought back 90 percent of his customers.
Across the street from Key Food, Scaglione, of the Century 21, said the change disrupted his clients’ route as well as those of the residents down West Fifth Street.
Scaglione said that now delivery truck drivers have to take the route down West Fifth, which residents have complaints about. “Now kids can’t play in the street,” he said.
Although this change was made for safety issues, the business owners think efficient solutions can be found to create safer conditions and keep the left turn legal. Abed suggested creating a delayed traffic light or installing traffic signs that count down the seconds until pedestrians can longer cross safely.
Business owners also pointed out that now emergency vehicles can’t get down West Sixth as easily when there’s traffic and the island creates a block.
“Does it really help us? No not at all,” said Scaglione.
On June 2, resident Lealand Morgan wrote a letter of complaint to DOT Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Joseph Palmieri. The letter not only spoke for the businesses, but for residents annoyed by the street change. After the letter and a rally against the island, those that complained were told they would get a response by the end of July. But Scaglione said they still haven’t heard back from the DOT.
While business owners have realized the removal of the island is unlikely, they haven’t stopped filing complaints about it and Abed said he is going to continue doing so.
Last week Abed called 311 to complain that the grass on the island had not been cut since the island was constructed and the weeds were growing tall. By last Saturday everything had been trimmed, though the cut weeds had not been removed from the sidewalk of the pedestrian island.
He says he looks forward to the winter, to see how the DOT will handle the snow that could pile up on the island.
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