Letter to Close the Gap on Ashland.docx

March 6, 2025

Dear Mayor Adams and NYC DOT Commissioner Rodriguez,

Ashland Place is the gateway into Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn — one of our city’s fastest-growing cultural and economic centers. While NYC DOT’s recent redesign of the Ashland-Navy corridor has successfully calmed traffic, improved pedestrian safety, and introduced an essential 0.8-mile two-way protected bike lane, one critical block—Ashland Place between Hanson Place and Lafayette Avenue—remains unchanged and dangerous. Making this entryway to Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn safe and welcoming for everyone benefits local businesses, LIU and schools, residents, hospitals, cultural institutions and others, but this missing link jeopardizes safety and connectivity. We urge you to implement the remainder of NYC DOT’s plan that is supported by the community and local elected officials.

Since its 2004 rezoning, Downtown Brooklyn has transformed the area into a vibrant mixed-use district, attracting residents, workers, students, and visitors alike. In 2024, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership (DTBK) released a report looking back at 20 years of downtown Brooklyn’s astronomic growth, stating “Downtown Brooklyn’s exceptional transit network, proximity to Manhattan, historic position as the borough’s civic center, and adjacency to great residential neighborhoods, laid the groundwork for the scale of development that has occurred.” The city’s recent $84 million investment in the L10 Arts and Cultural Center comprised of Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Brooklyn Public Library (BPL), the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) and 651 ARTS, at Ashland Place and Lafayette Avenue is a testament to this growth, yet the surrounding streetscape does not reflect the same commitment. A disjointed and hazardous street design prevents safe access, undermining the very cultural and economic vibrancy that the city seeks to foster. With over 1,000,000 pedestrians walking the streets of Downtown Brooklyn during peak hours, we must ensure that this key entry point supports the district’s continued success.

Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn deserve a safer and more welcoming environment for pedestrians. Local stakeholder DTBK has emphasized the need to reorient streets away from cars and toward pedestrian, cyclist, and mass transit use, and has made progress in the area. Its Public Realm Action Plan, developed in collaboration with WXY Studio, focuses on connectivity and community, establishing a cohesive network of pedestrian-friendly streets. NYC DOT’s plan for Hanson Place to St. Felix Street is a shared street with treatments that prioritize pedestrians and infrastructure to slow vehicles to a 5 MPH speed limit. We were told these changes, which would greatly enhance the pedestrian experience next to Atlantic Terminal – a major MTA and LIRR station – a busy Citi Bike dock, and the shopping complex, should have been implemented over a year ago. We must commit to improving the pedestrian environment in the area, aligning with broader goals of sustainability and urban livability.

Additionally, Ashland Place between Hanson Place and Lafayette Avenue is the missing link in Brooklyn’s protected bike lane network, connecting neighborhoods from Sunset Park to Fort Greene to Williamsburg and to the Brooklyn Greenway. Ashland Place also serves as a vital corridor for cyclists accessing Manhattan, reinforcing the city’s efforts to reduce congestion and encourage sustainable transportation. The fastest way to get from Ashland Place and Hanson to the Brooklyn Bridge is by bike, highlighting Downtown Brooklyn’s proximity to Manhattan. After implementing congestion pricing, we must prioritize safe, high-quality bike infrastructure. New Yorkers used the Hanson Place and Ashland Place Citi Bike station over 155,000 times in 2024 — docking a bike or starting a ride at this critical intersection on average every three and a half minutes, making it one of Brooklyn’s top 10 busiest docks.

We appreciate that DOT has been very responsive to feedback from the business community on the Ashland corridor redesign. For example, BAM had originally raised concerns about their ability to load productions in and out on Ashland Place. It was reported that DOT revised the design to add loading zones to accommodate BAM’s needs. We believe that the redesign, including the promised loading zones, will benefit businesses in the area.

We urge NYC DOT to fully implement its promised redesign of Ashland Place. This includes:

Converting Ashland Place between Hanson Place and Lafayette Avenue to one-way vehicular traffic.
Installing truck loading zones to support BAM and adjacent businesses.
Adding daylit pedestrian refuge islands to shorten crossing distances and enhance safety.
Constructing a two-way protected bike lane to complete the corridor’s connection.
Advancing the planned shared street from Hanson Place to St. Felix Street.

This redesign is about ensuring that Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn remains a thriving, accessible, and forward-thinking urban center. By implementing the full scope of the plan this spring, the City will uphold its commitment to safer streets, sustainable growth, and a more connected Brooklyn.

We urge you to act now.

Sincerely,