Safer? Sure. But it's also uglier

To the editor:

Community Board 8’s traffic and transportation committee approved a proposal submitted by DOT in May for enhanced crosswalks at Palisade Avenue and Kappock Street. This is now happening.

On April 28, 2015, the city’s transportation department did a one-day study that showed 40 people crossed Palisade between 5 and 6 p.m. Something had to be done.

DOT rejected putting stop signs at the intersection. They used various questionable rationales, including that stop signs could possibly cause more rear-end crashes. Instead of a simple cost-effective solution, their plan was to spend much more money rebuilding the intersection so it could be narrower.

Certainly the safety of pedestrians is important. But this really seems like overkill. How many people in the neighborhood attended that committee meeting or even knew this was in the works?

Why does the rebuilt intersection have to be a massive concrete structure, as if it were sitting at the center of Manhattan? At the very least, there could have been some green space built into the new sidewalk, in keeping with the character of the neighborhood.

This thing is an eyesore. DOT says it is making the streets safer, but it is also making them uglier.

Susan Hesse

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