NEIGHBORS FOR BETTER NEIGHBORS Seniors for Civility

For Immediate Release July 26, 2011 Contact: Gene Aronowitz, Seniors for Civility, gene.aronowitz8@gmail.com, 718-753-3553. Bill Carey, Neighbors for Better Neighbors, wac0202@gmail.com, 718-810-3295.

Witch Hunt on Prospect Park West.

Park Slope Applauds Justice Burt Bunyan for Protecting Community Members From Frivolous Prospect Park West Bike Lane Law Suit and Harassment Campaign. Over-the-Top Subpoena Drop Spurs Formation of Neighbors for Better Neighbors and Seniors for Civility.
Brooklyn community members are cheering today after Kings County Supreme Court Justice Burt Bunyan compelled the anti-bike lane group Seniors for Safety / Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes to withdraw a flurry of recently issued subpoenas and stop harassing Park Slope community members. Justice Bunyans order comes after attorneys from the City of New York moved to slap a temporary restraining order on Jim Walden, the out-of-control corporate litigator representing a handful of disgruntled Park Slope residents seeking to eliminate the Prospect Park West bike path and traffic calming project. In recent days Seniors for Safety / Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes issued at least a half-dozen subpoenas to respected Park Slope community advocates, including: ! Tom Miskel, Community Board 6 member and former Park Slope Civic Council President. ! Craig Hammerman, Long-time Community Board 6 District Manager. ! Richard Bashner, Former Community Board 6 Chairperson and Prospect Park West resident. ! Paul Steely White, Executive Director of non-profit, member-driven Transportation Alternatives and Park Slope dad. ! Steve Levin, City Council member, District 33. Weve always enjoyed the annual Park Slope Halloween Parade on Seventh Avenue, said Rich Greenspan, a construction project manager who owns an apartment on Prospect Park West where he lives, walks, bikes and drives with his wife and two daughters, ages four and six, every day.

he lives, walks, bikes and drives with his wife and two daughters, ages four and six, every day. Unfortunately, some of our neighbors must think Halloween came early this year because their bike lane law suit has become a witch hunt. In response to bike lane opponents metastasizing law suit, community members are forming two new neighborhood organizations called Neighbors for Better Neighbors and Seniors for Civility. We clearly need a new group on Prospect Park West called Neighbors for Better Neighbors. Like the majority of my neighbors, I feel that the new Prospect Park West is nicer, safer and more accessible, said Bill Carey, a Rockefeller University lab administrator, jazz musician and new father who has lived on Prospect Park West for seven years. I applaud Justice Bunyans action today. These subpoenas were clearly meant to silence and intimidate good, hard-working neighborhood advocates. I believe community members ought to talk to each other and work together rather than using a $700/hour corporate attorney to beat each other up. In a bid for headlines last week Jim Walden subpoenaed city officials including DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. This weeks round of subpoenas were issued to community members who have no special or unique knowledge about the facts that underlie plaintiffs claim that the City redesigned Prospect Park West in an arbitrary and capricious manner. The older you get, the harder it can be to deal with change, said Gene Aronowitz, a 73-year-old Sunset Park resident who regularly uses the new bike path to do his shopping in Park Slope and keep himself healthy and mobile. But the redesign of Prospect Park West is a change for the better. I invite my fellow seniors to join me for a bike ride and sign up for my new Facebook group, Seniors for Civility. Prospect Park West is a safer, more inclusive street for everyone, young and old; by two-wheels, four-wheels or by foot. The Seniors for Safety v. NYC DOT case is an Article 78 proceeding, a legal procedure intended to provide a quick resolution to arguments over the legality of administrative actions by local government. By law, an Article 78 proceeding provides for little discovery of evidence beyond the public record. Serving subpoenas in an Article 78 proceeding is extraordinarily unusual. Rather than using Article 78 to move toward a speedy resolution of his law suit, attorney Jim Walden appears to be using the proceeding to harass and smear community members, local leaders and DOT officials, and drag the legal process on as long as possible. Background on the Prospect Park West Community Process: The community-driven process to redesign Prospect Park West started in 2006 when a Park Slope Civic Council community survey found that speeding, dangerous pedestrian crossings and lack of bike access on PPW was a top concern in the neighborhood. In June 2007 Community Board 6 formally requested that DOT study the installation of a two-way bike path on PPW. In April 2009, after a series of community workshops hosted by the Grand Army Plaza Coalition, DOT presented the Community Board 6 transportation committee with a concept plan for a two-way bike path on PPW. The committee voted unanimously to support the concept. A month later, the full Community Board voted to approve the PPW bike path and traffic-calming project. There have been at least four separate Community Board votes approving the Citys redesign of PPW and independent surveys, public demonstrations and meetings have repeatedly shown broad support for the project.

After the June 2010 redesign of PPW, a group of residents including former DOT commissioner Iris Weinshall, former Deputy Mayor and political consultant Norman Steisel and Brooklyn College Dean Louise Hainline decided to sue the City and launch a political campaign aimed at tarnishing NYC DOTs Sustainable Streets program. - 30 -