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Heights Looks For Ways To HALT BQE TrafficBY LIZ KOCHComplaining bitterly that 16-wheelertrucks lumber down their neighborhood sidestreets early in the morning, some BrooklynHeights residents met with local public officials and representatives from the Stateand City Departments of Transportation(DOT) on Dec. 4 to seek solutions to a trafficproblem they say has been worsening in recent years. Residents also expressed fearthat impending repair work on the AtlanticAvenue overpass of the BQE would rerouteyet more traffic onto their streets.The community forum, co-sponsored bythe ad hoc Heights Alliance to Limit Traffic(HALT) and Rep. Stephen Solarz, was attended by some 150 people, many of whomlive on Hicks and Clinton Sts., the twoHeights streets they say bear the heaviestburden of traffic.%u201cWe have to live with air pollution, noisepollution, horn honking, irate drivers, rumbling foundations and the constant rat-a-tat-tatof traffic,%u201d said Steve Schlam, chairman ofHALT.Although the group did not reach any conclusions on unified action that night, local officials in attendance, including Solarz, Councilmember Abe Gerges, AssemblywomanEileen Dugan and Democratic DistrictLeader Joan Millman, promised to supportthe community in its efforts to alleviate thecurrent problem.%u201cBrooklyn Heights is in danger of becoming a series of service roads for the BQE justas Cobble Hill is,%u201d Solarz said. %u201cWhat is atstake here is the future of some of the nicestneighborhoods in all of Brooklyn.%u201dA number of proposals were suggestedover the course of the evening, with manyresidents of the area favoring a change in thedirections of the streets at every block toeliminate through traffic. They also requested increased surveillance of Hicks St.and Clinton St. where trucks illegally use theresidential route to bypass the BQE, andwhere cars take Heights streets as an easierroute to the Brooklyn Bridge.Solarz proposed that Furman St. be usedfor traffic rather than Hicks St., a suggestionwhich received a round of applause, eventhough a few residents of Furman St. hadtheir own gripes about the traffic problemalong the waterfront street. He also suggested %u201ccreating a belt%u201d around BrooklynHeights that would encourage traffic to stayon Atlantic Ave. and use the Boerum Placeroute to the bridge.%u201cThe creative use of signs may helpdiscourage honking and keep trucks from using Hicks St.,%u201d Solarz said.According to Martin Doherty, BrooklynBorough Engineer for the City DOT, a signforbidding trucks to use Hicks St. waserected on Atlantic Ave. the day before themeeting.Most residents in attendance on Dec. 4complained of the safety hazard of havingtrucks rolling through their neighborhoodsLarry H olt of th e B H A (L) addressedthe panelists. From left: Eli Buchan,director, D etour Im plem entation G roup;Gerard Reninger; C ity DOT D irector forA rterial H ighw ay C oordination; A lb ertEdelstein, of the S ta te DOT; and M a rtinDoherty, C ity%u2019s B rooklyn BoroughEngineer. (P h oenix/K och Photos)Brooklyn Heights is in danger of becoming a series ofservice roads for the BQE just as Cobble Hill is. What isat stake here is the future of the neighborhoods of Brooklyn.where children walked to school as well asthe high level of noise.%u201cIn the morning, traffic is backed up fromJoralemon St. to Atlantic Avenue. I don%u2019tneed an alarm clock in the morning. I have tosleep with earplugs because of the trucks,%u201dEllen Bate, a resident of Hicks St. said angrily-%u201cI was told it is not a Department ofTransportation policy to protectneighborhoods,%u201d Richard Corbisieno fromHicks St. said. %u201cCommercial traffic is illegaland yet the trucks continue to use our street,%u201dhe said.Residents of Furman St. complained thattraffic made the turn at Furman St. and Cadman Plaza West at 50 mph, endangering theirchildren and causing frequent accidents.Schlam outlined the goals of the groups aslimiting the existing traffic and stopping anyproposed increase. In this vein, members ofthe audience questioned Albert Edelstein,Regional Structures Engineer for the NewYork State Department of Transportation onthe construction work that is being scheduledon the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. According to Edelstein, the plan to begin work onthe Atlantic Avenue overpass has beenmoved to 1988, rather than spring of 1987when it had originally been set.He said plans for detouring BQE trafficfrom the bridge during construction werestill being considered. %u201cA number of differentalternatives are being looked at. All of themhave their advantages and disadvantages,%u201dEdelstein told the audience, many of whomlaughed at the statement.%u201cWe want to know who is making the decision on the traffic and why,%u201d Barry Commoner said.Edelstein said that one proposal consideredwould enlarge the entrance and exit ramps atAtlantic and route northbound traffic off theBQE and across Atlantic Avenue to the entrance ramp on the other side of Atlanticwhere traffic would enter the highway again.Southbound traffic he said would exit ontoFurman St. and pick up the BQE after thebridge.An alternate proposal, he said, would be topermanently widen the BQE, therebycreating extra lanes that could be used during work on the bridge. This proposal,however, he warned would add $3.5 million tothe cost of the project and extend the construction time from 2 years to 3 years.At the end of the meeting residents in attendance voted to affirm that they indeed didbelieve that there was a growing traffic problem in Brooklyn Heights. HALT also putforth a resolution approved by the audiencethat City and State Department of Transportation do an Environmental Impact Study forthe proposed BQE work to assess the noise,traffic and air pollution problem. They alsorequested that HALT be consulted on allaspects, current and in the future, of trafficrelated issues in Brooklyn Heights.St. Nick Makes His Yearly Visit To The Lefferts Homestead In The ParkThe appearance of St. Nick (left) and other figures from the traditionalDutch Christm as (right) brought 18th Century holiday cheer to ProspectPark%u2019s Lefferts Hom estead on D ecem ber 6. In the days when Brooklyn wasm ainly Dutch, D ecem ber 6, St. N icholas Day, was the tim e for gift-givingand party-making, rather than Christm as. To keep the tradition alive, theProspect Park Environmental Center and the Prospect Park Adm inistratorsO ffice hosted a re-creation of th e traditional Dutch celebration in the Lefferts Hom estead, w hich is a restored 18th Century Dutch farm house. St.Nicholas arrived w ith his rascally assistant, Black Piet, and together theysorted out the %u201cgood%u201d and %u201cbad%u201d children, led the guests in St. Nicksongs, and treated everyone to hot cider and an afternoon of traditionalholiday m errim ent. (Phoenix/Spiegier Photos)D ecem ber 11, 1986, THE P H O E N IX , Page 5