Assemblyman Abbate Joins Fight to Stop DOT’s Conversion of Avenues into One-Way Streets

     Assemblymember Peter Abbate has joined a coalition of Brooklyn residents, who are suing the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT), in the hopes of stopping the conversion of a stretch of 7th and 8th avenues, between 39th and 65th streets in Sunset Park, into one-way streets, which would considerably impede the parking and freedom of movement in Chinatown for business owners and shoppers, reported PoliticsNY.

     “[The DOT] is just bypassing the whole system,” said Assemblyman Abbate, who represents Sunset Park, Dyker Heights, and parts of Bensonhurst. “They are just doing what they want to do and that’s not what city agencies are for.”

     On July 1, the DOT announced its plans to convert, later in July, the busy avenues into one-way streets with protected bikes lanes.

     The DOT said that its plans will provide safety upgrades, however, the Chinese-American community immediately protested because 8th Avenue runs straight through the commercial hub of Chinatown, which is already packed with small businesses, delivery trucks, and both foot and car traffic.

     On July 1, the Asian Association of America and other members of the community brought their perspective on the safety upgrades to the Municipal Transportation Bureau in Manhattan, however the DOT said that it would forge ahead, anyway.

     “The first response from people in the neighborhood is that we’re talking about the center, the main artery of Brooklyn Chinatown,” said Wai Wah Chin, founder of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Greater New York (CACAGNY).

     A one-way street running through Chinatown would make getting around much more difficult for small businesses to receive shipments, for people to move around, and would also lead to a shortage of parking spaces. 

     “The DOT was not listening,” Chin said earlier in the month. “They were telling what was going to happen as opposed to listening to the community.”