Glebe Avenue will not be changing directions.
Community Board 10 held a public meeting on Tuesday, December 13 to gauge public reaction to a possible direction reversal for Glebe Avenue between Westchester Avenue and Glover Street.
Attendees were staunchly opposed to the reversal, so it is highly unlikely to take place in the near future.
The reversal was being considered because cars were frequently turning off Westchester Avenue and driving several feet against traffic, to get to the Planet Fitness on 2121 Glebe. The board will now look at other ways to address that problem.
The main opponents to the reversal were the senior citizens who live at the Glebe Avenue House senior residence, and use the Glebe Senior Center, which are located in the same building on the block.
The seniors were concerned that a reversal would complicate getting on and off buses in front of the center, a process that is currently facilitated by a fire hydrant in front of the building that creates a perfect loading and unloading area.
“They were really appalled,” senior center program director Sarah C. Thompson said about the proposed reversal. “They were very upset about this proposal.”
The building, run by the New York City Housing Authority, has 132 senior residents. Another 20 use the senior center.
Community Board 10 district manager Ken Kearns said the seniors were the driving force against the traffic reversal.
“It would be a great inconvenience for the access-a-ride vans, which they depend on to go back and forth from activities,” he said.
Kearns added that not a single person at the meeting spoke in favor of the traffic reversal.
Instead, the community board’s Municipal Services Committee will head back to the drawing board to suggest of other ways to remedy the problem caused by the gym members.
“Signs, lights, rumble strips,” Kearns said, listing other possible tactics. “There will be another meeting of the committee, where we’ll look at other methods to see how we can control the tendency of those drivers.”
Bill Weisbrod can be reached via e-mail at wweisbrod@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 742-3394. Follow him on Twitter @bweisbrod
