Rethinking Grand Army Plaza: Safety and Utility

In addition to making us aware of one of the more interestingly-named pieces of Brooklyn History–the Death-O-Meter installed in Grand Army Plaza in 1927–this weekend’s article in The Times addressed the growing movement to remedy the user-unfriendliness (in addition to safety issues) of one of the borough’s most prominent symbols. A coalition of existing groups and activists, led by Aaron Napstarek, have already brought in Jan Gehl, the prominent urban planner, to study the traffic patterns and pedestrian potential for the circle. We’re certainly excited about the idea of making the area around the arch a destination spot . As the Grand Army Plaza Coalition’s Napstarek puts it, “The plaza was really designed to be one of the world’s great urban civic squares.” In the near term, though, there are myriad studies to be done, meetings to be held and bureaucratic processes to navigate. But we have a hard time envisioning who would be against something like this, so there’s reason for optimism.
The Circle Game in Park Slope [NY Times]
Fixing Grand Army Plaza [Curbed]
Photo by Subliminal Rendezvous