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The Brooklyn Paper / Robin Lester

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After months of dilly-dallying, the city has finally embarked on the final phase of its plan to reduce the speed of cars on Carlton Avenue in Fort Greene.

This week, the city began building a median down the road between Myrtle and Park avenues, the final part of a plan that began in May, when the avenue was converted from a one-way speedway into a two-way speedway.

The idea was to slow traffic on the notoriously fast-moving block, but, without a concrete median down the middle, residents complained that the street just got more dangerous.

“We still get the speeders, particularly in the rush hours,” said Robert Poles, who lives midway down the avenue, at the time. “We see no slowing down of traffic.”

The concrete median should finally fix the problem, now that drivers won’t be able to make dangerous, mid-block U-turns, or swerve around double-parked cars with such frightening ease.

Even so, this being Brooklyn, some locals are still complaining. The beef this time? Fewer parking spots.

“Parking is going to be a pain,” said nearby resident David Brooks.

Alicisa Griffith, who on Tuesday had just pulled into the last available parking spot on the block, agreed.

“Now, I have to fight for a parking spot under the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway, which is dirty,” said Griffith.

But not everyone was a naysayer.

“It’s looks good to me,” said Betty McQuillar. “It will stop the kids from U-turning [in the middle of the street], which will prevent accidents.”

“Change is good,” she added.

©2007 Community Newspaper Group