Getting to this green space is no walk in the park.
The city must install traffic-calming measures next to Marine Park’s busy recreation area, locals are demanding. The entrance to the PS 278 playground on Fillmore Avenue offers no protection for pedestrians going to and from the park, and without a traffic signal or crosswalk, park-goers are forced to take their lives into their own hands crossing the avenue, one area nanny said.
“Nobody slows down,” said Sadie Fredericks. “You can’t cross here, it’s impossible.”
And cars whiz by so quickly that it’s difficult for elderly and disabled folks to traverse the span before another one is bearing down on them, said one handicapped Marine Parker who declined to give his name. He even inched into the intersection in his wheelchair thinking a stop light would give him a designated time to cross, but found himself in the middle of the road as cars kept coming, he said.
“There should be a stop light or a stop sign because it’s very dangerous,” he said. “I started going into the intersection and the cars had to stop and wave me through.”
And an ice cream truck that idles just feet away from the park’s entrance is the cherry on top, because it makes it tough for crossers to see cars coming as they try to traverse Fillmore Avenue, said area mom Yonah Benisti Dahan.
“The truck is parked right at the entrance and exit of the park, and it’s just completely blocking the view,” she said. “When you’re crossing the street with the kids, you need to walk into the street to cross, and the cars are just flying.”
But the ice cream truck is parking legally, a city spokesman said.
“We did not observe placement or permit violations,” said Jeremy House from the Department of Health.
Now the city will evaluate the intersection in considering a traffic signal, a Department of Transportation spokeswoman said.
“NYC DOT records show no previous requests to evaluate conditions at Fillmore Avenue and Madison Place, but we will initiate a new study at the intersection,” she said.
