In the summer of 2006, Brooklyn residents living around the Grand Army Plaza (GAP) mobilzed to take a traffic survey of the area.

Tired of waiting for the NYC DOT to improve pedestrian and bike access to GAP & Prospect Park, neighborhood leaders formed the Grand Army Plaza Coalition (GAPCO) which evaluated how traffic patterns could be modified to benefit pedestrians, and in some cases, drivers!

Perhaps the most interesting and inspiring facet is that while members had varied levels of transportation experience, their recommendations and observations show that residents usually know how their own neighborhoods work better than an outside planner. And yet, so often is the case that planners and engineers ignore residents input.

At nine minutes, this StreetFilm comes in a bit long, but we want this to be a historical document - to galvanize people across the city to band together and demand changes neighborhood safer. Hopefully, this model will be replicated.