Streetfilms

". . . and Che Flaiey, I’m glad to see we have a spokesperson on this blog who speaks for the huddled non-white and uneducated masses"

No problem, son!

Needless to say I'm a white upper middle class type with a large apartment overlooking the promenade and a house in Amagansett. Not to mention extremely attractive sexual partners.

But seeing as how I came up from the streets this kind of advocacy and understanding comes naturally to me. Perhaps you could learn it with practice.

Hasta la victoria siempre!

Hey Flailey:

You said:
It benefits everyone except people who use the roads and/or are in cars or trade trucks or taxis or buses.

Not everyone can live close to the subway, and some people have jobs that involve tools and a work truck, rather than a computer and a desk. You may recognize these people, they are the people that come when you call your landlord to scream about the heat in your tasteful floor-through.

I realize these facts may come a revelation to you but these people also need to get to their homes and/or jobs elsewhere in Brooklyn.

I say 'I hear ya' but commercial traffic like work trucks are already banned from PP so that's not the issue.

Denton

I'm not going to respond to the more opinion-based comments on here, only because there are too many.

But I would like to respond to questions of why I didn't move the barrier myself, or at least why I didn't move it earlier.

1. I have moved the gate myself in the past, but on some occasions have been told by the police to wait for a Parks Department van to do it. (Others have commented here that they've had similar experiences, although I've never experienced anything I'd call harassment.) This time, I decided to see what would happen if no one did anything.

2. When the man approached me and suggested moving the barrier, I did not hesitate to help. That did not stop people from driving through the open space anyway. (See #5, below, on this subject.)

3. There are things for which people depend on the police or parks officials. Should we have to count on a concerned citizen showing up at each entrance at 7:01 each night to shut the gates? As nice a sentiment as it is - concerned citizens unite! - it's not a very reliable system.

4. It's not always safe for a random person to walk across two lanes of traffic to erect a heavy gate, especially when you are blocking off a roadway to which, as many comments here have proven, many drivers feel a great sense of entitlement. (You can see a runner with the walk signal almost get hit in the video.) Regular citizens run the risk of raising the ire of motorists. A cyclist wearing spandex, a kid in a baseball uniform, or a runner in short jogging shorts doesn't convey the same level of authority as a police officer or a Parks Department employee in an van.

5. Relying on ordinary people to set up the gates increases the risk that they will be set up improperly, resulting in emergency vehicles being delayed should they need to enter the park. It's a bit of a paradox: the gates need to be set up so they send a clear off-limits message to regular motorists, but also so that they allow safe and quick access for police cars, fire trucks, ambulances and service vehicles. (The video clearly shows that such vehicles must be allowed unlimited access to the drive, regardless of car-free hours.)

Regarding the "Hey, it's only fifteen minutes," argument, I turned off my camera after the Parks Dept. van arrived. What is not seen are the four or five cars that still entered at 3rd Street, after the official set-up. Even at three in the afternoon one can see cars going around the barriers to cut through the park. Anyone who's focusing on the fifteen minutes is missing the larger point.

One last thing: this video is by no means a criticism of the good people who work in the park, setting up and taking down barriers and providing other valuable services, and no one would begrudge them a few minutes here and there. The longer video makes a point of saying that the problem is certainly not the fault of lower-level Parks Department employees. They are not the ones who provide only one van to close multiple entrances and they are not the ones who set park policy. Change will come from the top, when the Parks Department decides to install better gates and provide more resources to ensure strict adherence to opening and closing times.

Parks are for recreation. Period. Commuters - get out of the park. Come back when you want to have some fun, not endanger the lives of all those folks trying to enjoy the park.

Realitistism,

What is it with the bike comments? Plenty of us are using the park for running and playing with our kids.

I don't even own a bike. I gave it away a few weeks ago.

I just want a safe space to bring my kids to play. Central Park is a crazy place weeknights.

Bligo, they queue up because there are fewer traffic lights int he park and you are less likely to get caught speeding. Studies have shown that 99% of the traffic on the CP loop exceeds the speed limit, I don't know if similar studies have been done on the PP Loop but it is a similar situation, I would expect similar conduct.

Small in the sense that it doesn't take much longer to drive around. The park drive isn't a transverse, it's a loop on the outside edge, so it ought not save very much time except for red lights or unless you're speeding. It's not like driving around Central Park from West 86th to East 86th, which would take quite a while.

Poor, angry Flailey. Poor victim. We feel sorry for him.

It's funny how this has become about good and bad cyclists versus cars. Why? I've watched both videos and neither say that this issue is just about cyclists but rather that it's about people who want to enjoy the park without cars. We see people biking, but we also see joggers, kids, a woman walking her dog, etc.

But I guess some people just want to use every available opportunity to hate on hipster bikers.

Poor, poor Flailey. Victim of the yuppies and whites. We feel sorry for him. We do.

This is a fucking amazingly rocking site. I'll be checking back.

After looking through the pages of the link posted by "Nobody" above, I realized a few things.

#1 - "Flailey" is joking, mentally ill, or both.
#2 - The way his absurd comments generated support for cars in the park and focused the debate on bikes, "rich whites," and issues of class seems laughable now.
#3 - There is a bottom line...The park (Prospect, Central or any other) is no place for cars.

Flaily is totally correct. Cars weren't around before but now they are... it's not a big deal that they are using the park 5 minutes late. What has happened to this country where everyone has sand where it shouldn't be. This hall monitor needs to leave the city if this bothers him.

it's not about city workers being 15 minutes late here or there. that is not the issue.

the issue is that because people in the park are not expecting to encounter cars in the park after 7pm, each of those 40+ vehicles represents a potential accident/injury. simple.

I think a larger point is being missed here. Someone took the time to point out a subject of concern that they had in a creative way, and in a way that stimulated discussion.
There can be no real social change without social interaction and video, especially video online is a great way to facilitate that. Lets use the energy that we could spend on petty name calling and stereotyping and put it to a better use like making our city safer and more enjoyable. Lets stick to constructive and active discussion instead of hiding behind a fake persona so that we can label people.

excellent film!!!!!

I find it utterly unbelievable that in a city where cars can hardly go anywhere, and kids have sooooo much space to safely play, and joggers have all the space in the world to run, anybody would have the ridiculous idea to close prospect park for cars; Before you know it, we'll have NOWHERE left to go with our SUVs without stopping every minute. And the park is so laughably big, no wonder theres never a parking spot to be found. If you want a tree, drive upstate is what i say!

The discussion shouldn't be about opening or closing the park for cars, of for how long; but about the necessity of a park at all.
Don't just open the park, but destroy it, build an expressway, a couple of big parking lots and i think the neighbourhood could do with a decent shoppingmall finally!

The streets of the park were designed for people to drive into the park for the purpose of using the park recreationally. These streets are not designed for commuters to use as a cut-through.