Over the last few months I have been helping to organize a group that we are calling The Grand Army Plaza Coalition. It's a great project with a remarkable level of momentum, excitement and broad-based support. Below is a news blurb that went out in the New York City Streets Renaissance Livable Streets newsletter yesterday.

But first, here is an NYCSR short-film on the Grand Army Plaza Coalition by Clarence Eckerson.

And here is a great article by Park Slope Civic Council newsletter editor Ezra Goldstein on the history of Grand Army Plaza and its transformation from great urban civic space to "traffic circle of death."

FILLING THE GAP: THE GRAND ARMY PLAZA COALITION

Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza was designed to be one of the world's truly great civic spaces. Prospect and Central Park designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux laid out the sweeping, oval introduction to Prospect Park in 1867. The construction of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial arch, created by John Duncan in 1889, was an event of national importance. Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman laid the first stone and President Grover Cleveland presided over its unveiling ceremony on October 21, 1892.

Today, Brooklyn's plaza rivals the grandeur of European plazas like the Parisian Etoile where the Arc de Triomphe is located. There is, however, one notable difference: Unlike the great European plazas, Grand Army Plaza is, for the most part, disconnected from the city around it and devoid of human life and activity. Over the years, this great civic space has evolved into a gigantic traffic rotary. With minimal pedestrian connectivity, no accommodation for Prospect Park's countless cyclists, and six full lanes of one-way traffic whizzing around the plaza's grand arch and newly renovated $2 million Bailey Fountain, the message Grand Army Plaza sends to the public is, "Look but don't touch." It doesn't feel safe to cross the street to get to Grand Army Plaza so people simply don't go there, even on beautiful weekend afternoons with a bustling, crowded greenmarket, less than 100-feet away at the entrance to Prospect Park.

In recent months a diverse group of community stakeholders have come together to begin to re-envision Grand Army Plaza. What has emerged is one of the most exciting New York City Streets Renaissance projects. The Grand Army Plaza Coalition includes a rapidly expanding list of neighborhood groups, advocacy organizations and important local institutions like the Prospect Park Alliance, The Brooklyn Public Library and The Heart of Brooklyn which represents all of the cultural institutions around Grand Army Plaza, as well as neighborhood groups like the Park Slope Civic Council and the Prospect Heights Parents Association.

"Our mission is to fill the GAP," says Coalition organizer Aaron Naparstek. "We envision Grand Army Plaza as a great place for people, a place where Brooklyn's diverse communities can come together for concerts, festivals and simple relaxation and recreation. We believe that Grand Army Plaza is one of New York City's most valuable, yet under-utilized, assets."

For the past three months the Grand Army Plaza Coalition has been holding regular monthly meetings. The Coalition's immediate goal is to create safer, easier pedestrian access to the under-utilized center of Grand Army Plaza. Towards that end, members of the Coalition have met with New York City DOT's Brooklyn Borough Commissioner, Joseph Palmieri, requesting the installation of a crosswalk and pedestrian signal directly linking the greenmarket space at the Prospect Park to the Memorial Arch. The Coalition's longer-term goal is to conceptualize, encourage and advocate for a broad transformation of Grand Army Plaza.

Already, Coalition members are developing powerful strategies to transform the plaza. Transportation Alternatives and the Prospect Park Alliance have retained the renowned Danish urban designer Jan Gehl, whose Gehl Architecture firm helped London, Melbourne, and Copenhagen transform inefficient, traffic-clogged streets and squares into great pedestrian spaces and models of public space reclamation. The first phase of the study will be completed by June 2nd, when Gehl will present the key findings to the public at Grand Army Plaza.

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