Brooklyn Heights residents petition to save the promenade

Community members in Brooklyn Heights are pushing back against a proposal to temporarily close the Brooklyn Promenade as part of a plan to reconstruct the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
The proposal comes as part of a six-year plan by the Department of Transportation to repair the BQE and convert the promenade into a highway.
City officials have expressed preferences for converting the promenade as opposed to a lane-by-lane closure approach.
Some neighbors of the promenade say that the repairs should not come at the expense of the popular walkway known for its beautiful views.
Over 12,000 people have since signed a petition by neighbor Laura Winner to “Save the Promenade.”
Winner says she and the others rallying against the proposal just want the DOT to come up with another alternative.
"Taking down the promenade and building a six-lane highway is going to impose a level of air pollution, of noise, of visual blight on the community that will go on for at least six years and likely for a longer period,” says one neighbor.
News 12 Brooklyn recently learned that the Brooklyn Heights Association is also planning to introduce its own proposal to the DOT in the coming weeks.