Avenue B Clean Up.

On December 2, Alphabet City along Avenue B finally got their wish and had the NYC Police force come in to tackle noise complaints and disorderly conduct. The Villager reports:

Blanketing the avenue with 25 to 30 officers on foot, in patrol cars and vans — as well as on horseback to provide visual presence — police targeted quality-of-life and moving-vehicle violations from 8:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., issuing a total of 99 summonses, making two arrests and towing seven cars.

Recently, with so many small bars and restaurants opening up, Avenue B has become the hotspot for young professionals and college kids. This is not the Avenue B I knew a dozen years ago when I first started hanging around the area. With the high volume of pedestrian traffic and Avenue B being the narrowist of the alphabet streets, congestion on the strip has forced many drivers to blow their car horn more often than not.

The police crackdown comes as Community Board 3 is considering possibly making a recommendation to the city’s Department of Transportation to change Avenue B from two-way to one-way northbound, as a way to lessen the problem of late-night traffic and honking.

I brought up the idea of a one-way Avenue B to two co-workers of mine who live in the area and both feel a one-way street would be a wise move. I have my reservations to the idea, but I do see the advantages of such a change.