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By Vanessa Ogle
Brooklyn Daily
Mill Basin residents say this right is wrong.
A new traffic island on Strickland Avenue that forces school buses to turn right down Mayfair Drive South before they can turn left into their depot has transformed a once-quiet street into a tumultuous thoroughfare, said one longtime local.
“I’m going to cry,” said Janice Forcht, who has lived in Mill Basin for 50 years. “Is this how I have to live?”
Locals say the construction began over the summer and they didn’t realize the impact the island would have on their neighborhood until it was too late. One resident said noisy buses zoom down her street and wake her up at dawn — and the problem has gotten so severe, she is now thinking about moving, even though she loves her home.
“These buses drive me crazy now — I want to sell my house, after 40 years,” said Olga DeDominicis, who said the buses wake her up at 4:30 am. “I don’t want to. This is pushing me to sell the house.”
Residents have started a petition to change the roadwork, or at least the stringent turning regulations. Forcht, who used to volunteer for the Democratic Party, said she is used to collecting signatures for petitions — but she said she never thought she’d be the one who would need the neighborhood’s support.
“My husband and I and my friends down the block — we have 50 signatures,” she said. “I’m used to fighting for other people, not me.”
Another neighbor insists the problem is only getting worse.
“Now it’s getting louder — much more buses are coming,” said Sandy Cohen. “You know what goes on in this world nowadays.”