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Closing Bell: Spotlight on Bike Parking for Smith St.
Today Streetsblog posted a short film taking a look at the bike racks installed on a dangerous corner of Smith and Sackett Streets this summer. The corner was known for accidents because drivers approaching the intersection from Sackett couldn’t clearly look out onto Smith due to parked cars blocking their line of sight. DOT cleared out some parking spaces on Smith Street for eight bike racks, making it New York’s first on-street bike parking facility. Looks good!
Making Streets Safer With On-Street Bike Parking [StreetFilm]
01/04/2012 4:00 PM
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City Counts More Bicyclists
Yesterday the Department of Transportation released findings saying that the number of regular bicyclists has increased by 8 percent this year, with an average of 18,846 cyclists a day counted at six locations: The four East River bridges, the Hudson River Greenway on 50th Street in Manhattan, and the Staten Island ferry terminal in Manhattan. According to a City Room article about the report, while the DOT says the findings are meant to show trends rather than present a tally of the total number of bicyclists in New York, some have accused the DOT of cherry-picking its stats. The article quotes John Pucher, a planning professor at Rutgers and a bicycling advocate, like so: “‘New York City D.O.T. is only picking those spots where bike commuting is increasing the most,’ he said, and leaving out the Bronx and eastern parts of Brooklyn and Queens.”
Number of Bicyclists Keeps Climbing, City Says [City Room]
Photo by S. Diddy
12/09/2011 9:30 AM
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Closing Bell: Free Ride Ending in Prospect Park
Cops are going to start enforcing traffic regulations for cyclists in Prospect Park, according to Patch: “Summonses will be issued to any biker who is driving the wrong way, speeding, riding outside of the bike lane and or driving in a way that is dangerous to others.” The increased enforcement will start after this weekend, when the NYPD will hand out fliers detailing the rules of the road to cyclists. The move follows recent bike-pedestrian accidents in the park.
Racing Bikers Beware! [Patch]
Pic by Karen Foto
11/30/2011 4:00 PM
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Safety Measures Mulled for Prospect Park Loop
Today The Times has a story about how the city is trying to make the Prospect Park loop safer following a few recent accidents in which bicyclists have hit pedestrians. Temporary orange traffic barrels have been installed on a stretch of the road in an attempt to make bikers slow down, though it’s unclear whether they’re working: “On Saturday afternoon, some cyclists navigated through them with ease, rarely braking as they rode down the hill and through the intersection. Others appeared confused, weaving into the pedestrian lane rather than continuing through the narrow funnel created by the barrels. One unsteady in-line skater crashed in front of the center row.” Other measures being considered include “stronger law enforcement, new traffic patterns, better signage and an educational campaign.”
Prospect Park Takes Steps to Slow Cyclists [NY Times]
Photo by h-bomb
11/21/2011 10:30 AM
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Lawsuit Filed Over Bicycling Accident in Prospect Park
The Post reports that a woman hit by a bicyclist in Prospect Park last summer is suing the city for $3 million. The suit alleges that the Parks Dept. and the NYPD are “negligent, careless and reckless” when it comes to enforcing traffic regulations in the park. The woman, Dana Jacks, was hospitalized for 25 days following the accident. Over the summer, Jacks also filed a lawsuit against the bicyclist, who countersued, saying Jacks was “unlawfully outside the crosswalk.” The lawsuit comes as the city examines traffic calming in the park. Yesterday the Daily News reported on a community meeting about the issue in which some said that cars should be banned from the park and others said cyclists are “out of control” and don’t obey traffic lights. Two weeks ago another pedestrian was hit by a cyclist in the park and is still in intensive care.
Woman Hit by Cyclist Sues City for $3M [NY Post]
Bicyclists and Pedestrians Spar at Prospect Park Community Meeting [NY Daily News]
Photo by Ahmed ElHusseiny
11/18/2011 9:00 AM
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Plans Outlined for Future Downtown Greenway
Last night was the third round of NYC DOT community workshops for the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, and it focused on the Downtown Brooklyn segments of the 14-mile route. DOT presented eight projects (there are 24 projects, or geographic segments, in total) of the final route plan that spanned from Williamsburg Street West along Flushing, through Vinegar Hill, down into Dumbo and through Brooklyn Bridge Park. There aren’t specific time lines for the segments, as some will be done along with city sewer and water main repair work, and funding for all of them still has to be secured. A few interesting points: The addition of “smooth cobble” bike lanes throughout Vinegar Hill and Dumbo (the setup is pictured above), a revamp along Flushing Avenue and Williamsburg Street West, and a continued greenway on Kent Avenue South. Click through for the details on all eight projects…
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11/03/2011 10:00 AM
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Closing Bell: A Glimpse of Bike Share at the Flea
Here’s a shot of the bike share demo that was set up at the Flea on Sunday. The demos let folks check out the sort of bikes that will be available through the program and get a sense of how the kiosks will work.
10/25/2011 4:00 PM
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Bicycling and Transportation Justice
In advance of the bike-sharing roll out, a Gotham Gazette article looks into how and where the city installs bike lanes, and cites a study by Hunter students: “The Hunter students warn that we could be developing an even more segregated system of transportation: bicycle lanes, public plazas, and a safe and healthier environment in the wealthiest parts of the city – Manhattan below 96th Street and Brooklyn’s upscale neighborhoods – where bike lanes are concentrated and heavily used, while the rest of the city gets congested roadways, declining bus service, and unsafe conditions. Some people mistakenly think that bike lanes cause gentrification; this is clearly not true since cyclists in New York are truly a diverse population, representative of the majority which is Latino, African American, and Asian. But the myth is perpetuated by many real estate developers anxious to sell their new condos. Though bike lanes don’t cause racial, ethnic and class divisions, if they are perceived as only for the affluent young newcomers in spandex , and everyone else is invisible, the bike network won’t serve the majority of the population.” The article suggests that in some cases anti-bike community board members have too much of a say and have impeded the installation of bike lanes.
Making Bikes a Part of the Neighborhood [Gotham Gazette]
10/25/2011 10:00 AM
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More Holdups for the Greenpoint Avenue Bike Lane
Plans for new bike lanes near the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge have been in the works for awhile, but now they’re being held up because Community Board 1 isn’t thrilled about the loss of parking they’ll involve. The current Greenpoint Avenue bike lane begins at West Street and stops just short of the bridge. The DOT plans to continue the lane onto the bridge, creating two bike lanes and a buffer zone on the bridge itself. (Streetsblog’s got an image of the proposal.) The bike lanes planned for the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge itself are a done deal, says Karen Nieves of CB1′s Transportation Committee, but the lanes leading to and from the bridge are the ones that the community has problems with.
Click through to get the specifics on the plans, including the controversial loss of 50 parking spaces near the bridge… (more…)
10/07/2011 12:00 PM
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New Bike Lane Painted by Pier 6
This is how the new bike lane running next to the existing greenway on Columbia Street was looking as of Saturday. The lane, which is one of several street improvements the DOT is implementing near the entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6, runs from Atlantic Avenue to Congress Street. The purpose of it is to move bikes off the sidewalk path next to the water.
Some Strides on Street Upgrades Near Pier 6 [Brownstoner] GMAP
Street Upgrades Near Pier 6 Starting This Month [Brownstoner]
10/03/2011 12:00 PM
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Making the World a Safer Place…
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09/30/2011 1:11 PM
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Brooklyn Dominates Bike-Commuting Leaderboard
In a recent blog post about the state of the New York City rental market, real estate start-up Naked Apartments compiled a list of the neighborhoods with the highest proportion of bicycle commuters. Not surprisingly, Brooklyn held three out of the top five spots, with Bushwick leading the pack. Brooklyn also led the pack in another department: the number of rental units. Brooklyn has over 660,000 units, followed closely by Manhattan with around 590,000. Staten Island brings up the rear with 60,000 or so.
The State of New York City Rentals [Naked Apartments]
09/30/2011 11:15 AM
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Prospect Park West Bike-Lane Lawsuit: The Sequel
Here we go again! Yesterday Streetsblog reported that the opponents of the Prospect Park West bike lane had filed a motion to appeal a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge’s decision in August to dismiss the initial suit against the lane. Most of the motion is taken up with language about why an appeal is “procedurally appropriate,” though this bit seems to be the meat and potatoes of the basis for the appeal: “Specifically, an appeal will permit review, in light of the case law mandating that statute of limitations disputes be construed against the agency asserting the defense, of Petitioners’ evidence that the PPW bike lane was installed on a ‘trial’ basis, and that Respondents did not decide to permanently install the lane until January 2011. The questions to be raised thus involve sharply disputed factual and legal issues that merit appellate consideration.” In other words, the opposition groups Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes and Seniors for Safety are looking to revisit claims about when the city decided to install the lane permanently. Streetsblog also has a quote from a city attorney saying “We are confident that our win will be upheld on appeal.”
Bike Lane Opponents File Appeal in Prospect Park West Lawsuit [Streetsblog]
Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against the PPW Bike Lane [Brownstoner]
09/28/2011 9:00 AM
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Planting Tacks in Bike Lanes
[blackbirdpie url="https://twitter.com/#!/Brownstoner/status/118703829993787392"]
09/27/2011 11:11 AM
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Details About the Roll Out of the City’s Bike Share
The Observer has details about the bike share program the city’s expected to start implementing next summer, including word that 10,000 bikes will be part of it and that there are going to be around 600 stations. Those stations will “stretch from the Upper East and Upper West sides down to the tip of Manhattan and over the bridges into Brownstone Brooklyn, reaching as far as Greenpoint and Crown Heights.” Alta Bike Share, the Portland-based company responsible for D.C.’s bike share program, will helm the one here; yearly memberships “should cost less than the price of a monthly MetroCard.”
Bike Share Will Be 10,000 Strong [NYO]
Photo of D.C. bike share racks by davereid2
09/14/2011 12:00 PM
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‘Reckless PR Stunt’ Over PPW Bike Lane Continues
Oh, man, the Prospect Park West bike lane foes just refuse to go gently. The latest bid for attention from Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes and Seniors for Safety lawyer Jim Walden demands that the DOT remove the lane. However, as The Observer reports, the letter is probably just a technical formality that’s necessary before another lawsuit can be pursued. Transportation Alternatives sent out a press release in response to the letter that said the following, in part: “In their desperate quest for headlines, the opponents of the street safety improvements on Prospect Park West continue to ride roughshod over the wishes of local residents. These malcontents had their day in court, and their groundless case was dismissed. The people of Park Slope have endured this reckless PR stunt long enough.”
Dear DOT, Tear Out This Bike Lane NOW! [NYO]
PPW Bike Lane Opponents Aren’t Fazed By Dismissal [Gothamist]
Anti-Bike Lane Groups Demand DOT Remove PPW Bike Path [Patch]
08/22/2011 10:00 AM
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No Bike Parking? Really?
While it may be technically illegal (is it?) to lock your bike to sign posts like these, until the city installs more bike racks around town it’s just a fact of life that these are going to be used instead. Frankly we can’t understand why a homeowner would care if a bike was locked to a curbside sign post (as opposed to a front gate or something else actually on his property), but it looks like someone on Grand Avenue in Clinton Hill has taken matters into his own hands, which begs the question of whether it’s legal to attach non-DOT-sanctioned signage to these poles. If it is, there should at least be some requirement for the signs making grammatical sense. Or maybe this is some absurdist statement of the obvious rather than a warning not to do something.
08/19/2011 10:45 AM
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Bike Racks for Scary Carroll Gardens Intersection
Carroll Gardens resident Jeremy Charette sent in this pic of bike racks being installed this morning at the corner of Smith and Sackett, saying that in the seven years he’s lived nearby there have been “countless car accidents” at the intersection: “Problem is, drivers coming from Sackett Street can’t see around parked cars on the Southeast corner of the intersection, making it a blind corner. Cars tend to roll through the stop sign on Sackett Street, and at least 1 or 2 a year get t-boned by vehicles coming down Smith Street. This year they finally put up a ‘no standing’ sign for the two spots before the corner, but cars and trucks STILL park there! I came out this morning to find this! They’ve painted the no parking zone, put up a curb, and are installing bike racks!” Pardon Me for Asking, which also took note of the bike rack installation, has a photo of an accident at the corner last summer. GMAP
08/18/2011 12:00 PM
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‘War’ of Words Continues Over PPW Bike Lane
Following a judge’s dismissal of the lawsuit over the Prospect Park West bike lane, the attorney for the plaintiffs Jim Walden told The Brooklyn Paper it was “just the first battle in what is inevitably going to be a longer war.” Walden’s rhetoric is being criticized by Seniors for Civility and Neighbors for Better Neighbors, two neighborhood groups formed in support of the lane. In a statement, Bill Carey, founder of Neighbors for Better Neighbors, had this to say in a statement: “we’re saddened to see that the plaintffs’ attorney, Jim Walden, would characterize Judge Bunyan’s decision as ‘just the first battle in what is inevitably going to be a longer war.’ Our community is not a battlefield and the work of making our streets safer does not ‘inevitably’ have to be a ‘war.’ Mr. Walden’s clients can graciously accept Judge Bunyan’s decision and move on…We encourage the plaintiffs to drop the martial language and the legal crusade, and join with their neighbors to continue the work of making our streets calmer and safer.” Walden, meanwhile, is quoted today in the Eagle as saying that “the battle continues” and that the judge “dismissed our petition without prejudice, saying that DOT never made a decision concerning removal of the bike lane based on the safety study. He invited us to demand removal, and if DOT does not comply, we can re-file the lawsuit.”
08/18/2011 9:30 AM
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Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against the PPW Bike Lane
The battle over the Prospect Park West bike lane may finally be over, as a judge dismissed the legal challenge against the lane yesterday. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Burt Bunyan said the plaintiffs filed their claim too late based on when the city installed the lane. The lane’s supporters did a victory lap in response to the news. Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan had this to say about the decision: “The plaintiffs have been dead wrong in their unsupported claims about the bike path and DOT’s practices…Merely not liking a change is no basis for a frivolous lawsuit to reverse it.” Meanwhile, Councilman Brad Lander said this in a statement: “I am proud of the community-driven process, through which neighborhood residents requested the bike path, suggested modifications, and approved the modified design this spring. Ever since the bike path was first proposed four years ago by Park Slope’s representatives on Community Board 6, this has been an inclusive, transparent, and community-driven process. While I respect those who do not like the bike lane, this is the way our government is supposed to work.” As the Times notes, the judge didn’t address claims that the DOT had presented misleading statistics to the public about the lane. So is this really the last we’ve heard from the project’s opponents? Not necessarily, according to the Observer: Jim Walden, the attorney for the groups suing the city, said in a statement that his clients will review the judge’s analysis and consider an appeal.
City Prevails in Prospect Park West Bike Lane Challenge [Observer]
City Wins Prospect Park West Bike Lane Suit [BK Paper]
Judge Rejects Groups’ Effort to Remove Bike Lane [NY Times]
08/17/2011 9:00 AM
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zipport
May 21, 2012 | 02:16 PM