Inside the PPW Bike Lane Hearing
This week a lawsuit was filed against the city for the Prospect Park West bike lane, so Community Board 6’s public hearing on the lane last night was bound to be a showdown. And indeed, the John Jay auditorium was full as bike lane supporters and detractors took the mic to reiterate familiar arguments. You…
This week a lawsuit was filed against the city for the Prospect Park West bike lane, so Community Board 6’s public hearing on the lane last night was bound to be a showdown. And indeed, the John Jay auditorium was full as bike lane supporters and detractors took the mic to reiterate familiar arguments. You can read more details here, here and here; we captured some of it on tape for your viewing enjoyment. Above is the president of Seniors for Safety, a group involved with suing the city. Click through to hear from a bike lane supporter and another bicyclist who calls for across-the-board increased safety measures on city streets.
Speaking of which, on my way to the farmer’s market on Saturday, in the few minutes I was walking along PPW I saw at least a dozen kids riding with their parents in the lane. It was about as clear a refuting argument as can be made about the “unsafe” bike lane. No bikes on the sidewalk, no speeding cars, lots of happy families in the lane – you can bet NBBL was not videotaping *that* scene…
Also, what Morralkan and many others of his generation consistently fail to understand is that the PPW is not just about *recreation*, it’s also about *transportation*.
Sure, if you want tot just “take in scenery” you can ride in the park. But if you’re getting from the GAP farmers market to your home with a bunch of kids, the park loop is more or less useless.
No one rides the PPW bike lane (or most other lanes) just to go back and forth. They do it from point A to point B and back!
It’s kind of hilarious that *morralkan* is a retired teacher(I think I read that in his profile or one of his comments), given his juvenile style of expression. Perhaps that’s the way teachers spoke in the “Welcome Back Cotter” era?
Hey morralkan — bite me.
tybur6, you continue to demonstrate that you possess VERY limited intellectual firepower. You probably weren’t even a start pupil in the special ed classes you attended all those years. I don’t know if you are a biking hipster. So far, your comments only evidence your stupidity.
And, as said before, dirty_hipster, congratulations to you on your survival crossing streets. Some people, perhaps just a bit older than you, might not have the same experience and might not be quite as agile as you are. But as long as YOU are happy, that’s all that counts.
btw, I think it’s quite amusing you think I’m some sort of biking hipster. quite amusing actually.
“As to the dirty hipster, it’s wonderful that you can cross a two way bike lane. Still, that does not mean that such a lane should be on what is essentially a ONE-WAY street. Congratulations to you, nonetheless, on having survived this experience 1000 times.”
why not? the bike lane i cross is the same as the PPW bike lane. i have experienced no hipster on bike vs hipster on foot carnage.
There is a simple fix, and one which has been shown to work. Install signals at the major intersections for the bike lanes. Require bikers to stop at the intersections at 3rd, 9th, 15th with the same timing as the cars. Then pedestrians can cross from curb to curb.
It may cost a few thousand dollars, but at least I won’t have to hear this argument AGAIN.
morralkan — bite me.