CB6, Fifth Avenue BID Going After Bike Lane
The Fifth Avenue BID wants to do away with the bike lane that runs from Carroll Street to 24th Street, and Community Board 6 is listening, reports Streets Blog. The BID argues that the bike lane makes it too difficult for trucks to make deliveries to the many businesses that line the avenue and that…
The Fifth Avenue BID wants to do away with the bike lane that runs from Carroll Street to 24th Street, and Community Board 6 is listening, reports Streets Blog. The BID argues that the bike lane makes it too difficult for trucks to make deliveries to the many businesses that line the avenue and that more tickets are getting issued as a result. CB6 District Manager Craig Hammerman has suggested a compromise—downgrading from a full-fledged bike lane to sharrows, lighter-weight markings. “The proposed scenario wouldn’t do anything to help delivery drivers find curbside spots,” writes the blog, “but it would force cyclists to kiss their dedicated space goodbye.” Streets Blog thinks the answer lies in a fledgling program that’s been experimented with along Fifth Avenue that makes metered parking more expensive at peak times.
Fifth Ave BID, CB6 Take Aim at Park Slope Bike Lane [Streets Blog]
P.S. Now there is idea to reduce private car use in Brooklyn! Allow metered taxis to pick people up on the street just like in Manhattan! I bet you could make a decent living just driving your taxi from Flatbush to 16th and back along 5th and 7th.
southbrooklyn,
As for the practicality:
Imagine going up to a restaurant and telling them you are putting the loading zone for the block outside their business and that their customers can look forward to lots of diesel exhaust and the nuisance of product being unloaded from trucks and moved down the block while they have lunch.
Then go to every business on the block and tell them to stagger their delivery times so that no two businesses receive deliveries at the same time.
Then repeat this 30 or 40 times (you’ll have to do both sides of the street).
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Forbidding parking (or increasing fees) on 5th will prevent some people from shopping or going to restaurants there which will hurt local businesses (whether or not YOU think people should use cars to shop or go out to eat is not the issue…). Preventing employees from driving to work just limits the pool of employees that owners can hire from (resulting in worse employees, higher costs, or both).
It will also increase parking pressure on all the side streets which will make it more aggravating for residents to park on the street. I already considering it too aggravating to own a car, but many of my neighbors do not. However, they have limits as well. If their limits are crossed, they have to decide whether to (1) give up the car or (2) leave the neighborhood. Even if only 20% choose option #2, that will affect demand for property. It can be a pain to raise children in the city without a car…
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Manhattan is an entirely different situation. All of the neighborhoods that are more expensive the Park Slope are, in many ways, a more convenient places to live (i.e., less need of a car), and you can walk out of any store or restaurant in Manhattan, go to the curb, wave your arm, and get a cab.
I do so miss those nice yellow cabs…
> Brilliant.
I’ll have to agree with you, ENY, lest I face further accusations of being a contrarian.
if they’d invented those jet space-bikes by now (like they promised when I was a kid would be here by the year 2000) none of this would be a problem.
“AKA Tour de Snark.”
Brilliant.
“As a result most of the major stores that once lined Fulton closed, most of the restaurants did too including the venerable Gage and Tollners.”
Meanwhile changing consumer tastes, the national decline of department-store retailers, the rise of online shopping, the fact that Gage & Tollner’s primary clientele had either died or long ago moved on to other areas, that had nothing to do with the closing of these retailers. It was all due to the sixties urban design project. Meanwhile, millions of people continue to shop here each year. Apparently, that really bothers sam. I wonder why?
> this is all covert bike/bike race warfare.
AKA Tour de Snark.
northsloperenter writes:
“I’m sorry that some delivery-people are inconvenienced by this. There are solutions for this problem. For instance, a dedicated loading/unloading zone on every commercial block is a good idea.”
Absurdly impractical.
“It disincentivizes private car use, which is clearly desirable”
If you take the cars out of Brooklyn, property values will go SPLAT.
******
Why is it “absurdly impractical” to have a dedicated loading zone on every commercial block? Wouldn’t that do wonders to improve the flow of traffic of all kinds on 5th Ave., bicycle and car?
And why do you equate a disincentive to use a private car with taking cars out of Brooklyn? Who said we should take cars out of Brooklyn?
I’d bet that not a few of the cars parked on 5th Ave. belong to those who work on the avenue and that they are parked there all day. How would it cause property prices to “go SPLAT” if those folks were charged the going rate for commercial parking rather than a measly $4 a day? And if we charged more for parking on 5th, we would certainly reduce the number of people who choose to drive to their jobs on that strip and thus we would have room for both loading zones AND parking for people who drive there to shop etc.
Double parking on 5th Ave. makes traffic there a nightmare. It slows the buses down to a crawl. It creates potentially hazardous situations for pedestrians. It makes it more dangerous to ride your bike. Solving the delivery problem would vastly improve the experience for everybody. It clearly needs repeating that the problem of double parking isn’t caused by the bike lane.
Finally, I’m pretty sure that Manhattan has some of the lowest rates of car ownership in the city. Funny how that hasn’t made the property values there go splat.
Better streetscapes mean increased property values. A serious plan to address the dysfunctions of 5th Ave. is something all nearby owners should be hoping for.
this is all covert bike/bike race warfare.