Politics Trump Sanity in Bedford Bike Lane Battle
If you’re looking for a sign of the Hasidic community’s political clout in this town, look no further than the removal of 14 blocks of bike lanes on Bedford Avenue in South Williamsburg yesterday. As reported on both Gothamist and StreetsBlog, DOT was out sandblasting off the white lines that used to protect bikers on…
If you’re looking for a sign of the Hasidic community’s political clout in this town, look no further than the removal of 14 blocks of bike lanes on Bedford Avenue in South Williamsburg yesterday. As reported on both Gothamist and StreetsBlog, DOT was out sandblasting off the white lines that used to protect bikers on this central thoroughfare through North Brooklyn. As you may recall, the matter first reared its head last summer when some members of the local Hasidic community protested the bike lane on the grounds that some of the bicyclists who frequented it were too scantily clad; another argument floated against the bike lane had to do with “the large number of schools, stores and religious institutions.” StreetsBlog notes that the Mayor reportedly cut several deals with the leaders of the Hasidic community to gain their support. Circumstantially it looks like this was one of them.
City To Remove 14 Blocks Of Bike Lanes On Bedford Ave. [Gothamist]
DOT Sandblasts 14 Blocks of Bike Lane [StreetsBlog]
Photo by Elizabeth Press
My suggestion – continue to ride your bikes on the street as if the lanes were there. There is no law saying cyclists can’t ride their bikes in the street. Well, not yet anyways…
HYPOCRISY ALERT: The City/DOT has poured tons of money and manpower into bicycle lanes/parking/etc – and now they are REMOVING lanes? Doesn’t this contradict their goal?
As far as I’m concerned that makes all of the jay-walking Hasidics fair game when I’m heading along Bedford on my way to the Williamsburg Bridge.
I got hissed at once by an old Japanese man. Old japanese men make a sucking/kissing sound with their teeth when they disapprove of something.
I walked into a sushi restaurant and sat down next to him and then in walked my friend T. Iwata, who is gay, and sat down next to me and gave me a kiss.
That wasn’r the end of it. The Japanese man couldn’t contain himself and got up after a young Japanese girl and a 7′ tall black man came in and sat down next to us!!!
The whole thing was truly comical.
Tell me who she is, DH- I’ll smack the crap out of her 🙂
“I got hissed at once by a hasidic woman whilst walking on Division one day. :(”
Because you are a dirty hipster!
dh- as one of the tribe, I have been told I am redeemable becuase my mother was Jewish. (Well, so is my entire family but its that old bloodline thing. I have been known to snipe at Jewish family and friends who have been less than nice about other groups so I am an equal opportunity hate bias type person – but I will love you forever if you ever make me the old-fashioneds you once promised!
bfarwell- not nits, and you said it very well. My problem is my brain is running faster than I type and I was actually replying to billyb but it got all balled up with what I was saying to you. Sorry I wasn’t clearer.I get a bit sensitive over this stuff because it tends to degenerate into a**holes like billyboomer taking potshots. But you made a very good point and I do have to agree with you on the language.Nuts! I hate that! 🙂
dh- you sure she wasn’t whistling at you??
bxgrl- i hadn’t said they were a cult, that was… [scrolling] billyboomer(?). I think they’re safely part of judaism, which is still categorized as a religion.
(not actually sure what the modern difference between a religion and a cult is, though… number of followers?)
While I agree that calling hasidim dirty/smelly/etc. is one of those things we use to categorize groups as ‘other,’ dehumanize them and safely hate from a standpoint of ignorance, I still bicker with the use of ‘antisemitic’ to describe hating on one little part of the religion. Bigoted, ignorant, hateful, stupid, sure.
If I harsh on pentecostal holy-rollers as a bunch of snake-handling backwoods inbred nitwits, am I anti-christian?
bigoted, ignorant, biased, etc., sure. But it’s not the same as saying that everybody who digs jesus is a miscreant.
(nits, i know.)
bxgrl – FWIW (which is usually not much when i’m making a statement, haha)
most of my orthodox friends themselves refer to the hasids as a cult. (certain sects though – i think they said the lubavitches are cool, as someone stated above)
I got hissed at once by a hasidic woman whilst walking on Division one day. 🙁