PPW Bike Lane Foes Gearing Up to Sue the DOT?!
Good heavens, is it possible that the Prospect Park West bike-lane brouhaha is going to drag on longer than the Williamsburg one did? It sure is seeming that way. WNYC reports that “Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes,” a group that questions the city’s rationale for installing the lane, is not giving up. The article says…
Good heavens, is it possible that the Prospect Park West bike-lane brouhaha is going to drag on longer than the Williamsburg one did? It sure is seeming that way. WNYC reports that “Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes,” a group that questions the city’s rationale for installing the lane, is not giving up. The article says that in “late December, a lawyer working pro bono, Jim Walden, wrote a letter to transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan asking for additional data, saying he hoped ‘this begins a constructive phase of dialogue between DOT and the affected community members’…there’s been no official legal action, though that’s expected to come next week.” One member of Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes says she thinks the lane should be moved into the park. Meanwhile, the Post reports that Sen. Chuck Schumer, despite being a cyclist, is not a fan of the Prospect Park West bike lane either: “Sources said Schumer — who has yet to take a public position on the 19-block bike corridor — shared his feelings privately with some members of the City Council. ‘He’s asked legislators what they’re going to do about [this and other] bike lanes,’ said one source.”
Residents Prepare Lawsuit on Brooklyn Bike Lane [WNYC]
Not in Chuck’s Back Yard! [NY Post]
Prospect Park West Bike Lane Back in the News! [Brownstoner]
Photo by swimfast.
Um, they haven’t sued. They’re talking about suing. And it’s not really for the data. It’s because they want to make the street dangerous again.
The data have been released. They don’t show congestion or travel time increases. Neither does the real world. It’s time to drop this. You’re embarrassing yourself with this head-in-the-sand posture.
morralkan, I certainly agree about the emperor and the way he runs his administration, but are you against he bikes lanes here? Why so?
zinka, why would they sue for data that had already been released? I’m not paranoid, but you apparently love to drink the DOT kool-aid. Must taste great!
In the absence of ALL the data, referring to “hypothesized-but-absent congestion and travel time increases”is perhaps premature.
A hallmark of the Bloomberg administration has been to obfuscate, deny, invent data, and to generally demonize anyone who disagrees with the emperor.
I love the argument that the bike lane has ruined PPW’s historic charm? Really? Did they have cars along the street 100 years ago?
Here’s a picture.
http://brooklynspoke.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/which-historic-charm-part-2/
morralkan, they DID release the raw data. It’s on their website. Your paranoia is unbecoming.
http://nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/20110120_ppw_data.pdf
Adjusting traffic lights to increase the red time would have led to actual congestion, and actually longer travel time, not the hypothesized-but-absent congestion and travel time increases that the NIMBYs thought this project would cause. It didn’t.
Chuck Schumer is married to Iris Weinshall, the previous Transportation commissioner, who known for more auto-friendly initiatives.
You know, Minard, as a devout atheist, I’m not totally up on that Unitarian – Methodist argument. 🙂
I do find it amazing, though, that I so often see comments complaining about how we anti-PPW bike lane guys use the aesthetics argument against the lanes. Amazing in the context of brownstoner.com which spends probably half its time talking about the aesthetics of brownstones, interiors, and decoration.
“I really don’t understand the opposition to the bike lanes on PPW. I don’t always agree that bike lanes are a plus- depending on where they are, but here, certainly they are. ”
yeah – totally. there’s only really 3 or 4 bike lanes that have been installed the past few yrs that seemed really necessary (Kent/PPW/Flushing and maybe Sands). The rest? eh
This is such a fraught topic isn’t it? It’s like the Unitarians and Methodists arguing as to who is more righteous and closer to God.