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.
Park Slope Mom — Honestly, everything you say has NOTHING to do with the configuration / supposed narrowness of the road (2 lanes is a wide as every other road in park slope) and EVERYTHING to do with the other thing you mentioned — a lack of enforcement and people being stupid, continuing to speed, not being patient/being aggressive, etc. etc.
To follow your logic, we shouldn’t allow any parked cars on PPW and maintain a 5-lane expressway. This will keep all of those “sight-lines” free and clear and there will be PLENTY of room for maneuvering.
Why isn’t that a “compromise” put forth by the lawsuit folks??
I really wish one of the papers would go through and ask everyone of those anti-bike lane people how many CB6 meetings they went to before the bike lane was installed.
They’re really the same group, both Orwellian-named. All the same people. It’s total fiction that they’re separate.
zinka — were any of the anti-bike lane folks that spoke representing the euphemistically named “Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes” or was it just the “Seniors” group?
It should have been noted that the turnout was massively pro-bike-lane (maybe 5:1 or more), and that the procedure for holding the public hearing was rigged: every anti-bike-lane speaker was allowed to speak, but about 90 pro-bike-lane speakers, many of whom arrived as much as 45 minutes before the scheduled start time, were never called.
>Stop picking on old people
How is it picking on ‘old people’ if someone is incapable of crossing a clearly marked, bordered, bike lane with so few bikers you could stand there unmolested most of the time? That is PC-ism at its worst.
The debate isn’t just about bike lane no bike lane in my view. It is about community safety. It is fantastic that the bikes can use a protected lane now.
My concern is that the new configuration comes with some safety issues that should be addressed to further improve the situation.
While traffic is slowed during the peak hours – Cars are still speeding outside of those times. Better enforcement of laws is something that needs to be done whatever lies ahead.
For me, the narrower travel lanes are the biggest issue of concern – I know I’m repeating myself from prior posts but I think it bears repeating — vehicles at any speed have less room for maneuver and there have been collisions (slow motion ones – but damaging nonetheless) that I have seen (5 during the period July-Dec 2010 that the study was taken) that didn’t make the “crash” list presented by the DOT. I saw another one last week on my way to work. (Parking car’s right front wheel well caught by the front left corner of a car trying to squeeze through).
The visibility has changed for crossing the street and that has brought a fresh safety issue too. Someone last night made a very valid point that whatever change is in place the community needs to go through a transition phase to adapt. I agree completely – my concern is that the narrow lanes (both travel & floating parking) still leave little room for response to avoid problems even if you are aware of the pedestrian/cycle/traffic flows.
i have no problems with bike lanes…
but…
if you see a bike coming pause for ONE SECOND and let them pass.
oh hells no. pedestrians always have the right of way!
*rob*
Stop picking on old people.