Prospect Park West Bike Lane Back in the News!
The inevitable backlash to last week’s report from the DOT that the Prospect Park West bike lane is a big success has finally arrived. That there video above from CBS2 shows Borough Prez Marty Markowitz disputing the DOT’s claims; Streetsblog fires back: “Marty seems to have either lost the ability to distinguish truth from fiction,…
The inevitable backlash to last week’s report from the DOT that the Prospect Park West bike lane is a big success has finally arrived. That there video above from CBS2 shows Borough Prez Marty Markowitz disputing the DOT’s claims; Streetsblog fires back: “Marty seems to have either lost the ability to distinguish truth from fiction, or his stubbornness is just all-consuming and he’s ceased to care about his public credibility.” Gothamist, meanwhile, has a quote from Markowitz in which the BP says that “we need an outside study—not one conducted by the DOT but perhaps by the NYPD—to get an impartial analysis of the Prospect Park West reconfiguration.” And, last but not least, the Brooklyn Paper is quick to print claims about how a conspiracy theory not imagined by Markowitz may be afoot: “One day after the Department of Transportation announced last week that the lane has improved safety for drivers and cyclists, two members of the city’s old guard — former Sanitation Commissioner Norman Steisel and former Transportation boss Iris Weinshall — struck back, claiming that the agency fudged numbers to make the lane appear more successful than it is.”
Markowitz on PPW Data: It’s a Vast Biking Conspiracy [Streetsblog]
Markowitz Says Activist Cyclists Distorted PPW Study [Gothamist]
Former Officials Slam City for Lying on Prospect Park West [BK Paper]
morralkan, why are you surprised that a bike count at one extreme end of PPW (where the NIMBYs counted) would find different numbers than a bike count at the middle of the path (where DOT counted)? would you expect to see the same number of people on a subway car at the middle of the line as one station from the end?
And even if the bike count is wrong (and it was conducted by an independent third party, not by DOT), the street is still calmer and safer by every other metric. So it’s not like casting doubt on this one measurement is especially meaningful.
“Maybe your own country, unlike this one, is a wonderfully boring one with great coffee and bike lanes, but little business sense and opportunity.”
Denmark, which is probably the most cycling friendly country in the world, is at the cutting edge of biomedical research and of renewable energy technology and is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, not to mention having the longest life expectancy (probably because people are so healthy from all the cycling :-). Similar things could be said about most of its neighbors in Europe. Another example of your complete ignorance.
Morralkan.
You lose points on reading comprehension. Europe isn’t “my country”. I just like it there. Cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen really are nice. You might want to visit sometime to get over your bias.
And yes, i think the US style model of building everything around the private automobile and the parking thereof above all else (especially in urban areas but also in the suburbs) is inferior to a well thought out public transportation/cycling/and pedestrian infrastructure.
No one, except possibly our oil overlords from the middle east, is about to take away the car any time soon.
So all you anti bike-lane reactionaries can stop hyperventilating. They have been proven to reduce injuries not only to cyclists but also to pedestrians. They are a public good, and for goofballs like Marty Markowitz to suggest otherwise is ridiculous.
You seem to prove my point, jan van flac: you really dislike this country and think that your own is vastly superior, So again, why not stay there? Maybe your own country, unlike this one, is a wonderfully boring one with great coffee and bike lanes, but little business sense and opportunity.
DIBS, let’s not go too low here. The smell of (western) Europeans is LARGELY a thing of the past. I definitely experienced it as a student in Hamburg in the late 60’s, though. 🙂
Are you saying, cmu , that stats are unimportant and worthless? Interesting argument you’re making there. As to improving the streetscape, PPW is far less attractive with parking lanes in the middle of the street. And if the speed of cars really bothers you, why not spend more time in Victorian Flatbush where traffic is often glacially slow and backed up? Just asking.
Finally, tybur6, resorting to cursing merely undermines your argument. I have no idea how bicycle lanes did away with Alphabet City. Perhaps you could enlighten me? Just because you and a large number of cyclists (I’ll admit there are many) think that putting bike lanes all over the place improves the city, there are MANY other inhabitants of NYC who strongly disagree. I guess your opinions are the only ones that matter.
By the way, I don’t drive, though I will admit to occasionally being a passenger in a car. For that, I expect to be flogged. I do ride a bicycle and have done so for that past 40+ years in Brooklyn. I’ve done it almost all that time without benefit of a bike lane. I really can’t imagine how I managed to survive all that time. Still, I know that I will not be able to use my bike as a major form of transportation for that many years longer and will probably need to avail myself of a car more frequently in the future. Do you think that will be permitted?
No it’s not. I don’t want to smell of sweat after biking to work. Nor do I want any of my colleagues to smell either.
In addition, most of us prefer not to smell like many Europeans.
You just lost any credibility you might have had. What an idiotic statement.
“Most Americans believe that it’s more appropriate for an adult to move 4000 lbs of metal less than a mile than to go under your own power. It’s selfish and shortsighted.”
In addition, most of us prefer not to smell like many Europeans.
“Most Americans believe that it’s more appropriate for an adult to move 4000 lbs of metal less than a mile than to go under your own power. It’s selfish and shortsighted.”
Oh Christ, not this crap now. You just lost any credibility you had.
” and spandex speeders who yell ‘on your left’ at you (weird looking, not my type, scary).”
again, in europe, bicycle racing is second only to soccer. It’s huge there and getting bigger here too. I agree that a lot of this is cultural. Most Americans believe that it’s more appropriate for an adult to move 4000 lbs of metal less than a mile than to go under your own power. It’s selfish and shortsighted.