The PPW Bike-Lane Lawsuit is a Reality
The lawsuit over the Prospect Park West bike lane that’s been threatened for about a month has now been filed, and it asserts that the city acted “arbitrarily” in installing the lane and that it should be removed. Streetsblog, which has a link so you can download the filing in its entirety (PDF here), says…
The lawsuit over the Prospect Park West bike lane that’s been threatened for about a month has now been filed, and it asserts that the city acted “arbitrarily” in installing the lane and that it should be removed. Streetsblog, which has a link so you can download the filing in its entirety (PDF here), says the following about the meat and potatoes of the suit: “It argues that DOT acted in an ‘arbitrary and capricious’ manner, with conclusions made irrationally or in bad faith. It argues that the bike lane did not properly go through the necessary processes given the landmarked status of the Park Slope neighborhood and Prospect Park. And finally, it argues that an environmental review was necessary to assess the impact of the lane on the historic character of the area.” The Times’ story on the lawsuit, meanwhile, notes the political connections of the group behind the filing, who have “close ties to Iris Weinshall, the city’s transportation commissioner from 2000 to 2007 and the wife of Senator Charles E. Schumer” and that they’ve “produced e-mail correspondence…[seeking] to portray…an effort by the Transportation Department to coordinate criticism of the lane’s opponents.” A DOT spokesman tells the newspaper that the data it has released on how the lane has made Prospect Park West safer is legit. The lawsuit names the DOT and, separately, its commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, as respondents.
Lawsuit Seeks to Erase Bike Lane in New York City [NY Times]
Opponents Sue City Over Prospect Park West Bike Lane [Streetsblog]
Lawsuit Filed Over Prospect Park West Bike Lane [PS Patch]
Woah. Just read the bit over on Streetsblog about the threat letter sent by one of the NBBL lawyers. Pretty sad.
In fact I hope it has the reverse effect: Boycott Steve Spirn.
http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/02/25/gibson-dunn-attorney-jim-walden-blog-comment-%E2%80%9Cpotentially-libelous%E2%80%9D/comment-page-2/#comment-288947
“Go take a look at the condition of
Riis Park, it’s become a dumping ground.”
Yeah, I know. And it’s pissing me off. Someone needs to get on that.
a few more bike threads and we should see some primo bike ads come thru on the google ad banners here
The people I know in Park Slope who I have discussed the issue with, including one family who lives on 8th and has a car, support the bike lane.
“Do you really believe the majority of the community got its way? ”
“I bet an opinion poll of residents on PPW would not remotely show majority support for the bike lanes”
i think you’re confusing the entire “community” with “residents of PPW”
you realize the majority of the community can be in favor of the bike lane, even if all of PPW residents aren’t, right?
Minard —
“Brad Lander, a City Council member whose district overlaps part of the lane, conducted a survey last year that found that more than 70 percent of residents in Park Slope, Brooklyn, supported the lane, although only about half of the residents on Prospect Park West were in favor.”
It’s in the NYT Article linked above.
I would also ask you *why* do you and all of your friends hate bike lanes (this one or bike lanes in general). If you answered really honestly, I bet you would arrive at a very narrow-minded, short-sighted, bitchy, self-entitled reason.
But you’d have to actually answer it honestly.
Tyburg, I wouldn’t throw around words such as “self-entitled” and “bitchy” given the tone of most of the pro-bicycle posts above.
Do you really believe the majority of the community got its way? Or are you thinking more about your circle of friends?
I bet an opinion poll of residents on PPW would not remotely show majority support for the bike lanes. Everyone I speak with seems to hate them, but then as everyone knows, I’m no dirty hipster.
Smart politicians like Weiner would not make such a public statement if “the majority” supports the bike lanes.
Wish they’d put more bike lanes in Manhattan instead of this http://www.34thstreettransitway.org.
The bigger problem is that nobody trusts the way decisions are made in NYC any more. I support bike lanes, but I don’t like the manner that Bloomberg implements a policy without community input. The quotes by DOT officials, true or not, are really unprofessional.