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]
Sorry guys…wrong on your interpretation of who I am. No town car for me – subway to and from work every day! We went many years without a car actually – had to get one once our kids were more active in sports.
“Could be that her town car driver can’t double park on PPW in the morning”
this is what i’ve always suspected it’s been about all along.
South Brooklyn…who knows what motivates these astro turfers. Nothing they say has ever made sense. They just make stuff up.
Could be that her town car driver can’t double park on PPW in the morning. Or that she’s trying to score points with some politician. Or that she’s paranoid and sees some hipster plot to transform PS into Portland (that horse is out of the barn 🙂 ). Or that she has some grudge against Bloomberg. Or that she just doesn’t like change.
Who knows. They_just_don’t_like_it.
Zinka…thanks for the shout out!
southbrooklyn: I am not saying that DOT is corrupt at all -I just want them to give more details on the background on the data that they’ve put together to arrive at their conclusion. I think that some information was missed or presented in a way that is not as thorough as it could be.
I see nothing wrong with policymakers going back to a table if things aren’t working out the way they expected it to, or if their goal was a bit narrowly defined and led to other policy issues coming up that need to be dealt with. WMD search anyone? What a costly policy step we took there.
I’m not a fan of astroturf myself – but astroturf mom – sounds just fine if that’s what you want to use.
Fuplease – I can assure you I am not a “talking point” person and have been (as I noted on my profile) reading brownstoner and enjoying it for years. I work during the day and shouldn’t be blogging but this issue is one I care significantly about and one where I was stunned to see such imbalance in views expressed.
My kids are 17 and 11. We would never let our kids ride their bikes on PPW nor out of the park until they were over 10yrs old and we were more confident of their ability to pay attention. If they’d go down to 7th ave they’d use unprotected Garfield and come up unprotected 1st st.
In fact, my older son crashed on his bike at 8th ave and 1st when he was about 12yrs old and narrowly missed being hit by a car. That was it for him and he didn’t ride his bike again out of the park until a year or two ago.
We would use bikes to go to baseball and soccer games in the park and when returning would use the sidewalks and go against car traffic in the park road back home (breaking the rules)or walking it – thus our support for two-way bike access in our area.
I stand by my concern about the configuration of the travel lanes finding it to raise a different set of safety issues. I see nothing wrong with addressing those issues to work together with everyone to meet the goals of calmer traffic and better bike lanes. I apologize if I sound like I’m on a soap box – not intended. I was a govt major and care immensely about public policy and building strong communities.
Why don’t you include your “real name” on your profile… I apologize if you did – may not know how to access it but when I went to your name I didn’t see any details.
Dear Park Slope Mom —
It seems to me your basic position is that the DOT is corrupt — they are lying about their data that shows significant safety improvements on PPW. There’s no other way to understand your continued opposition to this very successful redesign — you think the DOT invented its data.
But why? Do you really, truly believe that there is a vast conspiracy to build unnecessary, unsafe, unwelcome bike lanes (when in fact, the PPW redesign was done with extensive community input)?
I guess you must — hence your belief that your own anecdotal observations on the effect of the redesign on safety trump whatever independent consulting firm the DOT hired to study PPW pre and post redesign.
ou812 — as has been said a million times before. Ticket like crazy! ESPECIALLY the bikes going the wrong way…
But *do not* use police resources to enforce cycling laws when cars are allowed to run amok. The only enforcement I see is a few red light cameras.
I hear ya Legion. I’m just sayin’ when it comes to the National Parks, the Gateway Recreation Area is not going to feel irreparable damage (generally speaking). If it falls into total disrepair and a looks like 1980s Coney Island, you can throw some cash at it and it’s fixed (generally speaking).
But the funding has also been slashed for wildlife preserves and national parks like Yellowstone and Dinosaur National Monument. They’re not getting funding either and can be *permanently* harmed by bad/inadequate stewardship.
(Of course Gateway also has some very sensitive ecosystems that should be protected — and I honestly hope that’s what the Parks Dept is spending their resources on… )
Weiner is a “WEENER”. He sulks when he doesn’t get his way in an interview and talks down on the public like they are all morons and he knows what is best. So we should just listen to him. He must have been beaten up too much when he was a kid and is taking out his pent up aggression now. I don’t know how he gets elected. If he ever becomes mayor NYC is doomed. He’s an idiot.
Bike Lanes: Leave them there, BUT, I want to see police officers on bikes stopping all the bikers going through red ligths, down the street the wrong way, and riding the sidewalks, and yes clocked rfor speeding (we do have a 25 MPH speed limit and they are not exempt) cited with traffic violations. Watch them cry like a bunch of “WEENERS” when they have to pay up!