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]
ty, haven’t seen you in the OT lately. Where you been hiding? Also, we’re gathering at Montero’s this Friday if you’d like to join us, and assuming we didn’t scare you off at Sycamore. 🙂
CGar — I will never forgive you for that, but I have compartmentalized it appropriately.
Tybur6 – you are right that the “traffic calming” initiative came out of the Community Board. My concern is that the design process and the data accumulation pre- and post-configuration has some weaknesses — ie number of bikes (did they count the bikes on the park bike lanes and sidewalks both pre- and post- not clear to me), did they count the speed of bikes on park lanes, sidewalks in the park, sidewalks on the street, what exactly is an “accident” pedestrian or vehicle (car or bike related)… I also have a question about the meaning of a slowing traffic “on average” — true that during congested times the traffic moves more slowly but there are plenty of cars still breaking the rules of speed at other times and now have less room to maneuver when they run into a situation.
I’m not questioning the underlying goal of this by the Community Board effort at all – I’m just questioning the process that got us to where we are today and would hope that with a bit more time at the table we can reach a solution to better meet that initial goal for all constituents!
Thanks, ty. Very kind of you considering we quibbled earlier over what constitutes appropriate pro bono work.
Actually in most cities in Europe taxis are consider a form of public transport — so in my idea above, taxis and car services would also be able to go down PPW… that should keep these rich NIMBYs happy and offset the idea that a bus (and the people that ride buses) might disgrace their street.
Hmm… The bus like that used to go down PPW was canceled. Was it do to ridership and the usual MTA calculus, or was there a request by a group called “Neighbors for Better Bus Routes” asking the route to be shut down.
Logical right?
It did previously have more of a feel of grand spaciousness than it does now. You could regain it by banning car parking completely there. After all, no-one seriously expects to be able to find a parking space in Park Slope anyway, so whats the loss?
BTW, when it somes to Gibson Dunn comparing potential corporate business from connected peeps versus potential corporate business from a shower of flipflopping facebooking cyclists….
Sorry, the idea that AY will have no effect on traffic is completely and utterly off base.
It’s not just 20,000 people a few times a week. Initially there were several thousand apartments as well. I know we’ve given Ratner tens of millions to build affordable housing that hasn’t appeared yet, but it’s reasonable to expect at least some of the residential units to appear at some point.
The Times did a study of the arena traffic several years ago and showed major gridlock for miles in every direction. It doesn’t take a large uptick in total traffic volume to generate problems. It’s very likely that people living on the side streets around AY will see their streets turned into major thoroughfares.
Case in point – check out State and Clinton Streets every rush hour.
just as Dan Savage ruined Rick Santorum with the “Santorum = the lube & excrement mix after anal sex”; Chuck “Putz” Schumer and Anthony “little” Weiner will be dogged by their stupid take on the PPW bike path.
CGar — to answer your pleas.
http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/03/04/the-new-york-times-jsk-profile-politicos-vs-progressive-transportation/