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Canal Street Counterfeit Crackdown
We're always looking for current bike path maps. The most authoratative comes from Transportation Alternatives, but it's a 1.5MB PDF, and hasn't been updated this year. The NYC Bike Map 2006 mashup pictured above is attempting to fill in the gaps, but seems to be missing a bunch of the smaller paths. We've already featured the Secret Bike Maps page-- but still haven't taken that trip to City Island. Has anyone successfully biked up there from Manhattan? We've circled the route on the map above, but we're not sure how long it would take to get there and back, and none of our pansy-ass friends will do it without some more information.
In semi-related news, Critical Mass was held last night, and it sounds like it sucked pretty hard. The NYPD seems to have succeeded in harrassing most of the non-hardcore bikers away from the event. According to BikeBlog, many of the 150 bikers that did show up ended up getting tickets:
At 10th Ave and 23rd Street a mob of scooter cops cut off the ride and jumped off their scooters...the light was Green. They began yelling things like, you'd better have ID. One pig tried to grab me and I turned around and got away. I never should have got so close to them, it was sloppy. But why were we being stopped...the light was Green and we were obeying traffic laws? Oh I get it now...it doesn't matter what you do...or what a State or Federal judge says...the NYPD doesn't give a fuck. There orders are to harass the ride, give as many tickets as possible and make people scared...the panic factor. So now I don't blame that guy for trying to get away. Here are a few tips for the next ride: Do not be a sitting duck. Try not to ride near any scooter cops; even if they are being friendly...do not listen to them. One scooter cop was video taped around the 40's repeatedly ramming his ride into a cyclist...is this because the rider didn't stop at a red light? No it is because these cops are ASSHOLES! and are once again willing to injure people and possibly themselves because some MUtherfucker in power wants critical mass to end. Here is a memo NYPD...its NEVER GOING TO STOP!
We also got reports of heavy police presence on the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge bike paths last night. Mini-editorial: with oil hovering somewhere north of $75/barrel, shouldn't the city be encouraging people to bicycle? Does any of this make sense?
Update: David from TA sent in a note-- sounds like the 2006 bikemap will be up shortly! He also gives some info about the ride to City Island:
The 2006 NYC Bike Maps just came out a couple of weeks ago. I imagine we'll have digital versions up on our website shortly. Physical paper copies are currently available for free; just call 311. Incidentally, not much has changed on this year's bike maps, as DOT only installed a couple of miles of new bike lanes and paths this year. However, City Planning did change the map up a bit by adding a different color-coded identifying system for bike facilities. Hard to explain in writing, but quite clear in person. I don't have one handy, as I'm at home and not at the office, but they've included purple and yellow and orange to distinguish different types of facilities (planned routes, recommended routes, connectors, etc.) ...Also, when I started at T.A., I spent my first few days riding every
mile of greenway in the City, so I could have first-hand experience of
the entire greenway network when discussing various sections with
other cyclists, City agencies, elected officials, etc. On one of those
days, I rode from Battery Park up the Hudson River Greenway, over the
Henry Hudson Parkway Bridge into the Bronx, and west out to City
Island. The portion between Van Cortland Park and Hutchinson River
Parkway along Pelham Parkway is not in the best shape and has some
dicey parts where you have to cross busy streets or highways, but once
you get out to the Hutch, it's very nice. I especially recommend
visiting Orchard Beach, which is a delight! I reckon it's about 1.5 to
two hours riding at a comfortable pace from Midtown. Let me know if
you have any questions.
Ed Ravin also sent in some detailed City Island biking advice:
Figure an hour and a half from the end of the bike path at Dyckman Street to get to City Island - it's normally a little less but it sounds like you'll need to check the map a lot. The "secret" bike map at: recteck is mostly right, if you carry along a regular city map and/or NYC bike map you should be good. Note that the recteck.com folks have a number of weird typos, like "Centineal" instead of "TA Century", and more confusingly, they say "Albany Street" instead of "Albany Crescent", and they screw up on the street they call "Kingsbridge Ave" - it's really Kingsbridge Terrace (Kingsbridge Ave is on the other side of Broadway, and just to get confusing there's also a Kingsbridge Road nearby.On your way back you should try out the new Hutchison River Parkway bike path - you can pick it up from the bike path at Pelham Parkway where the Hutch crosses - look for a path to the south just west of the horse and ped path portion of the bridge over the Amtrak tracks. That will take you south to a spot near Brush Ave and Lafayette Ave, under that big jumble of spaghetti where the Hutch, I-95, and 278 meet. Follow the Century route backwardsish from there (over the Bruckner Blvd bridge, south on Zerega, maybe right on Story to go west towards the Bronx River) to get back towards the city.
We're definitely going to do this ride sometime in the next couple of months!
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TA does not produce the bike maps. They are made by the Dept of City Planning. New paper copies should be available in your local bike shop, by becoming a TA member, or by calling 311. Hopefully the 2006 PDF version will be available soon.
hey, i was that guy who kept getting hit from behind by a scooter cop and just when i was about to split i was surrounded by 4 of them and got one heck of a surprise. they must not have liked my hat. who has that video?
I don't understand the critical mass thing. Any point to it, or do you do it because you are bored and want to piss off cops?
Now I am not a cop, and I am an avid biker. Just looking for a point, thats all.
Nobody can really claim to speak for Critical Mass, but I'll tell you why I personally. do it. I ride because it's fun (and much safer) to ride together. I think it also shows the City that there is an alternatives to driving around in steel coffins, that transportation can be a positive thing, that we don't have to be addicted to oil, that we don't have to slowly kill ourselves via obesity, asthma, cancer and heart disease, that we don't have to destroy our communities in order to accomodate motor vehicles.
It used to be much more fun, when the cops would ignore us, or even blocked traffic for us. Now, of course, they feel the need to arrest people for no reason. I was arrested because I was foolish enough to stop at a red light! It's unfortunate that the cops create such a bad vibe now sometimes. If you've never done it in the years before RNC, it was so much fun! Really, among some of the best, most exhilarating experiences in my life. It's something you can't do justice by describing; you have to try it yourself.
So now, of course, in addition to all the above reasons, I think many people ride in order to prove a point to the NYPD -- that just because I have 2 wheels instead of 4, that just because I do NOT, pollute, I have the same legal right to ride on my streets as do car drivers; that they cannot stop us; that we do not need their permission to exercise our legal right to use the streets we all own.
It is pretty easy to get to City Island (and Orchard Beach). It used to take me approximately 45 minutes (one-way) from West 100th and Broadway. We were going to City Island, eating some lobster and then coming back :)
why aren't there any articles in the NY times or anything about Critical Mass? SHouldn't this be like front page material against oil wars. Critical Mass needs better PR if it's really a protest cause it's not working. Remember when someone defaced Brooklyn Industries? there were tons of articles about Mutant Bike culture then, but why doesn't anyone write stories about the virtue of self powered transportation? There is something bigger here at hand. I just started riding a bike this year and it's amazing! I can go twice as fast as a car or subway train if you account for traffic and the subway wait and it's stops. The best thing about riding a bike is that it's free energy. I always thought that riding all day would make me tired but it's the total opposite. I get so much energy from riding that I feel like punching someone in the face when I get off cause I've got so much excess energy built up from all the cardio I get. Also I don't have to pay 50 bucks a month to take a spin class. I kill three birds with one stone. I get free transportation, free exercise, free sightseeing and I also get the self satisfaction that I didn't pollute the environment. Also you sort of get a vicarious thrill when you almost have a huge accident but through sheer determination and luck you escape injury. So it's sort of like a self controlled roller coaster ride. So with all these reasons the only conclusion I have to make is that the government wants people not to bike so they can make more money on oil, cars, the subway, the bus, the gym, fast food, doctors for health care. It all makes sense now. Cause if everyone biked in the city all these industries would suffer a bit. We live in a world where they charge more for bottled water than soda. Think about that.
biking is awesome - I agree with you for the most part, and share your enthusiasm for the transformative power of bicycling, but I don't think the powers that be are attacking Critical Mass because of a conscious desire to preserve the power of oil companies, consumerism, etc. We should probably be more realistic in our assesment of their motives. Remember first, that the NYPD is a paramilitary organization. Therefore, cops do what they're told, even if they disagree (I've met many nice cops (as nice as you can be for taking away my rights under the ultimate threat of a gun), who said this whole thing is BS, and that they'd rather leave us alone). Where this thuggish behavior is ultimately coming from has been debated in many other forums, but I think Kelly has a bug up his ass, especially since the RNC, and Smolka is only too happy to oblige. I think the Police brass also feel threatened. In this "post-9/11 era" (god, I hate that phrase), the police feel they need to be in control everywhere, and that public space needs to be controlled, regimented, etc. Critical Mass, while not an actual danger to anybody, represents a symbolic threat to their power to control the public. We are not bulkly, compliant cars. We are nimble, powerful cyclists. They are used to the usual mindless consumeristic placid behavior of most New Yorkers these days (and I include myself in this description). Any attempt to actually exercise one's rights in a vigorous way is a threat to them.
This is not to say that many cops are indeed viscious assholes who just want to kick some "anarchist" ass.
I think there also is a class/cultural issue at play here. Many cops, for one reason or another, are not from the City, or are from Queens, Staten Island, etc., areas which lack good mass transit or dense urban land use which is amenable to walkable and bikable communities. Therefore, these cops suffer from what we call a "behind the windshield mentality". The think that it is natural that cars should be dominant on the streets, and that bicyclists, at best, are annoyances who should be marginalized. Any bicycle riders who actually use their full rights to travel are out of the ordinary, and these particular cops instictively try to push them out of their way, by arrest, ticketing, violence, etc.
Now, it doesn't have to be this way. In other places, cops know the rights of bicyclists and treat them with respect.
Besides fighting the City in court, suing their asses off again and again, and continuing to just ride every day, I think there also needs to be some work on trying to change the culture of the police (and City "leaders"). Part of this might come as the less-enlightened older cops retire, but I think we need to figure out what else we need to do.
Don't fear the bike ride to City Island. It's reasonably well marked and mostly a level ride through safe neighborhoods.. And, best of all, the cops in the Bronx have better things to do than bust people on bikes.
If you witnessed any despicable/illegal behavior by the police, make sure to report it!!!
Here's one option:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/ccrb/html/complaint.html
So I'm to presume that all these bikers definitely were abiding by all rules of traffic that apply to other large vehicles as well, such as not running red lights and giving right of way when necessary, right?
So John, which is more dangerous, a bicyclist running a red light or a 5000 lb. SUV running a red light? Obviously the NYPD think the former, given anyone's observations who lives in Manhattan! This has almost nothing to do with bicyclists obeying traffic laws, but everything to do about police intimidation, especially after they have been reprimanded in court. Police are sore losers....get to know some and you'll understand.
So it is what I thought. Unless I can get a better explanation for why you do that you do, critical mass really is just a pain in the ass- nothing more.
You could probably accomplish a lot more if you actually put your brains and bodies to good use.
News flash- critical mass represents nothing more than a bunch of morons riding around in circles without any real purpose in a world painfully thirsty for change. Now don't get me wrong, I don't plan on changing the world by myself. I am just saying that I will be busy trying while you dipshits are riding around in circles.
Thanks for the mention, Gothamist!
NYCbikemaps.com is my creation and very much a work in progress. As you pointed out, there are many paths that are missing from the map, but I expect to have them all added in the next week or two (in fact, all of Staten Island’s bike paths & bike lanes were added yesterday).
Also just added, is a map of geotagged pictures for bike routes around the city. Be sure to check out the pictures of the paths leading to City Island.
Picture Map
Besides more bike paths & more pictures there is a lot that I plan to add to the map in the future. More information on future plans & current issues can be found here.
Thanks again for the call out & be sure to check back after the 5 Boro Bike Tour this weekend for a map of the route & pictures from the event!
james -- ever try this thing called "fun"? You might want to try it. It's good for you.
Let's separate the two topics here:
biking riding itself is healthy, fun, reduces pollution, etc.
Critical Mass is just a debacle with no organization nor purpose, and totally out of control.
I am glad the NYPD are busting on these losers.