July 23, 2007
East 91st Street Unhappy About Impending Bike Path
Who knew that some streets were off-limits to vehicles? The NY Sun takes us on a trip to East 91st Street between Second and Third Avenues, which was "zoned" as a "play" street and has been off-limits to vehicles since 1978. But now there's a fight brewing between residents and the city over the tranquility.
The city wants to install a bike path on the street, to further expand biking options for New Yorkers. (The Department of Transportation is currently painting bike paths around the city, to further distinguish them from the vehicular lanes.) However, the street's residents are very protective of their street (NIMS - Not In My Street - anyone?), it's described as a "private promenade for strolling Upper East Side residents" and running groups are even blocked from it.
Community Board 8 voted against the proposal and suggested moving the path to 89th Street (poor 89th Street!). But that vote might be for naught. From the Sun:
A spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation, Molly Gordy, said the city has installed bike lanes on the Upper West Side and the Lower East Side despite community opposition to the plans. "We find after installation the projects fit well in these communities," Ms. Gordy said in an email message.Our question - how do we get our street blocked off from vehicular traffic?
Number 9 on the city's PlaNYC plan is "Promote Cycling: Complete the City's 1,800-mile bike master plan and Facilitate cycling."
Photograph of Brooklyn Heights' super green bike path by dietrich on Flickr
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motor vehicles are not allowed on that 91st St. block, however, there is currently no law which disallows cyclists from using the street now.
they should just stripe the bike lane on the rest of 91st St. there's no reason to stripe a lane on the closed off "play" street since there is already no motor vehicle traffic.
and let's be clear: this isn't really a play street. it's on quite a steep hill so kids don't play on it very much. you get a few skateboarders, a few little kids on trikes, but mostly people sitting on the sidewalk benches. oh yeah, 3-wheeled security vehicle for condos also drive on that block.
I lived on 91st btw. 1st and 2nd and saw kids playing there all the time (in addition to oldies parked on benches).
yeah kids play there a lot. not swarms of kids at once, but there are almost always some kids.
the other thing that should be made clear here is that the block is not really a street anymore. it is bricked over and is physically blocked from traffic. although i don't live in the neighborhood anymore, i can see why the residents wouldn't want a bike path through there. it is a very heavy stroller-and-kid kind of block. it seems to me that putting the bike path somewhere else would make more sense.
here it is on google street view:
http://tinyurl.com/2zenxy
Just like a liberal bike freak.... to take away a kid's playground so he can run around acting like the next Lance Armstrong.
Some Lance almost hit my kid with his bike. I knocked his ass to the ground and kicked his bike's wheel until it got bent.
Dumb liberal granola eating fag.
What is with New Yorkers and their sense of entitlement? What ever happened to the common good?
If it is a "private promenade" as Community Board 8 says then they should pay for ALL COSTS OF MAINTAINING IT. Including street cleaning, and general maintenance such as pothole filling. The rest of New York should not have to pay for their "private promenade"
This is greed.
Why is someone who rides a bike a granola eating fag? Sounds like someone who takes care of himself and doesn't have anger issues. This basher should have spent a night at Rikers.
its still part of the city. if we all pay for their street. they should allow bikes on them.
ps damn bunch of nimmys
Unless the residents of 91st Street are the only residents of NY whose taxes on this street, it should be open to bicycles and other vehicles. It's not "their street", they just happen to live on it. Babies.
Hey, these folks don't even want to take care of their own trash. Why would anyone think they would want some other neighborhood's cyclist tearing through their "promenade"?
i've almost been run over by an overzealous cyclist, so i can understand why parents might be a bit concerned. however, unless this place is privatized as some have suggested in the comments, what can you do (other than complain). another idea would be to landscape it and designate it as a city park, perhaps. seems somewhat silly to me to have closed it to vehicular traffic and left it paved.
hey #4 you must be a super role-model for your kid. I hope he realizes what an asshat his father is and dosent grow up to be just like you.
I'm with them. The residents of that block and surrounding area should have control over how their street should be. In fact, I there should be more streets like this. I'm an UWSider, and this might be the coolest thing about the upper east side. I'm jealous in fact, I wish MY street was closed off to cars and bikes.
I used to ride up this street regularly with no hassle from anyone. And I didn't often run into kids playing in the middle of it. Don't think this should be a huge issue.
As for cyclists tear-assing through it. They can already do that if they want. Why not delineate a path so at least everybody knows where they can go and kids and residents won't play in the lane.
Yeah, I want my street blocked of from vehicular traffic. Look, they make tons of money, they have better police service, their streets are cleaner than most, they live a few blocks from Central Park and still they need to havea private street. Give me a break! Make this street a regular street open to cars, and since that will never happen as someone is greasing someone, well then that fact that it will be a bike lane street is great and keep your spoiled brat out of my bike lane (although I have no reason to bike there) or he might get hurt!
At this point the city cannot do too much for cyclists. There are many places in the city designated for pedestrians, and many places designated for automobiles. However, when the city puts a bicycle lane in a street, motorists park in it or drive in it. When the city puts a bicycle lane in a park, people walk in it, stand in it, party in it, let their small chldren play in it.
Yes I've seen LOTS of near misses, close calls between bicyclists and pedestrians, and so far careless pedestrians are absolutely always at fault.
I just posted comment #4 and realized that because I had posted as a guest there is no name or contact info. I am John Mark Rozendaal. jmrozendaal@yahoo.com
#12 has a point about # 4. I'm wagering that the "Lance" who he assaulted was not riding on the sidewalk or on the grass, appropriate places for small childiren to play. What can you say about a person who lets his child play in the traffic and then beats up an athlete and calls him a homophobic epithet? That's a scary guy.
"I'm with them. The residents of that block and surrounding area should have control over how their street should be. In fact, I there should be more streets like this. I'm an UWSider, and this might be the coolest thing about the upper east side."
A completely ridiculous (and un-democratic) attitude.
It's called living in a city and living around other people. This island is plenty privatized enough. And remember, bicycles are clearly preferable to car traffic.
most of u have no idea what this "street" is really like.
#1 is 100% right on this situation.
What's the big deal about painting a bike lane on this street or any other street in this City? I live close to the bright green bike path in Cobble Hill/Brooklyn Heights and cannot tell you the number of time I have seen cars parked or driving on it. It doesn't make any difference. This city just doesn't give a crap about bicyclists. If it did, drivers would get ticketed for parking cars on bike paths. However, I have never seen that happen. Not even in Brooklyn Heights where there is a traffic cop on every other block.
I went to the Community Board 8 meeting where Transportation Alternatives presented the plan for painting bike lanes on 90th (west-bound) and 91st (east-bound) street. The plan presented there was not technically for a bike lane to be painted on 91st between 2nd and 3rd aves, rather that that block would be the unpainted, undesignated continuation of the 91st street bike lane. So cyclists would not have any area set aside for them and would have to maneuver (uphill!)through the people using the play street. Even when the TA rep made these points, the residents of those highrises who had shown up in force were ready to wring someone's neck over the perceived marring of their private oasis. Their sense of entitlement to the block was astounding. They threatened to physically prevent cyclists from using that road. When will people understand they have to share the roads...
This street is great!
We should close off many more manhattan streets, just like this one.
Viola! Less congestion, with no tax!
I wanna close Saint James Avenue between 90th Street & 88th Street in Elmhurst. People try to avoid Corona Avenue & Broadway & then drive at 40 or 50 mph on the street to avoid traffic. They deserve the slowness of Broadway in Queens for fucking up the world for the past 100 years.
As a cyclist, I can certainly understand the neighborhood's fears of bikes riding through there (especially when it's not used as a street per se), just the same way I get annoyed when I'm walking through Central Park and a bike sideswipes me on the pedestrian paths where they aren't allowed.
My feeling is: it's really easy for cyclists to go 1-2 blocks north or south to get to where they need to go. Let them keep their play area and the bikers can save their energy for the BIGGER issues (i.e. more bike lanes, crackdowns on jaywalking pedestrians and illegally parked cars, etc.).
I get and appreciate Gwinny's point but what makes those tenants on that block so special/important/powerful that they get to make decisions like this? It's worth asking.
#4 is an asshole but I still hate cyclists.
DOT is not actually planning to stripe a bike lane on that street. They are planning to leave the pedestrian street as is.
#24 says "the bikers can save their energy for the BIGGER issues (i.e. ...jaywalking pedestrians....etc.)."
Jaywalking Pedestrians? This is New York. In your *dreams*.
The problem with New York's bike lanes appears to be that the dept of transportation does not communicate with the NYPD. The DOT paints the lines but has no control over what happens if they are not used properly. The NYPD doesn't give a shit about what lines are painted on the street or who uses them for what purposes.
I wrote a letter of complaint to the DOT last year about the bike lane on Adams Street, near the Marriott in Brooklyn, which is completely unusable because government employees use it as their commuter parking lot. DOT wrote back to say they forwarded my complaint to the police department because it was an enforcement issue. Police department wrote back to say that there was nothing they could do because the DOT had not painted or signed it clearly enough.
Whatever.
For the people who are not familiar with that street, it isn't just some random block that has been barred from traffic -- it runs through a complex called Ruppert and Yorkville Towers, which was a Mitchell-Lama project occupying two entire blocks from 90th to 92nd Streets and from 2nd to 3rd Avenues. Blocking off 91st Street from vehicular traffic was part of its architectural plan. It is adjacent to a park with a playground and was intended as a pedestrian walkway, not necessarily a place for children to play. The apartments in that complex are great, btw.
http://www.thecityreview.com/ues/thirdave/ruppert.html
Unfortunately, the owners bought out of the Mitchell-Lama program, and Ruppert Towers became condos (although I believe some sections still offer low-rent affordable apartments). However, it seems to me that residents in the complex have every right to be included in discussion about the use of this pedestrian-only street which runs through the property (think of it as similar to the streets that run through Stuy Town and Peter Cooper Village), and to fight it if they deem that necessary.