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The Hasidic community has been upset over bike lanes in their South Williamsburg for months, what with the immodest apparel of female bicyclists and the lanes taking up street space. Previously, the Hasidim announced they would use private buses to intentionally block bike lanes; now a reader tells us about her ride today:
Things have gotten pretty terrible in the saga of the Kent Ave. bike lane, at least for me. Today I had to ride between North Williamsburg and Fort Greene. On my way there, an older Hasidic man stepped right off the empty sidewalk and into the bike lane right in front of me as I was riding by Shaffaer's Landing. He seriously tried to play a game of chicken with me and stepped in that lane when I was a good 10 yards back so I would have to swerve around him.That would be Community Board 1. The next meeting with a scheduled public hearing is January 1, 2009 (we're checking to confirm whether that's still on).On my way back around 4 p.m. things got a bit worse. As I was making a left from Wallabout onto Kent to go under the BQE (not the best route, I know, but I wanted to get home quickly) a bus drive by a Hasidic man (no other people on it) sped up to make the right onto Kent in front of me even though there was no room for him to make the turn. I know this is hard to explain in an email, but he made it impossible for me to access the far right side of the street. I had to turn in between two lanes of traffic. There was no space for me to get over until I got closer to the light, which had by that time changed. I tried to pull up into the gas station on that corner, but a huge truck with a crane started backing out. I had to swerve back into traffic where I hit a huge crack and bit it. My head almost got run over by a car. Fortunately, I got away with a scraped knee and the creeps.
Of course, by the time I finally made it back to the start of the bike lane again on the other side of the BQE there was a guy driving his minivan down it...IN REVERSE! Can't wait to bring this up at the Community Board meeting.
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nice photoshoppe
So are they waiting until they kill someone to get the message across? If anything their endeavors show how necessary that bike lane really is. Every time I hear about their attempts to shut down the bike lanes because of "dress code" I get the sudden urge to run through Williamsburg in a bikini. We're not living in Iran, our women don't need to wear burkhas. Who are they to complain about what someone is or isn't wearing?
At this freezing time of year, obviously the Hasids' annoyance is not about immodest dress. It is about their annoyance at DOT's autocratically placing these underused bike lanes where no one but a few cyclists want them.
DOT is pulling this nonsense all over the city and lots of communities - from Gerritsen Beach to Wburg to Chinatown/Little Italy to the Meat Market to Chelsea to the UWS to the UES to Washington Hgts - are getting sick of the bullies at DOT and their undemocratic actions in the past two years since the new commissioner, Sadik-Khan, took over.
Unlike the W'burg hipsters, I learned to ride a bike in the city streets. These bike lanes are expedients for wimps. If you need a damn bike lane to feel safe, you shouldn't be on a bike. Don't suburbanize our city!
The rest of us pedestrians who are terrorized by the Spandex Nazis should likewise block these bike lanes whenever we have the chance.
Autocratic? There were like TWO YEARS of community meetings and hearings about this bike lane. I personally flyered all over the Hasidic community about the meetings. They had every opportunity to speak their piece.
I say critical mass should plan a ride through this neighborhood. With all women wearing bikinis. That would be great.
how do I block their B.O.?
Makes me wanna get out the ol' bike, call a few friends, and ride up and down Kent ALL day.
Any description of the perp? Was he wearing a black coat, a kind of black Wyatt Earp looking hat, a white shirt, with a beard and funny looking side burns? Was his skin the same color and texture of the library paste that was used in grade schools back in the fifties? Or was he ethnic looking?
@thefacts The point that the Hassids keep pushing is that the immodest dress of female bikers disturbs them. There are plenty of other points to choose from, but they opt to go with the dress code issues.
That said, bike lanes encourage people to ride their bikes either as a form of exercise or an alternative form of transportation - both of which are plusses in my book. Bike riding is a clean, healthy alternative to driving or taking mass transit, especially during the warmer months. We should be encouraging that by adding more bike lanes, not getting rid of them.
While you may feel comfortable riding the city streets by bike, anyone who's ever done it will agree that New Yorkers (and drivers pretty much everywhere) don't respect share the road rules which creates hazardous situations for bikers.
I'm all for more bike lanes. I would use my bike far more often if I could get around safely. Even riding with a bike lane, and obeying all lights, as I do -- after all, a bike is a vehicle -- I've had more than a few close calls.
More drivers, more bikes, less cars. Is that a bad thing?
And if this particular group of people is angry because female bikers aren't dressed as they like: tough. Seriously. I let you live as you choose, and you let me live as I choose.
Also -- don't extreme Muslims get upset because women in the west don't cover themselves from head to toe? Seems to me a Jew...would think differently than a Muslim. I say that with sarcasm.
I'm going to get reamed now, no?
Anyone that rides a bike in the city, has a death wish.
Amen, #3. Bike lanes are for wimps.
I'm sure the Palestinians would beg to differ, babyhitler, but who really cares about those inferior people
What a terrible Chillul Hashem. This is beyond terrible. I hope the original emailed is reading this post, and if you are, let me just apologize to you.
Please don't look badly on all Jews. Some people are just daft, it's their personality, not the religion.
I think the ultra religious there are just some times off the mark. Don't blame us all.
Riding with traffic is second nature to me, but I will almost always use the bike lane if there is one available.
All it'll take is for a cyclist to be killed due to the wreckless actions by the Hasidic community to set off a nasty rash of antisemitism. Seriously, this can get ugly real fast.
I'd like to see a bike rider walk their bike down the sidewalk in this area an 'accidentally' block someone's path. Repeatedly.
This really makes me mad. Sometimes they act like they'd be happier if they had a wall erected around their little enclave so they didn't have to deal with the rest of us.
You don't like the cultural diversity of NY? Can't deal with people of different back grounds with different life styles? Then move the f*&% out!
There was probably a time when only the bravest drove cars, and when the first traffic light was proposed those drivers suggested that lights were for "wimps", and that the fearful should just stay off the road.
Bike lanes which are respected, and the violation of which is punished, are needed to get more people on bikes. This is necessary because public transit isn't geared towards relatively short trips within a borough, because cars pollute and waste fuel, and because most people could use the cardiovascular exercise.
I firmly believe that the Hasid claims of moral offense by immodest women bicyclists is a ploy to provoke the inevitable naked bicycle protests.
Your tipster sounds like she can't ride a bike in the city. Oh no! a man is standing in the bike lane- he was probably trying to cross the street. Oh no! a bus is making a turn, whatever shall you do?
Let's get real.
Hmm...you might be onto something with that naked bicycle protests. Now to wait for the temperatures to rise above 40 degrees
These bike lanes are expedients for wimps. If you need a damn bike lane to feel safe, you shouldn't be on a bike."
This has to be the stupidest fucking comment on earth. What year did you learn to ride a bike in the city streets? 1980, when there was much less commercial traffic running through the city?
Maybe one of your family members needs to get crushed under the wheels of a Fresh Direct truck to appreciate the precarious nature of riding in the city.
You know who else hated bike lanes? The Nazis.
As for the Hasidim, I've had more trouble trying to drive through their neighborhood in a car than riding a bicycle, so far. But what the hell -- it's New York City, and everybody's got a big-time New York City axe to grind. Why not them?
Quite true, though, if they kill somebody with their silly games of motor tag there'll be hell to pay. One hopes there are some grownups in the community.
Who the fuck is against bike lanes besides a few hasids in s. williamsburg and a couple business owners little italy? Seriously. You hate people on bikes that break traffic laws. Fine, I get it. But who couple possibly be against safe ways for bicycles to navigate the city? Get a LIFE. You're either a troll or loser.
This isn't about being Jewish. There are bazillions of religious Jews who really couldn't care less about this sort of thing.
You can be a part of any religion or culture and choose to be a dick, or a decent human being who attempts to live in harmony with other human beings, decent or no.
While I admire those who fight for what they feel is right within the confines of their neighborhood, acting like a total bastard with a cold-blooded disregard for human life pretty much blows that away for me.
They're offended by women in spandex because they're afraid of what it will do to their men and boys?
Geez, anyone who is so weak that seeing a woman in head-to-toe biking gear whoosh by is enough to shake his moral foundation, has MUCH bigger problems.
In "Mein Kampf" Hitler writes about how deeply offended he was by "The Jews" on the street and how inappropriately and immodestly they ("The Jews") were dressed.
The situation today in South Williamsburg can be accurately described as...ironic.
F I N A L L Y ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
The chickens are coming home to roost.
I'm as unorthodox as one gets (well, definitely not Jewish) - but there's one thing I hate more than the Bush administration: NYC Cyclists. They're the most arrogant , F-ing demographic in this fair city.
I hope the reader who contributed this little anecdote was the same L O S E R who elbowed me on the Brooklyn Bridge for daring to stray into his pathetic little bike lane.
Either stop complaining or get some training wheels.
PS - Kapusta - you're a loser.
PPS - If you spoiled brats were smart you'd put on Streimel when riding around Billyburg. After all, it's cold out.
D O R K S ! ! ! ! ! !
@Rock: Bike lanes are nice. I hope more of them are put up so that more people can discover the joys of cycling, get in shape, and something, something Al Gore blah blah An Inconvenient Truth. But bike lanes aren't everywhere yet, so the responsible cyclist needs to learn how to ride agressively and adapt to the scary roads without the bike lanes. It's a near daily occurrence when somebody — be they hassid, muslim, juggalo, or just stupid — blocks a bike lane. Be prepared.
And run them over if you have to.
don't forget tacks and nails harm car tires, too.
I bet they cost more to repair or replace.
So when is Critical Mass Williamsburg?
Fundamentalists are all the same no matter what the religion, they take their religion literally and they want everybody else to do the same.
@thefacts: cool nazi comparison!
I agree with learning how to adapt to riding in the city. Kent street IS the only route to get from north brooklyn to south brooklyn. I've been riding it for 5 years. Never needed a bike lane.
As for the immodestly dressed women. The hasidim should adapt to that and understand its a part of modern society. It really shouldn't be a reason to prevent a method to keep people safe from cars.
Women in the hasidim culture have to stay in a different part of the building while the men are doing gods work. Cause if the men were in the same room as the women, the men would get distracted.
I hate religion and cyclists evenly.
This photomontage is very intriguing. More interesting than the discussion so far.
The chicken qua Moses parts the sea of Jews to lead the harried bicyclists into the promised land -- or 40 years of aimless cycling in South Brooklyn. Genius!
No religious group should dictate rules regarding civic property.
brooklyn critical mass is every 2nd friday of the month which means that the NEXT one is THIS friday! enjoy.
If they don't like the bike lanes, they can move. As much as I don't care for the Williamsburg hipsters (who are probably using these lanes the most), bike lanes are necessary if we want to encourage alternative and cleaner methods of transportation as well as getting people more active. Yes, there are those that have grown up or feel completely comfortable dealing with normal street traffic but even still, this is a stupid thing to protest.
Hassids have already been migrating out of the city to areas of Rockland county. Let them continue the trend if they don't like what's going on. They are the ones with the choice in the matter.
im not a hasid and im all for more bike lanes..
But what the DOT did on kent avenue is stupid, it wasn't planned well, and they are going to remove it.
because of 1 stupid lane they are risking the support that the bike lane had till now...
The bike lanes on Kent Avenue are unnecessary now, but if they ever finish all those glitzy condos they will fill them with suburbanites and Kent Avenue will be jammed with SUVs and strollers. It'll be worse than Park Slope. And then bike lanes will be useful, except they'll all be blocked by trucks delivering "upscale" crap to the suburbanites in the upended ice cube trays they call home.
Editrixie:
No religious group should dictate rules regarding civic property.
End of discussion.
Editrixie:
No religious group should dictate rules regarding civic property.
End of discussion.
Anyone that it intentionally cut off by a vehicle while in the bike lane or is purposely blocked by a moving or parked vehicle should go and file a police report. Get the plate number and a good description or better yet a photo of those responsible and file the report. If enough people file I think the police will get sick of having to deal with the reports and might actually do something about this childish behavior. If anything it will also create a public record in case anyone is hurt during one of these incidents.
amen #28.. i was on the brooklyn bridge a while back and got yelled at by some righteous asshole because i stepped out of the pedestrian lane for a few seconds to get around a bunch of lardasses. to be fair, the other side is acting like a bunch of assholes too. screw them both.
Echoing #41 and #42, it is not only the Kent Ave bike lane that is 'stupid' and 'unnecessary'.
The bike lane on Grand Street is also useless, underutilized and dangerous. On Grand Street it is not hasids complaining. It is Chinese merchants and street peddlers, Little Italy store owners and residents, and Soho loft dwellers as well. The same goes for other DOT projects throughout the city in the past two years, since the new commissioner, Sadik-Khan has taken over.
DOT is the most arrogant, dysfunctional and autocratic of all the city agencies. Their patronizing new commissioner is behind all these debacles. She thinks she knows more than the citizens of this city.
Want decent and sensible transportation infrastructure? Dump Sadik-Khan!
Your tipster sounds like she can't ride a bike in the city. Oh no! a man is standing in the bike lane- he was probably trying to cross the street. Oh no! a bus is making a turn, whatever shall you do?
Pardon me, but I'm the tipster. I didn't have an accident because the guy stepped into the street. He was the one putting himself at risk. I was just remarking on the stupidity of the move.
I was born in this city and have been riding my bike here for almost as long (ok, not the SAME bike...started with a pink huffy). I know how to handle myself.
Also, there are plenty of riders who ride like douches. They suck. I don't blame all jews (hey, I am one) for that guy just like I don't blame all cyclists for the moves of some asswipes.
Right hooking buses, obstructing pedestrians, wrong way backing mini-vans, broken pavement... Sounds like an everyday ride in a bike lane anywhere and quite highlights the false security of bike lanes in general- the only thing you left out is someone dooring you. Nothing I read in your narrative sounds like you were being targeted- it sounds more like the usual tunnel-visioned motorist and pedestrian behavior to be found everywhere.
So you say, but considering what you wrote in the original "tip", I am left a tad confused:
Why did you have to do this? Lane splitting is a high risk maneuver and should always be done with the utmost caution for the possible consequences. When the situation isn't clear, it's much safer to just stop and wait for a safe opportunity to proceed.
Again, I don't understand your reason for doing what you did. If the intersection wasn't clear, you should have stopped in the traffic lane and waited for the light to change. You are not obligated to ride in the gutter and unpredictably weaving into and out of driveways is no way to ride safely!
I may be misunderstanding what you have written, but my perception is that you attempted several consecutive risky maneuvers before your fall. Yes, the bus shouldn't have right-hooked you and I'm sorry for your injury- but frankly IMHO you have no cause to kvetch when you yourself were breaking good cycling practice and the rules-of-the-road.
They should put up a wall around their community
and don't allow them to leave that way they don't have to see what normal life is!
Maybe they're worried if, too many goyim start coming through, we'll unveil more sex scandals and well they can't have that.
Seriously, they should have cops over there issuing summons or even tickets, that's not fair and it wouldn't be tolerated anywhere else.
^^
If you ever find yourself in this situation, you'll understand what a tricky moment it it; I'd liken it to taking the exit ramp off an interstate, and the car behind you suddenly decides to leapfrog you into the exit. Except that its relative size is that of an 18 wheeler.
Don't trust anyone who won't let their children watch Sesame Street!
Agreed #52. If we're surly it's because I don't like bruises. I went headfirst over my handlebars the last time I was on the Brooklyn Bridge. A pedestrian jumped into the bike lane to snap a photo right as I was passing him. (To his credit, the guy was super apologetic -- almost distraught.) Just look before you cross into the bike lane.
Oh yeah, always wear your helmet.
the whole argument over the propriety of the bike lane is useless. It's there, and people are going to use it.
The real issue, to me, is that some people in the Hasidic community are endangering the safety of others for the sake of their own convenience. One may disagree with the bike lane, but nobody has the right to endanger other people over the issue.
These people are using thuggish tactics to attempt to terrorize people into capitulating to their own belief system.
They should be ashamed of themselves. If they have a problem they should resolve it through the political process or even the courts, resorting to these tactics is simply criminal.
hasidism (is that how you say it?) is an outsider religion/lifestyle, much like the amish. the problem is that they are trying to live in one of the most diverse areas of the country, unlike the amish. and now they are trying to use their religious beliefs to change the city's actions.
really...they are appalled by the short skirted women riding by? i guess that explains why I used to see them hanging out at the dirty bar/restaurant/titty bar on s.5th and hooper all the time. and why a friend of mine who takes blood donations constantly has to turn an overwhelming number of hasidic men away because they admit to sleeping with prostitutes.
ah, now it all makes sense.
It's hard not to generalize groups of people. I've met a few very nice, pleasant, and genuinely good natured hasidic jews. But, just like any large group of religious people, they are quite the exception.
There was a group of hasids that would come into Duffs bar occasionally. They would buy one heineken, not drink it, and ask the bartender for sexual favors. It was like they were from another planet.
=v= If the community (or just a vocal piece of it) has issues with the DOT, that's one thing. To vent frustrations with the DOT by endangering vulnerable bicyclists is quite another. That's totally unacceptable.
Sadik-Khan is ahead of the times (or about five years behind if you compare her approaches to Europe and South America).
You peasants will catch up soon enough.
^ South America? Ha! You want NYC to emulate narcostates like Colombia as Sadik-Khan has attempted.
^Europe?
In Paris, bikes ride in the bus lanes on wide boulevanrds, not in separate lanes on narrow streets!
Copenhagen and Amsterdam?
You dare compare the Greatest City in the World to these two villages?
^Another suburban troll from streetsblog.
things change. Cyclists are, at the moment, getting a chance with the DOT that they haven't had for some time. In a huge,chaotic city like this a few ground rules add some clarity.
Bike lanes work in Amsterdam because the dutch decided it was a good idea to try them. The size of the city has nothing to do with the program's success. A dutch car hurts just as bad when it hits you as an american one does.
One person is not all people. One biker does not represent all bikers. One Chasid does not represent all Chasids or all Jews.
They're not really fundamentalists. There's nothing about Spandex in the Torah. They're just a nutty sect that has decided to spend eternity in their idea of the moment history should have stopped, like the Amish. Polygamy aside, the Torah isn't nearly as anti-feminist as they are. (And let it be said that I am Jewish but now very very very very Reform.) When Cults want to have wacky rules they should buy property in places like Waco and move there.
Whose streets? EVERYONE's streets.
By the way, why do the bike lanes matter in this case? Riding in revealing Spandex (or hot pants or naked or whatever) down Kent Ave. would be just as unsettling for them if the bike lane didn't exist, wouldn't it?
Watch for caltrops.
They should just put a protected lane on Kent Ave. No provocative bikini protests, no violent cultural clashes, nothing.
People then could foam at the mouth all they like about bicycle lanes, but they wouldn't get to endanger other people's lives.
=v= After looking over the various entries on this issue, I want to be clear on something. It does appear that the community has a legitimate gripe with the DOT for implementing parking restrictions on the Sabbath. Overall I think the innovations since Sadik-Kahn took over the DOT are fantastic.
The things posted about the DOT by the entity calling him/her/itself "thefacts" are getting increasingly unhinged.
The fundamental principals of the United States is the right of people to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Hassidim are by and large native born American citizens who are intitled to this right just as much as yourselves, and they elect to do so (in accordance with their first amendment right of freedom of religion) by living at arms length from the rest of society, generally in neighborhoods were they represent the majority. To enter their neighborhoods and flagrently violate their sense of propriety is a fundamental breech of "do unto others" and evidence than many Americans given the choice between consideration of others and excercizing thier "rights" will choose the latter.
After indications/claims that the Hasidim will use what effectively amounts to civil disobedience to protest an unwelcome addition to their neighborhood we have a report that such behaviour included actions which could be dangerous.
As a result we see that posters have little hesitation in painting the Hassidim with a broad brush, and not only the Hassidim but all "fundamentalists" (nevermind that most Hassidim don't give a rip about what non-Jews do when it doesn't impact them). On the one hand they are all border-line violent extremists who wish to impose their will on others and on the otherhand their all just a bunch of pervs who hang out in stripclubs and bars.
Regardless of how distasteful you may find their beliefs, nor how improper the acts are, the ability of so many commenters to use them, in addition to derogetory references to their physical appearence, to disparage the entire community is an alarming reminder the depths to which an average person can sink when everyone else is going along with such hatred. If you wonder how the Holocaust came out of a democratic Germany, here you go.
I just try to encourage myself that at least a number of commenters were able to draw distinction between individual acts and the community of those individuals.
new yorkers just don't like bikes. its big cars and farm trucks, grease is the word!
Has anyone ever gotten a ticket for blocking the bike lane?
We do not want to see the schickster's and fellows
in those tite pantz in" our Brooklyn"...Oy!
The Hasids indeed do have a right to freedom of religion, in that Congress shall abridge no law restricting its practice. However, that viewpoint has been colored by over 200+ years of American jurisprudence, so it's a little more complicated than that. They absolutely do NOT have the right to impose religious cultural and social mores upon people living in the SHARED space in which they live.
'To enter their neighborhoods and flagrently violate their sense of propriety is a fundamental breech of "do unto others'
Luckily, 'do unto others' has absolutely nothing to do with American jurisprudence.
Keep in mind that gay couples or other such 'sinners' entering their neighborhoods are violating their sense of propriety, as well as women who are dressed for physical activity, as well as another million permutations of 'offensive people'. Merely because a large percentage of religious people inhabit a place does not mean they get to determine the character or dress of people entering that community.
The fact of the matter is this: were these people attempting to parade around naked in their synagogue that would obviously be disruptive and unfair to their practice of religion. The Constitution protects that extent of exercise.
However, neighborhoods are places of PUBLIC accommodation and residence and the Hadsids' ability to sanction/encourage morality in any substantive way ends at that synagogue's threshold. For instance, the state cannot compel that Hasids admit women rabbis, or marry gays, or anything like that; the state has to avoid being entangled in the affairs of religion to that extent.
However, Hasids can no more forbid that 'scantily' dressed women can enter 'their' neighborhoods than Italian Catholics in Bensonhurst forbidding women dressed in hijab from entering theirs. (This is just an example, I'm not trying to suggest Italian Catholics in Bensonhurst are biased one way or the other.)
Painting all people critical of religious fundamentalists demanding that people adhere to their standards as Nazis is pretty insane and reductive. If Hasids AREN'T religious fundamentalists I'd like to see the groups that are more religiously fervent than they.
This is not only affecting the Jewish community this affects the community as a whole. I was born and raised in Greenpoint and have seen this community go through so many changes, some good and some bad. I am for Bike Lanes and a dear friend of mine was killed on Roebling Street about 9 years ago and I am adamant to the need of building a safer and greener community but the Bike Lane on Kent Avenue is hurting the businesses and residents. There are well over 30 businesses with over 400 employees along Kent Avenue strip alone. These businesses can no longer load and unload their goods and employees can not find parking. Within the Industrial Businesses Zone which runs from Calyer Street to North 9th there are close to 2,000 employees that have been adversely affected by the installation of the bike lane. A huge chunk of employees ride their bike to work but if it stays as is they may not have a job to bike to. Nobody wants the bike lanes to disappear; DOT just needs to come up with a better solution that will meet everyone’s needs (and do it quickly). We have lost so many jobs in our community due to the rezoning we can not afford to lose anymore. They need to design the bike lanes where they can have both parking on one side and bike lanes on the other. This should not be about residents and motorists against cyclists we should have sympathy for both sides and come up with solutions and not bash each other as if we are back in grade school! We need a plan that will work for all!
This is not only affecting the Jewish community this affects the community as a whole. I was born and raised in Greenpoint and have seen this community go through so many changes, some good and some bad. I am for Bike Lanes and a dear friend of mine was killed on Roebling Street about 9 years ago and I am adamant to the need of building a safer and greener community but the Bike Lane on Kent Avenue is hurting the businesses and residents. There are well over 30 businesses with over 400 employees along Kent Avenue strip alone. These businesses can no longer load and unload their goods and employees can not find parking. Within the Industrial Businesses Zone which runs from Calyer Street to North 9th there are close to 2,000 employees that have been adversely affected by the installation of the bike lane. A huge chunk of employees ride their bike to work but if it stays as is they may not have a job to bike to. Nobody wants the bike lanes to disappear; DOT just needs to come up with a better solution that will meet everyone’s needs (and do it quickly). We have lost so many jobs in our community due to the rezoning we can not afford to lose anymore. They need to design the bike lanes where they can have both parking on one side and bike lanes on the other. This should not be about residents and motorists against cyclists we should have sympathy for both sides and come up with solutions and not bash each other as if we are back in grade school! We need a plan that will work for all!
This is not only affecting the Jewish community this affects the community as a whole. I was born and raised in Greenpoint and have seen this community go through so many changes, some good and some bad. I am for Bike Lanes and a dear friend of mine was killed on Roebling Street about 9 years ago and I am adamant to the need of building a safer and greener community but the Bike Lane on Kent Avenue is hurting the businesses and residents. There are well over 30 businesses with over 400 employees along Kent Avenue strip alone. These businesses can no longer load and unload their goods and employees can not find parking. Within the Industrial Businesses Zone which runs from Calyer Street to North 9th there are close to 2,000 employees that have been adversely affected by the installation of the bike lane. A huge chunk of employees ride their bike to work but if it stays as is they may not have a job to bike to. Nobody wants the bike lanes to disappear; DOT just needs to come up with a better solution that will meet everyone’s needs (and do it quickly). We have lost so many jobs in our community due to the rezoning we can not afford to lose anymore. They need to design the bike lanes where they can have both parking on one side and bike lanes on the other. This should not be about residents and motorists against cyclists we should have sympathy for both sides and come up with solutions and not bash each other as if we are back in grade school! We need a plan that will work for all!
There are several issues at play here.
1- The bike lane route was proposed by Brooklyn Greenway Initiative after extensive review at CB1, well-attended breakout community planning sessions and coordination with DOT, DCP, DPR and others, and taking into account best-practices for traffic planning. The unanimity of support for the route can be seen in the lopsided vites in favor from both the Transportation Committee and the board as a whole. DOT only designated and striped these lanes after literally years of local community review of the route and two overwhelming endorsements from the Community Board.
2- The Hasidic issue is on the south side, past the Navy Yard, up to Broadway or so.
The existing roadway up to Division is quite wide, so plenty of space for a bike lane, parking and a traffic lane. North of Division, the road is narrower, but much less residential (except for Schaeffer's Landing, which has a fair bit of onsite parking). In the stretch, the vast majority of on-street parking is neither residential nor commercial traffic, no loading/unloading of deliveries, but is long-term parking of empty tractor-trailers and school buses for the yeshivas in the area. Overnight and other extended (empty) parking of semis and buses does not need to be done in this area. It does not support the residential, industrial or commercial activities.
3- The IBZ between Calyer and North 9th is some distance away from the Hasidic neighborhood on the southside. I belive that DOT has already announced changes to the "No Standing" regulations to allow for deliveries. And employee parking can most likely occur on the side streets.
It is a shame that Vinny Abate, David Yassky, Diana Reyna, Evan Thies, Gerry Esposito and pretty much every other political person in the area immediately capitulated to the (small) minority viewpoint from the Hasidic activists and reversed themselves on this bike lane. They should be ashamed! And to then try to force out Teresa Toro - double shame!
Autocratic? There were like TWO YEARS of community meetings and hearings about this bike lane. I personally flyered all over the Hasidic community about the meetings. They had every opportunity to speak their piece.