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We continue to receive emails about the controversial Kent Avenue bike lane in Brooklyn, which has become the front line in the battle over bike lanes. On one side are business owners and residents who insist that the new "No Stopping" signs on Kent, installed to accommodate the bike lane, are onerous; on the other side are cyclists who enjoy the sense of a safer commute between north and south Brooklyn, and cherish the hope for a Brooklyn Greenway completely separate from traffic. Here's an email in response to yesterday's story about a cyclist who says Hasidim in South Williamsburg are making good on their promise to obstruct traffic in protest:
Things have gotten pretty terrible in the saga of the Kent Ave. bike lane, at least for the people who live or work on this block. Today I had to drive home my 5 year old daughter from hospital, after she went through surgery last week, it was 6 p.m. when we arrived in front our home at 450 Kent Avenue and it was freezing cold outside, after driving around for 15 minutes, I finally found a halfway illegal parking spot 4 blocks away from my home, I had to walk with my cranky just out of hospital daughter in my hands, all while she was complaining why I had to park so far.On the other hand, anyone who rides a bike through South Williamsburg—or anywhere in NYC—knows that buses and other vehicles routinely block the bike lanes, with little enforcement from the NYPD—who in fact are among the city's most shameless bike lane blockers. Nevertheless, community pressure has become so intense that Councilman David Yassky, Borough President Marty Markowitz, and other officials want the DOT to paint over the bike lane on the northbound side and to remove the "No Stopping" signs on the east side of Kent Avenue, "until such time as an appropriate community-endorsed solution can be developed."This is 1 of 100 such stories that happen every day here on our block. Now back to the issues: we lost over 100 parking spots, there is no way to pick up/drop off a passenger or make a delivery in front of our house, buses cant stop to pick up kids, you cant call a car service to your house, and all you had to write was Hasidic chickens and Hasids Say Cyclists Too Sexy for Bike Lanes. I want to invite you to my house, and give you a consignment, come with your car, find a legal parking spot within 5 blocks of my house, walk down to our building very slowly and count how many bikes pass by. I bet U, it wont be more then 1.
Their full letter to the DOT is published after the jump. And in still more NYC cycling news, City Room reports that yesterday the City Council discussed two bills: One that would mandate access to bike parking in most office and retail buildings, "provided that such building can reasonably accommodate the storage of such bicycle," and a second that would require garages and parking lots to provide at least one bicycle parking space for every 10 car-parking spaces. But a representative of city building owners, Sylvester Giustino, urged caution, wondering how the city expects owners to "screen bicycles and bicyclists for terrorist activity."
December 5, 2008
Commissioner Joseph Palmieri
New York City Department of Transportation
Brooklyn Borough Office
16 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Dear Commissioner Palmieri,
Increasing the availability of bicycle lanes throughout New York City is a critical goal that we share with the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT). That said, we strongly believe that this goal must be balanced with an appropriate consideration for the local businesses, schools, and residents that stand to be most affected by the installation of these lanes. We write to express our concern that these considerations were not appropriately balanced when DOT installed the two-way bicycle lane on Kent Avenue. This has created an adverse and unnecessary impact on residents, local businesses and bikers alike.
Since the installation of this lane and the accompanying “No Stopping” signage, businesses that rely on their ability to load and unload on Kent Avenue have been forced to risk both physical danger and repeated fines. Many of these businesses are dependent on retail customers who can no longer find parking to do their shopping. Repeated requests to find an effective and immediate solution for these businesses have been ignored by DOT or have not been met with the urgency that the situation warrants.
In addition to the businesses along Kent Avenue, many local residents have been affected by the sudden change in parking regulations. The resultant loss of parking in an area that already faces a parking shortage has forced families to park far from their homes and has impaired their ability to drop their children off at school, receive deliveries, and load and unload passengers in front of their homes.
In light of the difficulties and inconveniences that have resulted from the installation of the bicycle lanes on Kent Avenue, we respectfully ask that DOT remove the newly installed “No Stopping” signs from the east side of Kent Avenue and that you paint over the northbound bike lane until such time as an appropriate community-endorsed solution can be developed.
We are deeply troubled by the negative effect that this effort has had on the Greenpoint/Williamsburg community’s opinion about bicycle lanes and biking, which are a critical part of the North Brooklyn community. We affirm our enthusiastic support for the Brooklyn Greenway, and we hope and expect to see the Kent Avenue bike lanes, which greatly increase bicyclist safety, return once the DOT and the community have developed a collaborative plan. Until that time, we feel it is unfair to leave the bicycle lanes as they are.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to our offices with questions.
Sincerely,
David Yassky (Council Member, 33rd District), Marty Markowitz (Brooklyn Borough President),
Daniel Squadron (State Senator-elect, 25th District), Diana Reyna (Council Member, 34th District), Evan Thies (Chair, Sanitation and Environment Committee Community Board 1)
cc: Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, New York City Department of Transportation
Photo of Kent Avenue Bike Lane courtesy I'm Not Sayin, I'm Just Sayin's Flickr.
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not finding parking on the same block as your house = growing pains. more people in the neighborhood, more cars. also, more bikes, hence the need for the bike lane.
you have got to be kidding?
what other group has this much power?
and, please think of the children, the children who just got out of the hospital and are cranky.
I hope critical mass has a protest in E Williamsburg. Kent Ave is large avenue thats perfect for a bike lane. Every area in the city can change but Williamsburg? F-em. And F Markowitz and Yassky for being their usual shill oppurtunitist selves.
how does this happen? why do these people have so much goddamned influence?
Caving in to a large, organised, and religious fundamentalist voting block. How very progressive. Marty Markowitz is quite the coward
this kid has got to be pist:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skivphotos/309362625/in/set-72157594397917254/
Critical Mass is Friday nights, no? I don't think the good folks of Kent Ave. will be out to witness the procession.
Bicycle terrorists? You gotta love it.
Streets for storage, not for transportation! Remove the stripes that make it safe for more users. Add stripes that make more room for people to leave their Large Personal Belongings!
4 blocks? wow. i mean it sucks that she can't park out front like she used to... but welcome to reality lady. seriously. i have lived in the neighbourhood for 11 years and walking four blocks from where you park your car is not that bad for the growth williamsburg has experienced over that time.
next time plan ahead, and if walking 4 blocks with a cranky youngster is so unbearable for you- get a friend to help you out.
I biked along Kent ave all summer long. It's a better road than many, with or without no bike lane. The neighborhood has to understand that they don't own the freaking street!
Let's see............a large group of residents vs. a handful of cyclists who use the bike lane? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm..........where would a reasonable politician come down?
I know! How about asking DOT to remove the bike lane until it can actually be discussed with the large number of people who live there so they can work out something acceptable to both sides?
What a great idea. DOH....that's what the letter says!
I want to invite you to my house... walk down to our building very slowly and count how many bikes pass by. I bet U, it wont be more then 1.
So it's might makes right? The larger numbers should automatically prevail? Interesting philosophy being applied here - would this person apply that numbers game to other aspects of his or her culture?
"I want to invite you to my house, and give you a consignment, come with your car, find a legal parking spot within 5 blocks of my house..."
oh, c'mon! why would i drive anywhere in the is city when i can take the frickin' subway! and/or a bus. i love mass transit.
#11 - Stop making sense!
The DOT has been trampling on communities all over the city for the past two years, since Dikatator Sadik-Khan has taken over as head. The Hasids just get the press and the attention.
Since the fall of the Soviet dictatorship, a lot of Russian immigrants have been employed at DOT as apparatchiks. You know the attitude: we at DOT know what is best for the community and the people who live and vote in a neighborhood. Take it or leave it, and if you complain we have a nice gulag for you.
Who here believes that DOT is a democratic agency?
It is a bloated bureaucracy run by a Spandex-wearing Nazi.
Walking four blocks?!? Outrage! Once I had to walk FIVE to my house! I almost PLOTZED.
I'm kinda glad the Ruskies are working at the DOT.
it's about time. at least they work.
why don't they put the bike lanes in the middle of the road instead of by the curb? then nobody would lose parking spots.
@17
because making a turn from the middle lane would more than likely become problematic.
"give you a consignment"???
to the guy who wrote the first letter: dude, you live in new york city. You're not gonna find a parking spot near your house. sure it's Brooklyn but it's less than a mile from Manhattan. it is absurd to put your need for a parking spot above the safety of cyclists, which are doing a hell of a lot of good by not climbing into their cars like everyone else and clogging up the streets with even more traffic. Would you bike lane haters rather everyone drove cars around your neighborhood instead of bikes?
Jesus, why not just do what other cities like Portland do and make a bike lane between the parking lane and the sidewalk?
Cars get parking spots. Bikes get protection from the streets thanks to the parked cars. Win Win.
This is like a no brainer.
Jesus, why not just do what other cities like Portland do and make a bike lane between the parking lane and the sidewalk?
Cars get parking spots. Bikes get protection from the streets thanks to the parked cars. Win Win.
This is a no-brainer.
Wait, wait, let me guess, you folks against the bike lanes are also against paying tolls to cross bridges, congestion pricing, and MTA fare hikes?
"Wait, wait, let me guess, you folks against the bike lanes are also against paying tolls to cross bridges, congestion pricing, and MTA fare hikes?"
No, more then likely they're cool with the fare hikes because they drive.
Streetsblog down today or something?
"Come with your car" ?
I sold it in 1981, I doubt I'll be able to find it.
I think this depends on how many bicyclists and how many cars. If 10 drivers are inconvenienced to allow 1,000 bicyclists a day an easier ride, that's one thing. If, on the other hand, we're talking 1,000 drivers being inconvenienced, and the bike lane only gets 10 riders a day, that's different. My sense is that it's closer to the latter, but I don't really know.
Obviously there's a hope that some day there will be many more bicyclists -- but I just don't see bike lanes making a difference in that. A bike lane will certainly encourage some people to choose a bike over driving -- but driving or riding has never just been about whether there's a dedicated lane. There is also the exposure to the elements, the distances, the (unwanted)exercise, etc. that come with riding. All those discourage riding, and bike lanes don't change that. If we're never going to see enough riders to make the inconvenience worthwhile, the bike lanes don't make sense.
(Disclaimer -- I'm assuming that there are, in fact, a lot of inconvenienced drivers and relatively few bicyclists -- rather than, say, an extremely vocal religious minority trying to hide its moral objection behind "inconvenience" arguments...)
I live in Jackson Heights, and I can't find a legal parking space within five blocks of my house.
Pay for a garage, like I do, or get rid of your car.
Sorry. But welcome to New York. I have no sympathy.
#27 - remove lanes for cars and there will be less automobiles on the road. Roads were not built for cars alone.
Hey, how about you get a bike! I hear there's a bike lane right in front of your house.
@29 -- moderately fewer cars, maybe (some people will become so frustrated with the increased traffic that they'll stay home). But for the most part fewer lanes just means the same amount of cars in less space -- people still have to go places (and they're not generally willing to go on bikes). More traffic means more frustration, more pollution, and a lower quality of life for everyone.
Yeah, roads aren't just for cars. Bikes can use them too -- the question is whether we're better off overall if bikes get a special lane.
Why do the Hasidics all drive the Honda Odyssey Minivans?? Does anyone else notice this when you bike or walk through the neighborhood?? Do they all own Honda stock or something?
i often ride down from north to south brooklyn via kent, and i can say, i'm thankful for the bike lane.
i can also say, in south williamsburg, bike lane or not, the people that live around there disregard it and / or use it as a parking lane and it's a constant source of frustration and near death experiences.
i'm not saying bikes are better than cars, or cars are better than bikes, but fucking, shut the fuck up and share the road, no matter who wants to be on it.
that's my $.02.
"I bet U, it wont be more then 1."
Why use correct words and punctuation? No need, i r pissed @ byks!
To: Resident of 450 Kent Ave.
Re: Lack of parking spaces
It's a shame the new bike lane is underused. How many families in Brooklyn own 2, 3, or even 4 cars? Hopefully a bike-friendly New York encourages less motor vehicle indulgence so that more parking spaces will be vacated by those whose vehicular necessity is really a luxury, thereby allowing people like yourself who may need a car to park closer to their home.
I wish the writer of the letter, and the members of this community, only endless personal turmoil and strife. I find the fact that the preferences of a very specific self-righteous group of religious fundamentalists are being applied to those outside of their sequestered regiments depraved on any standard, and second only to the cowering of those who are willing to allow such blatant use of religious bullying.
What year is it? What city is this? How soon will it be before they begin building their wall to keep the goyim out? Though a subtle reference to a different story, we must not forget to check our footnotes.
Though only a bike lane, the lengths taken by this community (maliciously putting a bike rider into oncoming traffic) to keep out infidels is troubling and infuriating. I am livid that a single community's wishes is impacting an entire borough+ - a community who would not even give you the time of day on a subway or a sidewalk. Regardless of how trivial the ends, the means are very telling.
=v= There's smart growth and there's dumb growth, and car-oriented infrastructure is pretty much the definition of dumb growth, especially in an area as rich and dense as Brooklyn! The solution to growing pains is smart growth.
Now I know how to spell brew ha ha.
This Woman should consider herself lucky her child is still alive and think about the parents who's children have been killed by careless drivers while riding their bikes.
I defy anyone to recall reading anything quite as mindless as that said by a representative of city building owners, Sylvester Giustino who took issue with garage owners having to make space for one bike for every ten cars. He wondered how the city expects owners to "screen bicycles and bicyclists for terrorist activity."
Uh, Sy, I'd say the very same way garage owners screen every car that enters a garage: inspect the trunk and the glove compartment of the bike. Check underneath the bike and see if a bomb is taped to it.
Oh, you don't do that with every car entering a garage? But a bike is able to conceal and carry more than can a car or truck, which you are only too happy to have in your parking lots for an exhorbitant cost, right?
And as for the Hasidim being offended by the manner of dress of, presumably lycra-clad, cyclists (which, I guess, explains why we don't see any Hasidic football players, tennis players, figure skaters, speed skaters, ballerinas, boxers, wrestlers, etc., if they bar me from their streets, is it not similarly fair and right that I can bar them from mine because of their appearance?
Let's be clear here... The person complaining in this post LIVES IN A HIGH-RISE APT BUILDING WITH A PARKING GARAGE. Sorry, I have no sympathy.
what are the chances Google would capture a bicyclist on Kent Ave. when photo-mapping the street view?
http://tinyurl.com/6z344c
LAMe. Shame on these politicians for bowing down to this type of whining pressure. Sorry if you lost your subsidized parking but it is a personal choice to own a car. And since when was free, on-street parking a guaranteed right.
Besides, this was passed 30 to 2 in a community board meeting. The bike lane went through lots of community meetings......people should of being showing up then. Complaining after the fact is super weak!
Not to mention that both Yassky and Reyna voted for the re-zoning which pretty much added way more people to the hood without giving any real thought to parking or train over-crowding. HELLO, what did they think would happen?
This is very sad. I love how the first email says how she was carrying her sick daughter in the “freezing cold”. It was over 50 DEGREES last night! “I want to invite you to my house, and give you a consignment, come with your car, find a legal parking spot within 5 blocks of my house, walk down to our building very slowly and count how many bikes pass by. I bet U, it wont be more then 1.” The DOT counted over 500 cyclist in 12 hours! Ripping it out is totally unnecessary. What needs a little work got the ax. I want to go to that neighborhood and take some pictures. Do you know that there is 90 Degree parking in that neighborhood to accommodate parking? Why doesn’t Manhattan get this to “accommodate” the residents?
I keep hearing that there aren't that many bikers on the lanes: did anyone consider that, when you're looking at these lanes, it's either been raining or freezing cold for the last few weeks? It sucks that fewer bikers are out now and these people are getting inconvenienced, but check back in March or April and I'm sure there will be more bikers to "justify" this lane. Because after all, if nobody drives on a normal street frequently it should be removed, right?
well no shit only one bike would go by! it's fucking December, idiot! Wait until the Spring, and when more people find out about this safer route across the borough, and there will be a lot of bike traffic.
I do, however, have sympathy for some of the people here. And why not? It's a lot of change in the short amount of time it takes to paint some the lanes. They should just double park outside the bike lane. I think that'd be fair.
Maybe they should put both lanes on one side of the street. Sure, you'd have to cross both lanes to get to it half the time, but wouldn't that solve a few of these issues?