Bike Lane Imbroglio: Hasidics' DIY Detour Sign At Kent Ave

Photo courtesy I'm Just Sayin

Hasidim chafing at the increasing number of bike lanes on three consecutive roads through South Williamsburg are making good on their promise to block traffic in protest. According to the Post, someone has posted an unauthorized detour sign on private property by the intersection of Broadway and Kent Avenue, where the newest bike lane has sparked a backlash from the ultra-Orthodox Satmar community, as well as business owners who say neither customers nor delivery trucks can find parking.

The sign directs motorists one block east to Wythe Avenue (which also has a bike lane), explaining that bus drivers will be blocking the road and the bike lane when picking up and dropping off children. The sign seems to be making good on a threat from Satmar community activist Isaac Abraham, who last month vowed that "one day the traffic will be backed up all the way to Long Island City to [the] Department of Transportation Headquarters." A DOT spokesman confirmed that the detour sign is illegal, telling the Post, "Only the city can establish detours."

The immodest apparel of female cyclists had been previously cited as a reason for the Satmar bike lane opposition, but Abraham now says the opposition is about protecting children from cyclists who ignore traffic laws. Perhaps to counteract the recent effort by bike-riding clowns to defend the bike lane, the Post says Hasidim will hand out unofficial advisories to drivers along Kent Avenue every day. Abraham claims his wife was once struck by a cyclist, so he doesn't have a very high opinion of two-wheel commuters: "They are like birds flying by and dropping manure."

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By John Del Signore in News on December 29, 2008 9:26 AM

Comments [rss]

ianmac47

Sounds like the DOT needs to get some heavy duty tow trucks out there to tow the illegally parked buses to the impound lot.

gentlemanjim

interesting how the members of this community fear for their children from the stop sign running cyclists. i can't count how many times a baby stroller has been pushed out in front of me against the traffic light. this shit is absurd!

thefacts

A traffic sign is legal only if it has the imprimatur of the DOT. Since these do not, they are not official and thus the detour is only advisory. However, since the signs are private property posted on private property, and no claims to be an official sign - in fact, the contrary - they seem legal.

DOT cannot remove them. Too bad for DOT and the Spandex Nazis. Got to hand it to the Hasids! LOL.

ohhleary

This is not a theocracy, it's a democracy. For a group that claims to be an oppressed minority, they seem perfectly content with oppressing cyclists.

Gwinny

WORD. These hypocrites are looking more and more ridiculous.

usernamee

ok, get rid of the bike lane then.

we will ride our bikes on the sidewalk then, since the road wont be safe to ride on, weaving in and out of the kids on the sidewalk.

that will keep the kiddies safe!

RedWhiteandBrooklyn

Isn't this something that Critical Mass should be addressing?

Amazing how the Hassim want the benefits of publicly funded paved & plowed roads but want to dictate who gets to use them. Imagine the fuss if someone tried to keep them off a public sidewalk! OY!!!! oo bad that the politicians always seem to knuckle under to them... especially when they're wrong.

MrManhattan

Oops,

IT will be exhibit "A", I won't be attending court that day.

MrManhattan

I like the way the sign specifically says that buses will be illegally blocking the bike lane. (and even specifying the hours!)

What a great way to provoke/identify income-producing opportunity to ticket agents.

I will be exhibit "A" when all those bus drivers have to show up in court to try and contest the tickets they receive.

I can just see the defense: We put up a sign, that makes it legal, right?

AHT

I'm making popcorn. This can only get more entertaining.

Spirit of 76

Can't NYPD have any vehicles obstructing traffic on public streets towed?

Bob Marvin

Isn't it illegal to pass a school bus that's boarding or discharging kids and doesn't this apply to all vehicles, including bikes? (Although I realize that this is probably never enforced with bicycles).

I'm not sure why the Hasidim are talking about angle parking since their school buses, and ALL school buses ALWAYS block traffic--they might be better advised to insist on ticketing cyclists who pass stopped school buses when they have their lights flashing and are actually loading or unloading children (if their concern were REALLY about safety, rather than "immoral scantly clad riders).

drewo

Nice photo of the phony detour sign. Or were the creators of the sign kind enough to send a PDF along?

meowster

Where is all this action taking place on Kent? I went running down Kent around 9am (stopped at Hewes) and saw nothing out of the ordinary (ie: just the regular cars parked blocking the bike lane here and there).

Polite New Yorker

How does putting the bus at an angle to block more of the street and the bike lane help ensure the safety of school children?

Besides their other ridiculous, unlawful and unsafe actions, the anti-bike lane activists' sign mentioned here is not illegal in my opinion, though it advertises the intent to stop and park vehicles illegally.

Rocknrope

Of course its illegal. You can't just post your own personal traffic detours because you feel like it. Ridiculous, as is this community.

JacqueMehoff

Illegal, just like the illegal curb cuts and yellow paint some homeowners do. it may be difficult to find out who did this though.

that's the wordiest detour sign I've ever seen btw.

fakenewyorker

yo tvm were you sexually molested by a politician or something?

yg

fny,

We are all fsck'ed by the state daily.

Toby von Meistersinger

The city should remove the illegal detour sign. They should know that nobody is above the law, well unless you are elected to office.

Fergs34

Guess what? You live in a very diverse and democratic city. Everyone does not share your beliefs.Why not embrace other cultures? Defying everyone is rather arrogant and annoying.

CR

Signs are the preferred form of communication amongst Chasidim. At least they're not claiming the bike lanes are too "jezzy" or something like that.

snoopydog

Shouldn't that white Ford with the lights on the roof be ticketed for blocking the bike lane?

GM

Aren't the tickets that you can get for stopping/ standing a car in a bike lane actually for double parking? In other words a bike lane is being treated like the lane for traffic next to a parking lane...

I would highly doubt that anyone will give a double parking ticket to a city vehicle...