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Jef Diesel
Sure, cops have been known to park in bike lanes like everybody else, but this is ridiculous! Or perhaps it's serving some vital public safety emergency? We don't know; a reader just sent us this photo taken today from the Manhattan Bridge, looking down on the recently installed bike lanes on Allen Street. He adds, "I've never seen cops parked down there at all, especially not in the bike lanes."
But until we hear from the NYPD about the necessity of this police action, we're adding this to the list of grievances about motorists' disregard for bike lanes, and cops' seeming reluctance to ticket them. Transportation Alternatives spokesman Wiley Norvell looked at the photo and wondered, "How can the driving public be expected to stay out of bike lanes when New York’s Finest block them? It burns to have protected bike lanes and pedestrian plazas turned into carmageddon before they’re even completed."
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dicks
really? why are they dicks? they've been parking there for years. the planning of the bike lane there should have been done differently.
they're dicks because they see a bright green bicycle lane and park on top of it anyways
people on 'ludes should not drive.
The NYPD was conducting a Critical Response surge which is a Counter-terrorism initiative. At least one car from each precinct rally's at specific areas that are sensitive and/or soft targets. Funny how quickly people forget how many were killed in 9/11 and the efforts that need to be in place to protect against the next wave of violence that will hit the City, which will most likely be land based attacks. Do you really think it's feasible to rally 76+ cars in a tactical manner when they have to find legal parking spots? They would be scattered over 30 city blocks which would defeat the purpose of high visibility. You libs can't have it both ways. What would happen god forbid there was a situation and now you have 200+ cops scrambling to find their vehicles scattered throughout the city and waste precious time trying to organize a response? You guys would be outraged! But it wouldn't be anyone else fault but your own with your stupid complaining about trivial things, all in the name of hatred for the Police. PS - Emergency vehicles (police, fire, emt, etc)are not subject to Vehicle Traffic Law when conducting legitamate operations (such as the one pictured above) or responding to emergencies. So stop crying and save your BS complaining for something meaningful.
Hey Rudy, you talking about 9/11 again? If what you're saying is that it's too bad more cops didn't die so fewer bike lanes would be blocked in the future, I think we'd all agree.
Yes, only people that say things you disagree with are liberals. Everyone else in your book is a liberal. Get a clue.
I think it's pretty obvious by now that the NYPD has it out for bicyclists.
In general yes, but Brooklyn cops are usually much more accepting of cyclists as demonstrated by the police escort of Critical Mass in Brooklyn.
This is, however, highly unacceptable behavior. Is there a precinct nearby that's getting their lot repaved or something? This can't be a usual occurrence because it would have been reported earlier. Let's hope this was a one time - very temporary - act.
there really is no such thing as a bike lane. painting a stripe down a street in manhattan is meaningless. its actually kind of dangerous to give bicyclists the idea they have a lane because no one else on the road has that idea, cars. pedestrians, everybody just violates it. that west side hiway park/bike thing is a dangerous place just for that reason
i ride bikes, i ride in cars, i do both like a normal person.
i don't like when cars are in the bike lane, but at the same time - a lot of the time if someone doesn't park in the bike lane they are blocking the street...sometimes it's the only place to pull over and park. accomodations should have been thought of for these cars though before this was painted.
I don't think you're right about the parking space... maybe it's a no parking zone?
it is where they park
"sometimes it's the only place to pull over and park"
It's never the only place to park, except for someone too lazy to walk a block or two.
yeah i just park on the sidewalk because sometimes there's just no where else to park.
it's the street, you fuck
yeah, it's the part of the street where you're supposed to ride bikes. do you park in bus lanes too?
no, because A BUS needs to pull over there. A bike riding in the street doesn't cause a major inconvenience and is normal, the bike lane is part of the street. A car pulling over and idling in the middle of the street instead of on the side of the road whether there is a bike lane or not makes more sense. it sucks and i don't like it when i'm on bike but people aren't going to stop in the middle of the street.
so what you're saying is bikes and bike riders do not deserve their own space, but busses and pedestrians do. maybe drivers should just suck it up and not stop where there is nowhere to stop, instead of deciding that their stopping is more important than the safety of bike riders? stopping in the middle of the street does get in the way of car traffic, but stopping in the bike lane then makes the bikes have to get into the car traffic as well. and that's a lot more dangerous.
if biking was safer, more people would bike, and you wouldn't have people driving 2 miles inside the city, then driving around looking for parking. biking isn't a recreational activity, it is a method of transportation, and everyone should be able to travel safely.
it's a lot easier to maneuver a bike than a fucking bus. this is new york city not amsterdam, there are cars.
"perviously violated"? Did the cops molest the bike lane as well as blocking it?
I'm not defending them at all with this...
but cops and city officials don't give a shit about bikers. in fact, 99% of new yorkers don't care about your biking rights or biking safety. the only ones that really do are the ones who ride bikes.
i'm saying this as a bike rider, who doesn't think its ok, but also understands that there's so much more to it than painting a bike lane and expecting that anybody - specifically NYPD cops - are going to pay any attention to it.
That's why I don't ride my bike in Manhattan. I value my life much more than any of the drivers or police, so I protect it by not biking. It's sad because it's been my favorite form of exercise since I was a kid. It's not right, but I'd rather not be dead by the negligence of my fellow New Yorkers if I can avoid it. There are two ghost bikes just on the route where I walk my dog.
Judging by the way the cars are parked, it looks like it could be a critical response vehicle surge. That is, probably a drill not an actual emergency.
yeah, that's what i was thinking.
yellow journalism at it's finest.
its. DAMMIT.
That was my first thought, as well, but why let facts get in the way of a chance to bash the NYPD?
i dunno, if there was an emergency, would they really have taken the time to back into the "spaces"?
Actually, that's policy for a surge drill -- that's what I was referring to above as a clue that's what this may be. Just like at the precincts, the cars are parked for a quick exit.
The spokescoyote was particularly moved by this one, eh?
What really sucks is the way half those cop cars are sticking out into traffic.
call 311!
fact: nobody likes bikers, except for bikers themselves
they're kinda like kanye west in a way.
How about I take a picture everytime a biker goes against traffic or rides on the sidewalk or dosen't stop at a red light. Or how come there isn't a post everytime a cyclist hits someone walking. You have had 120 miles of new bike lanes put in the last two years. Shut up already. I swear you could give them bike lanes on every block and take the cars away and they still bitch about something, TO MANY PEOPLE WALKING! WHAT IS WITH THIS RAIN ON MY BIKE PATH.
I wish they would scrappy, then you could see how infrequently this actually happens...your chances of getting hit by a cyclist are way down there, not even close to the odds of you getting hit by a car, and you definitely walk away from one, not from the other. Have you seen all the articles about cars hitting peds? Go ahead, call hospitals, newspapers, get some numbers for bikes hitting peds...very, very small. We (yes, I am one of those horrible, shameful, evil, villanous cyclists) often act poorly, as do percentages of every group, but your argument makes no sense. Do we have pics every time a car hits a biker? No. Every time a ped jaywalks? No. That isn't even close to what this article is about. It is about those who are supposed to enforce the law breaking it. I know that every article that mentions a cyclist will devolve into this crap, but does it really have to? I mean, cops parked in bike lanes leading to yeah, but what about a theoretical biker hitting a theoretical pedestrian. That's just stupid.
these bike lanes are a joke - all it means is that now bikers feel even more entitled to get in the way of cars driving on the road.
everytime i'm driving i come within inches of hitting some biker. they come out of no where. ride in your blind spot like the road belongs to them. and then get all self-righteous about their right to bike.
F*ck them
Yeah, expecting not to get plastered by 4-6000 lbs of steel and glass...how rude of them.
that's my point. it's freaking dangerous and there's no way around it. the reality is that the roads are jammed, everyone drives like a nut and cab drivers are lunatics. it's tough enough to drive with pedestrians constantly jumping out of no where and throwing a bunch of douches riding around on ten speeds just makes it worse.
You just made the justification FOR protected/designated bike lanes!
CARMAGEDDON!
I try to ride my bike as much as possible in the city, as it is one of the fastest modes of transportation around and it's cheap (not to mention a decent workout).
One thing I've noticed is that the majority of other bikers out there suck, plain and simple. They don't stop at red lights, they go down the street the wrong way, they don't have lights on at night (required by law). But because of my irresponsible peers, I am the target of rage sometimes, despite the fact that I do my best to follow all the laws of the road while on my bike.
I suppose what I'm trying to say is this: if a biker is blowing red lights and driving the wrong way down the road or has no lights on at night, go ahead and yell at them if it makes you feel better, but reserve judgment on those following the rules of the road until you see them do something illegal.
"One thing I've noticed is that the majority of other bikers out there suck"
Interestingly enough, I've noticed the same thing about other drivers when I'm behind the wheel. And also other pedestrians when I'm walking.
No matter what the mode of transportation, everyone else is arrogantly ignoring the rules and simple courtesy. Too wrapped up in their own worlds, their phones, their iPods, their conversations, their kids, their friends, whatever it is.
Walking, biking, driving, I'm always having to make an effort to stay out of the way of clueless idiots. It's as if I'm the only person in the world who knows how to get where I'm going quickly and directly and yet without inconveniencing anyone else. Yeah, other people suck.
Aw, the poor hipsters can't get to their HTML jobs with Whole Foods reusable bag in the basket of their bike bc cops are parked in their bike lane. BOO HOO!
This looks like Riverside Dr way uptown. There's hardly any traffic there anyway. Whine whine whine.
The original post states it's Allen St., taken from the Manhattan Bridge.
"HTML jobs?"
Ha yeah. HTML jobs. Love. It.
Yeah, dickhead it's a picture of Riverside Drive way uptown taken from the Manhattan Bridge. The part of Riverside Drive called Allen Street. Let me ask you a serious question, how are you able to write if you are not able to read?
What a bunch of arrogant whiners. Unless this is near a precinct, the patrol cars are likely lined up for a surge drill or for some other exercise. Don't fret: you'll have your 100 ft of precious bike lane back soon.
Complain Complain Complain. Ever wonder they maybe doing POLICE WORK like protecting ungrateful citizens of this city.
What's gotten into this blog lately? Lame bike lane stuff. Graffiti vandals lionized. What happened, someone Madoff with the trust fund money?
"It burns to have protected bike lanes and pedestrian plazas turned into carmageddon before they’re even completed."
Nah, what REALLY burns is watching your own president sellout this nation to Goldman Sachs.
Nah, what REALLY burns is accidentally touching the metal part of a skillet handle.
Why is anyone surprised?
Have you ever seen a cop think they are anything except ABOVE the law?
This is just another example.
very few stay in the lanes provided for them. does that mean we shouldn't have them?
That area is a ghost town. I can't imagine those cars were there too long. I can't see where you would be going to drive or bike that way, other than to fish the East River (gross). That bike lane is not even finished, as far as I know.
These lanes are, alas, not working for many reasons. I bike daily in the city and it seems that isolating bikers from traffic instead of allowing us to be part of the normal flow of traffic won't work.
Pedestrians, cars, parked bikes(!) all have filled up the new paths even before completion. The old paths were clearly a travel lane, these just seem like an appealing place to hang out for EVERYBODY who lives down here. The pedestrian islands spill out onto the bike lanes in dangerous ways as well.
It's great to see an initiative designed with the goal of increasing bike commuting, perhaps a big push to educate the public is needed...
To Liberalssuck: Anybody that thinks these " NYPD critical response vehicle surges" will actually work in a real emergency is very foolish. This action is a nuisance now and it is just a bunch of idiot cops getting a chance to have a little fun. In a real crisis, there will be caos.