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The new Kent Avenue bike lane in South Williamsburg. Naturally, drivers can't resist its siren call. (John Del Signore/Gothamist)
The saga of the Kent Avenue bike lane continues! First the Orthodox Satmar Jews in South Williamsburg objected to the old bike lane because of the influx of immodestly-dressed female cyclists, then local merchants complained that customers and delivery trucks had nowhere to park. Barricades were threatened, fake detour signs were put up, and clowns rushed to the scene. Responding to the whining, the DOT ripped up part of Kent and changed it to northbound-only traffic, creating a dedicated bike lane buffered by parking spots. And everyone was happy some were placated!
The first part of the bike lane reboot, between Clymer and Broadway, was completed a couple weeks ago, and next the DOT will extend it north to Greenpoint. But southbound truck traffic has already been rerouted, and that's infuriated locals on North 11th who say their street's now clogged with trucks. At a recent Community Board 1 Transportation Committee meeting, "frustration and resentment seemed to bubble through the basement floor like molten magma," according to the Post.
Truck-tortured resident Monica Levitsky (heh) told officials, "This project from the very beginning was railroaded. It’s not a matter of us against them. This is an example of a project that is not representative of the community." David Wolloch, DOT Commissioner of External Affairs, tried to calm the tension by promising to monitor the truck traffic on North 11th, "open signal studies, and route more trucks directly to North 14th. We have not been doing what we should have been doing for decades." Woah—you gonna take that, North 14th Street?
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Orthodoxy is just one poor state of human condition!
Why do they think the public space is theirs?! There you have fro religion playing the stupid card again; imposing stupid upon others.
Amanda - It's scary that you were described in the Telegraph article as a "novelist" as it's wholly apparent that you can't string 3 intelligible words together. Also, will the name of your book be titled "How I Wish I Was Guard At Aushwitz"?
No where in Amanda's post was "I HATE JEWS".. so why play the victim card?
Read her history.
is orthodoxy exclusive to the Jewish?
When you use orthodoxy to fight bikes the outcome is absurdity!
READ: ALL RELIGIONS are bullshit!
Jesus FUCKING Christ another bike lane story?????
It has less to do with bikes than how DOT "improvements" are affecting peoples' lives through truck noise, increased congestion on some streets, and general confusion.
Ask mommy to buy you a new FUCKING coloring book if you have a problem. This is a story about something going on in gotham on a weblog about gotham. You don't have to like it, you don't have to read it, you don't have to click on it and post stupid remarks. Save your precious keystrokes, dipshit.
True, but this is a story about Williamsburg which happens to include a Bike Lane.
In any case, these two topics together make this story a priority for the Gothamist Newscrew. Throw in a hipster and it'll be breaking news.
Is it really a story that needs daily updates?? There's really nothing more pressing going on in NYC?
This blog is not called the "new york's most pressing news" blog. If you just want news:
www.nytimes.com
The whole reason this site is worth reading is it picks up stories not plastered everywhere else (more/less).
This is a story that needs updating regularly because most of these new bike lanes sprang up in the last couple or years and many people want to know if they're working.
We get it already. You like to get ridden like a bike.
Congratulations.
"There's really nothing more pressing going on in NYC?"
One thing I've noticed about Gothamist: They have this uncanny ability to post stories about several things that are going on in NYC on the very same day. It's like they're superhuman or something.
"DOT Commissioner of External Affairs, tried to calm the tension by promising to monitor the truck traffic "
More double-talk from DOT bureaucrats. Every one of their diktats are shoved down the throat of the community - take it or leave it, is their approach to democracy. Then they bullshit us by "promising to monitor".
What good does that do? They monitor but still keep their undemocratic, hippie, Disneyland schemes, the pipe dreams of DOT hipsters with degrees in urban planning who really would prefer to live in Copenhagen or Portland.
Another reason to dump Bloomberg.
I think we should have a bike utopian like in amsterdam. im all for it. lets get rid of diesel producing trucks. i can use UPS and fedex to delver things. no trucks on my bike lanes!!! stop this nonsense!!! Bikers have precious lives too!!!
Is there a group which I can doante to to help this bike path cause. I 3want to help financially if it means less fakedetoru signs and more friendliness between bikers and pedistrians and motorists!!! we can win this together!!
the trucks serve a purpose for the city. it's the cars that are the problem. well that and business owners who think car traffic is their biggest customer base and think they have some right to loading zones and on street parking where most businesses in the city can't rely on those things anyway.
This is hardly a saga John...
A Car is blocking the bike lane AGAIN!
GASP
Quickly! We must vent our anger in long winded comments about how vehicles are ruining our biking community.
Just pour some concrete already and segregate the bike and parking lanes. Why is this rocket science?
The career bitchers on this may find traction because the whole thing legitimately confuses drivers. Where to park? Where to drive? Wait, it changes in mid-lane? Clarify things with intermittent cement barriers, or whatever. People may not like that there are dedicated bike lanes, but it seems clear we don't just need a few more bike lanes. The city need LOTS more, with wider sidewalks thrown in - something to the tune of 15-20% of all streets.
If nothing you're going to do will placate some people in the long term and something needs to be done, there's no point in dilly-dallying about it. Just get it over with, and the faster the better. ('Fast' being an operative term in our fair city...)
This is hardly a saga John...
A Car is blocking the bike lane . . . AGAIN!
GASP!!!!!!!!!
Quickly! We must vent our anger in long winded comments about how vehicles are ruining our biking community.
This is getting old.
kojack,
you must not understand or your hair is growing inside out - thusly you are bald!!! vheheh - i kid.
but seriously, we need to prevent these types of incidents. We bikers are friendly people with creative attitudes. we are willing to help. no one wants to be the toruble maker or problem. not me. i want amicable solutions for all.
its essential that the city officlas like mr. bloomberg know how we feel. im certain he reads sebsites likethis. or at least his staff. they are listening to the pulse of our great city.
i also dislike the diesel fumes expelled from these delvery trucks. the drivers tend to be menacing looking too. no seatbelts either!! scary!!! i have reported some to their superiors for unsafe driving. some even get close to parked cars while turning and once or tiwce HIT the car and justdirve off. this is terribly awful!!!
wow. Comments are acting up today...
this is less an issue of 'bike laners' vs. 'autos', than it is about intelligent urban planning and design. clearly, whoever is responsible for organizing infrastructural circulation around this site, did not pay much attention to a logical program of the site.
I appreciate the continuing coverage of this issue.
truck trauma? try driving trauma. this weekend i was driving in the 1-way portion - the single lane available to vehicular traffic - and guess what? cyclists. not using their bike lane, but the vehicular lane.
We get it already. You like to get ridden like a bike.
Congratulations.
This particular bike lane is and was a bad idea from the beginning. There are five other streets that are one way, and perfectly suitable for bike lanes. Kent ave was a two way thourofare- not sure how to spell that.... and it is mainly because of all the new developments that this is going through at all. The rabid "greenway" advocates seem to think this is the greenest way through north Brooklyn. It happens to be just about the ugliest road around. Now there is not one single 2 way avenue in the whole of the Northside. It just makes traffic worse in some other areas. It doesnt make it go away. Shame on everyone involved in this for being so tunnel visioned. I hope it goes away. (from a happy bike rider who wishes that the neglected bike lanes would get maintained before putting in these disruptive interferences.)
oh and MR Del Singore, get your names and facts straight please?
Sign the petition to stop Kent Ave. from becoming a one-way street and forcing all south bound traffic into North Williamsburg's narrower streets.
Stop Kent Ave One-Way Petition
The one thing that the businesses and biker riders have in common is that the majority of them do not live in the neighborhood. This new re-routing will massively increase the traffic down Wythe Ave., a street that is home to 2 schools, 2 preschools and 2 playgrounds. Help to stop it, if you care.
Actually, luxury high rises are far more important that schools, andthey need a quiet one way street for their luxury lifestyles.
if anyone is even reading this thread anymore.