VIDEO: Cycling Activists Repainting Bedford Ave. Bike Lane

Just remember, its all fun'n'games until they call in an airstrike by the Israeli air force....

The people chatting anti-bike or hipster bikers go home and things of the like, get a life. The lines are important. We get fined for riding on the sidewalks for the safety of the pedestrians. There needs to be some room where bikers can feel some element of safety. Often Pedestrians are partying in the bike lane and they expect to be the kings of the bike lanes as well.

The 45 year old man that was killed on Green Avenue and Clinton was no hipster. The bike lane also provides a little buffer for safety when there is a car accident. On Beford, two cars crashed right next to me. If it wasn't for that extra padding in the bike lane, I was a goner...

Go Green. For each person you see riding a bike, hipster or not, they are making the world better for you in the future. They are Green. What are you doing?

Why bother painting a lane you're gonna misuse anyway? Most (not all) bikers in Williamsburg have to be the biggest morons on the planet, honestly. The key to riding safely in the city is, to a reasonable extent, act as if you are a vehicle just like any other vehicle on the street. Forget lights and stop signs and whatever else, if you're gonna ride in the bike lane on a street with one-way traffic . . have brains enough to travel with traffic, not against. You jeopardize the safety of those doing the right thing as a result of you doing the wrong thing, as the bike lanes have room for one bike, not two.

If it was anywhere else I wouldn't say anything, but I'm sick of riding through Williamsburg and having to play chicken with every stupid fixie-riding hipster with no common sense.

Brooklyn is the Jay-walking capital of America... What about pedestrians who stand their butts in the middle of the bike lane. I'm no hipster, but get your @ss out of the lane.

-M

I've held back long enough and feel it is time to speak my mind on this issue. You see, I was born and raised in this borough you call brooklyn and still live here. I am a true brooklynite, not like most of the people on this website. I have nothing against out of towners or hipsters as long as they are cool, honest & original. Basically, as long as they're themselves and not following the "scene" and posing. With that said, this whole bike lane issue has gotten way out of hand. I grew up riding my mountain bike through the streets of the five boroughs. There were no such thing as bike lanes back then. I still thrash my bike down the busiest streets of this city regardless of a lane or not. When I ride the streets, I ride hard. Other riders look at me like i'm crazy or I have a death wish. Dude, it's the way I grew up riding through these streets; fearless. You think i'm gonna change now? I'll out ride any of these bike lane cyclists any day. Who the F%&# cares about bike lanes. If something is in your way, learn how to ride around it and stop crying about this stuff. Oh and the Hasidim. Leave them alone, don't you know they do whatever they want, they have their own police force for christ sake. Yeah, I can't stand it when they cut me off with their school buses, but I know there's nothing I can do about it so I move on. You act like this is something new, they've been living their way for decades. You think they're gonna stop now? Leave them alone and live your life without worrying bout something as stupid as a bike lane. And the cops, Hah, that's funny. You wine how they park in the bike lanes. You have absolutely no friggin idea how it was growing up here do you? The cops, avoid them at all costs. leave them alone and they'll leave you alone. Stop it already with the bike lane posts. Corrrrrrrrny....

tru, nu yorkerz don't use the return key, dawg.

People might look at you like you're crazy for some of these reasons :

- You are crazy

- You're riding outside the bike lane that other people are using, or the wrong way or on sidewalks

- You are crazy

let em work, let em live

I'm currently living in Chicago, but when I saw this article I had to swing over to the NY Gothamist and give love to people who did this. Way to go guys. It's friggin crazy on so many levels that the city would be trying to REDUCE bike lanes and thus essentially discourage people from safely getting around. Bicyclists have enough danger to watch out for even WITH lanes clearly marked, just seems like such a blind, thoughtless, and plain STUPID move by the city and everyone in support of removing the bike lanes.

these people are HEROS. god love em.

funny how this bike lane gets attention but the Grand street one gets bupkus. why is that?

and 14 Blocks? that's like houston st. to Union sq.

Do self-described cycling advocates really want to introduce an element of ambiguity into the validity of bike lanes? It seems that motorists are inclined to treat bike lane markings as less enforceable than something like a NO PARKING or a STOP sign. Congratulations for adding a big whopping internal logic out for drivers contemplating parking in, driving through, or otherwise blocking a bike lane.

"Eh, it's probably not even real. I saw on the news that bikesters are running around painting these things in themselves."

Bike lanes are not taken very seriously anyway regardless of who painted them. Riding from Long Island City to Battery Park yesterday, I counted 35 motor vehicles parked, standing or moving in the bike lanes. On Vernon Boulevard they provide a convenient way for hotdogging motorists to pass "slow" (speed-limit observing) vehicles on the right.

Dear bike-haters,

Should we design the city with our primary concern being people's safety? Or with our primary concern being more room for cars?

Representation without taxation is tyranny!

End the tyranny of the free-loading whiny transplants who want others to pay for their pretty little bike lanes.

How much in road and other taxes and fees have you ever paid to use our streets for your bike?

I don't own a car, but at least car owners pay for traffic improvements, like your bike lanes. Cyclists demand bike lanes but don't want to pay for them.

Until cyclists start paying road taxes or license/registration fees, they should stop their incessant demands, or consider Boulder or Portland as a new home.

=v= Here's where we learn that "thefacts" has no idea how roads are paid for. Registration and other fees, tolls, gas and other taxes, don't even cover half of it. The rest is taken from general revenues. The upshot of all this is that carfree folks (who are the majority in NYC) are actually subsidizing those who drive cars.

Motorists often have a hard time believing this, because they do pay a lot out of pocket to finance their transportation mode, and many feel that this entitles them somewhat. Unfortunately the real costs of that mode is much higher than most people realize.

Dear faggot hipster,

There need not be more room for cars, but there needs to be an understanding of the practicality of having room for cars, considering there are a lot of cars, and you probably use a car sometimes, or go in one, or get deliveries from one.

I love that one of the hoodies seemed to have gotten more spray paint on his hands than on the street... Gloves are your friend!

On a related note, on Sunday at 6pm I was driving north up Bedford, and when I was approaching Flushing Avenue, I saw about a dozen cars lined up blocking the bike lane on the west side of the street (I believe the DOT only removed the lane north of Flushing). Cars making a left onto Flushing? No -- they were all double parked for the Eden Catering Hall. To make matters worse, those jerks actually had the Valet Parking sign planted right in the middle of the bike lane... Right in the middle! Individual offenders are hard to catch, but businesses can be beaten up for this. I really should have called 311.

Didn't anyone ever see Ghostbusters II? If you're going to do this, you're supposed to dress up like DOT workers. If cops ask what you're up to, just yell at each other with thick Brooklyn accents. End result: new bike lane.

Sounds like Leo Moskowitz is out of touch with his peoples. Sure, there aren't tons of religious cyclist, but there are a growing number of them. I see more of them commuting to school/work everyday in Manhattan - more than I had seen in the past. I'm going to assume that there's more of them making their way around Brooklyn/Queens/Bronx as well, especially in these difficult economic times. We get it Leo - "cars are king" and very important to you, but wake up to what's going on around you. And sure, they likely weren't there Friday night, but motzei-shabbos or Sunday they may have come...

good for them. can they come and fix the grand canyon potholes in Queens next?

I don't understand... if the bike lane goes away, are you no longer allowed to rider your bike on Bedford?

In my experience, bike lanes do little to dissuade drivers from driving/parking on them and serve little purpose (along with zero enforcement). If cyclists want to keep using Bedford and are allowed to, the presence or absence of a bike lane seems like a moot point.

Yes, you can ride on Bedford Avenue. The bike lanes are symbolic, the removal of the bike lanes is symbolic, and the restoration of the bike lanes is symbolic. In the case of Bedford Avenue, the issue is not traffic safety but the political power of the Hasidic leadership to rule what they regard as their turf.

*sigh* Give it up, weenie-tots. We (drivers) have to deal with the city putting in retarded bike lanes all over the place (Allen st in manhattan, anyone?) So in turn, you damn hippies have to deal with the city taking them away.

Yes. I drive sometimes and ride a bike sometimes, the Allen Street situation is ridiculous how you can no longer turn onto Stanton...You now have to go up to Delancey, make an illegal u-turn or something.

heres a question, what specific group has a high rate of bicycle usage however rides on the sidewalk with alarming frequency and is given immunity to tickets and arrests.

you don't seem to mind when they deliver your steaming order of Kung Pao Chicken during your weed-fueled haze.

Delivery guys.

I don't know if he meant delivery guys but I saw a chinese deliver guy get a summons for riding on the sidewalk outside of the East Broadway F stop.

He barely spoke english and couldn't tell them where he lived.

Yeh, before all these young people coming from other places were here things used to be so much better. Like, we didn't have as many safety barriers on roads and ramps keeping drivers safer, or safety strips on curbs to assist the blind, or cleaner parks with surveillance cameras reviving parks and leading to lower crime. Hell, back in my grandfather's day, they didn't need safety crossings and safety lights to get across the street, they just took their chances.

Life imitates Kramer.

Newsflash for bikers. Cars jump curbs and kill people standing on the sidewalks these days; a bit of paint on the street won't stop one from slamming into you either.

maybe before all these "midwestern hipsters" moved in, there were no bike lanes. maybe you've been riding for years in the middle of traffic. but it's called progress. how old are you pencap ? because people have been moving to ny for years from all over. bike riding people.

I started to watch the video, then I recognized that same annoying song that's played in the video of those idiots protesting the California tuition hike.

Fuck anything these idiots do. Stop giving them attention.

Why do you need bike lines? Just ride in the fucking street like every other goddam new yorker did before all these touchy feely midwestern hipster moved in, with there stupid grandpa bikes.

i agree, fuck these little whiny bike lane puss puss.

Sure, hipsters and messengers may not need / want the bike lanes, but the goal of adding the bicycle lanes is to encourage more people to ride instead of driving.

PROS:
- fewer cars, less traffic
- healthier, happier populace
- more girls on bikes in the Summer

CONS:

-

NICELY PUT SIR

1) Lumping in 'Hipster' with 'Grandpa Bikes'

2) 'their' not 'there'.

3) ::sigh::

Exactly. We all learned to ride in the streets without bike lanes and there was no problem!

Then these nasally whiny pussies come along and want to turn NYC into a 2¢ burg like Boulder or Portland.

the only thing that scares thefacts is change.

There is nothing more gratifying than Independent Direct Action to get one's way.

Kudos to these anarchists!

However, I heard that others are also employing this guerrilla technique.

After all, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

http://www.trueswords.com/caltrop-tashibishi-ninja-10-pack-p-3649.html

Stay alert.

=v= There were no caltrops involved in this action, nor were there ever any in any bicycle action that I'm aware of. More dishonesty from the anoymous entity calling itself "thefacts". That he/she/it can't actually stick to, you know, the facts, speaks volumes.

"How many people in the Jewish community are riding bikes? Hardly any."

True. Because they are all driving the biggest cars in existence. If I"m ever behind a Buick Roadmaster I know the driver wil be wearing a yarmulke.

During warmer months Prospect Park has a fair share of Orthodox Jewish cyclists.

Fair enough, jibbly. My generalization is hereby limited to those I see crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and on the various expressways.

Sure, wasn't trying to be contradictory, just wanted to throw into the discussion that their community in fact does enjoy cycling. You're right though, I've never or have rarely seen them riding as a commuters.

Orthodox and Hasidic are 2 different things. No one makes the distinction.