Video: Markowitz Says Activist Cyclists Distorted PPW Study

Back in April, as the Prospect Park Bike Lane war raged in Park Slope, bike lane hating Borough President Marty Markowitz told WNYC that if the new bike lane "causes no bottlenecks, no inconvenience, and if it works, I’ll be the first to say I was wrong." A new report on the bike lane's impact proved just that, but instead of eating his shoe, Markowitz is getting conspiratorial. In an angry, unhinged interview with WCBS, Markowitz contends that cycling activists were secretly tipped off about which days the DOT contractor was counting bike riders, enabling them to flood the lane to skew the stats. Watch him expose what Streetsblog dubs a "vast biking conspiracy."

Markowitz told us he wants an independent agency to conduct a study of the lane's impact, adding that he doesn't believe a word that the DOT says. "The DOT has to justify the Prospect Park West bike lane, so I question the validity of any data coming from the very agency that installed the lane," Markowitz said in a statement. "As I have said all along, we need an outside study—not one conducted by the DOT but perhaps by the NYPD—to get an impartial analysis of the Prospect Park West reconfiguration.

"The DOT’s own numbers show increases in daytime travel times along another southbound thoroughfare, Seventh Avenue. Among the questions that could be answered by an independent study is whether the changes to Prospect Park West are negatively impacting Seventh Avenue and other thoroughfares in the neighborhood. Until there is an independent assessment of these changes, these biased DOT studies will continue to ‘prove’ what they want us to believe."

WAKE UP SHEEPLE! Ask yourself: Why won't Sadik-Khan step aside and let the NYPD conduct an impartial, objective study of the bike lane—one that will give Marty the results he wants? And why won't she simply release her birth certificate to prove that she was in fact born in the U.S.?!

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By John Del Signore in News on January 24, 2011 4:58 PM

Comments [rss]

Jym Dyer

=v= Only three years ago, we were a roving band of anarchist hooligans. Now we're part of a vast governmental conspiracy. Verily, New York is the greatest city in the world!

Asymptote

"If Markowitz wanted a bike lane he would use his connections to get someone to impose it by fiat, and then fake the data to do away with any complaints. So of course he assumes that’s what Park Slope Neighbors did."

http://bit.ly/if9K7Q

(I did not post that, but I like it.)

ganghiscon

Can someone please explain to me why the borough president office even exists? He's a glorified ribbon cutter, no?

petercow

It's a legacy from the days of the Board of Estimate, which wielded the real power - the City Council was very weak, and they were the ribbon cutters.

Then a case that I think went to the Supreme Court held that the constitution of the Board violated one-man, one -vote (e.g., both Staten Island and Brooklyn had one vote a piece, despite the huge disparity in population).

A new city charter gave the Council much more power, and abolished the Board of Estimate, but the borough presidents remained. They used to appoint members to the Board of Ed., but that ended when the mayor got control of that.

They have limited power now to appoint people to Community Boards, a and a little input into planning decisions. They also have some discretionary money to spend (Marty uses his to glorify himself), and a few patronage jobs. That's about it.

Rod

which is why rudy and mikey gave huge pay raises to this worthless office, and then the press hailed them for such fiscal conservatism.

cmdrogogov

OH heavens! not the activist cyclists! All they want is to ride around without the risk of getting sideswiped by a taxi or some attitude-ridden jerkoff in an SUV.

Heavens forbid those evil activist cyclists get their way and NY becomes less polluted, fat and lazy.

booboobooboo

I live a block from PPW. I drive a car.
The bike lane doesn't cause any problems. If anything, it prevents dumb drivers from going 60MPH right next to a frickin' PARK.
It's nice seeing more bikes on the street. I understand that the city has lots of problems, but people wanting to ride bikes shouldn't be one of them.
I'm sure there are plenty of crazy cyclists out there, but I imagine there's far more crazy cabbies...

wookietv

police... the model of cyclist impartiality
http://gothamist.com/2008/07/2...

petercow

@Fallout

Let me take a guess - you weren't at the meeting on Thursday night?

Now let me gaze into my crystal ball at 2013. I see, I see..

1) the PPW bike lane will still be there.

2) Cyclist, pedestrian, and motorist accidents and injuries will be below pre bike-lane levels.

3) Speeding on PPW will be below pre-lane levels

4) Travel time will move along PPW at pre-lane speeds.

5) The term-limited Marty Markowitz supplementing his pension as a spokesman for used-car lots on late-night television. "Tell them Marty sent ya."

6) You still gibbering like a gibbon, "Time's Up!"

Reader of Things

thank you Time's Up!

http://times-up.org/

FallOut

Glad you appreciate the irony.

Rod

there's no irony.

time IS up on you changing your dirty diaper.

FallOut

Typical rogue rider response:
ignore the facts, avoid the actual comment, instead engage in personal, ad hominem attacks.

Go back playing with your little ball!

Rod

seriously FallOut, do you want us to start a fund to get you some clean underwear? you can't stay in those filthy drawers forever...

TIME'S UP!

(and don't pretend you know latin!)

petercow

Let me see the facts in your post...

"Marty knows what he's talking about"? -is that a fact?

"DOT regularly concocts figures" - is that a fact?

"The vast majority of NYes are sick of the pampering" - is that a fact?

Meanwhile, study after study shows the lane to be a success, but like Homer Simpson says, you can use facts to prove anything remotely true, right?

As for ad hominem attacks... "Diktator Sadik-Khan".

For my part though, I do apologize. Calling you a gibbering gibbon is indeed an ad hominem attack - on gibbering gibbons.

FallOut

Of course, kid, you add nothing substantive, just silly questions, and more ad hominems. Plus your attempt at insult fell flat on its face.

Typical rogue cyclist behavior.

Rod

sorry, but petercow JUST KICKED YOUR ASS.

he proved you had made no facts and you couldn't rebut him!

(I just hoped he tied a plastic bag around his foot before he kicked your dirty-drawer ass)

Gwinny

but that's how he rolls! get used to the cognitive dissonance.

FallOut

Gee, you manage to parrot pedantic terms like "cognitive dissonance", yet are so ditzy that you don't know how and when to capitalize?

No wonder you break so many traffic regulations and make so many inane comments here.