Bloomberg and DOT Booed Over Bike Lanes

A group of angry Queens residents booed a DOT representative and Mayor Bloomberg at a community meeting in the Rockaways last night, according to accounts in the Daily News and the Post. The jeers erupted after one local resident asked the DOT to get rid of the bike lanes that were installed last summer on the main thoroughfare of Beach Channel Drive. The response from Maura McCarthy, the DOT’s Queens Borough Commissioner, didn't go over too well.

"Rockaway is one place we’re very proud to have put them in," explained McCarthy, adding that the neighborhood is just one of many that is getting the gift of bike lanes. This was not what some locals wanted to hear, and their booing elicited a reprimand from the meeting's moderator, the Post reports. Then the mayor rose to face his angry constituents and told them, "Bicycle lanes are one of the more controversial things, obviously. Some people love ‘em and some people hate them... It’s probably true that in many of these cases we could do a better job and we’re going to try to do that."

The Post interprets that as "backpedaling" on bike lanes, but it seems Bloomberg was simply promising to involve communities more on the ongoing bike lane expansion. Of course, the notion that the DOT is adding these bike lanes in the dead of night without community input is highly dubious; as the indispensable Streetsblog points out, all of the DOT's bike projects involve the local community boards—even the controversial Prospect Park West bike lane, which was approved by the board. If New Yorkers are outraged by the "sudden" appearance of a bike in their neighborhoods, they have only themselves to blame for not getting involved on the community board level.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on January 25, 2011 1:30 PM

Comments [rss]

cbrock14

The statement that "All community boards are involved" is not true . DOT does not ask our opinion ,they notify the board that they are installing a new bike lane and thats it. Our Board has objected to almost all the new bike lanes( Dot installed them anyway) due to the fact that the Rockaways only have two major east-west roadways and the narrowing of the traffic lanes has caused much more traffic. CB14

random transplant

"In 2025, the MTA is expected to owe $2.5 billion in debt payments'
http://gothamist.com/2011/01/2...

In 5 or 10 years when people dig their cars out of the snow to save money on a metro-card these idiots will have plenty of time to continue their trolling while passing the time in unbearable traffic.

Communist

Somebody is bitter. What's wrong, can't afford a car :( ?

m015094

It's not about affording a car. I bet 90% of people in Manhattan COULD afford a car, but imagine the Hell that would ensue if millions of more people all tried to drive in the city. Bike lanes are good. So are bus only lanes that expedite bus traffic and subways kick-ass. Also, walking (I walk 1.3 miles to school every day) won't kill you. Driving a car in a place like NYC is selfish.

Rod

well you must be as rich as bloomberg because if you think owning a car or owning a car in nyc is intelligent you are wrong.

FallOut

Bloomberg got this one right:
"Some people love ‘em":
Yeah! Whiny, strident, scallion-armed hipsters, assorted Spandex Nazis, and the TransAlt crowd that has recently begun to infest gothamist.

"and some people hate them":
Right!! The other 7,500,000 NYers, as witnessed in Rockaway, the East Village, PPW, Chelsea, Gerritsen Beach, SoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown, Wburg

Sadik-Khan is on the defensive. When she starts blaming Ray Kelly for her mistake of not declaring a snow emergency, when she has to have the Mayor constantly defend her, when her policies are openly booed - then you know her back is to the wall.

All Power to the People. TIMES UP!, sadik-khan. MOVE ON!

Rod

actually, you're wrong again.

i love bike lanes (not these ones so much) and I hate TransAlt and think they're worthless.

just look at all they've done for us who've had endless bikes stolen!

StedyRuckus

Why exactly do you want T.A. to do you for you regarding stolen bikes? That falls under the jurisdiction of the NYPD and your own common sense. Get yourself a Kryptonite New York Motorcycle chain and lock, and learn to lock your bike up correctly. I've had the same $1,200 bike for 10 years and I lock it up in the street all the time.

Rod

I'd like TA to do their JOB: advocating on behalf of us second-class citizens (cyclists). evidently, the NYPD has been 100% incompetent on fighting crime and the mayor and press say this is "broken windows": if you allow bike theft, that leads to more serious crime and ultimately murder.

so if they didn't stop most bike theft they are saying they are promoting serious crime.

how is TA unable to use any of it's to pressure the Mayor and NYPD to Do Something?

and you're so arrogant it sounds like you must work for TA.

that you ride a $1200 bike says you're not one of us little people, hence your arrogant tone.

handsomedevil

the other 7,500,000 NYers,

Nah, just a minority of vocal idiots. The vast majority really doesn't care.

I drive and I have zero problem with them. They simply don't detract from the driving experience in any significant way, so who gives a shit.

cmdrogogov

wow? 7.5 million people posting under one account? how did you manage to come to a consensus on what to say!

SwampYankee

The Mayor loves them and the Police Commissioner hates them.

Rod

actually, the emperor doesn't give a damn either way. he's an absentee mayor, remember?

what he likes is that it gives him cred that he cares about the environment, which he most certainly does not.

and the police commissioner hates everyone and everything.

he's the most corrupt police goon we'll ever see.

Eric Luke

What exactly are the negatives of bike lanes?

dollarmenu

Also, in the case of the Prospect Park one, the locals felt the lane was easy to miss/forget when crossing the street because it's partitioned off by a lane of parked cars, leading to more pedestrian+biker collisions.

StedyRuckus

How is a bike lane easy to miss or forget about, when you cross the cars, and the sidewalk is till 9feet away and the street is painted green?

dollarmenu

Force of habit. People are used to crossing a lane of parked cars and finding a sidewalk. The area past the parked cars just "feels" protected, like an extension of the sidewalk, particularly around that park where the sidewalks are huge.

SwampYankee

In some cases they remove lanes of car traffic and sometimes parking spaces are lost. Parking and driving lanes are used year around. Biking really drops off in the bad weather.

Rod

i can show you MANY sidewalks with almost no foot traffic.

you lose.

again.

and please name the STREET where car traffic is MORE congested now due to a bike lane than before the bike lane was installed.

i haven't seen anything like that yet.

you lose again.

SwampYankee

any day when I come home from a good day at work, to a family that loves me, to a really nice dinner that someone who loves me cooked, am sitting in front of the fireplace, with my dog fighting for space with my laptop, nice glass of wine. Thats a win. I have lots of wins. How are you doing?