Local TV Reporter Blows Whistle On Bike Lane Terrorist Threat

Now imagine if that man went underneath the road in the sanitary sewers...

Was anyone else served a fear-mongering subway terrorism ad before the video began to play?

Hey Marcia, do you really expect to be taken seriously with comments like that? Hey Marcia, ya know what? There's a sidewalk next to the Israeli Consulate. Imagine if that guy on the sidewalk was a terrorist.  Hmmmm... maybe they should not only forget about the bike lane, they should rip up the sidewalk in front of the consulate, too. And while they're at it, what if that guy in the taxi going by the consulate was a terrorist... Hmmmm, maybe they shouldn't allow any traffic on 2nd avenue of any kind, motor vehicle, bicycle or pedestrian.  You're so silly.
Why are you so biased against bike lanes?  Furthermore, aren't you embarrassed as a journalist to let your bias come through in your reporting? If you want to become an opinionated broadcaster go host a radio talk show.  You never seem to let the facts get in the way of you telling the story you want to to tell.

And to think CBS used to be known as the "Tiffany Network". And the lead in of the video,

"“Issues, Opposition Mounting For New Bike Lane..."   A shameless, bald-faced lie.


http://inklake.typepad.com/ink...

How is a bike riding terrorist any more dangerous than a pedestrian?

This is all getting silly, you are all going to die one day. Get right with God while you still can then the thought of dying will not bring you to your knees with fear anymore.

You have to hand it to the Gutless, Spineless and WORTHLESS, Cowards of the right they just never give up on the SALE of FEAR, I assume they think everyone else is afraid of their shadows as these Dick Sucking, Mealy Mouthed Anal Retentive ASS WIPES are.

How much more do we have to hear from the TURDS and COWARDS on the right about the TERRORIST that they Own and dispatch as they see fit to better distract and enhance their FEAR and HATE propaganda machine.

Why don't we assign secret agents that only allow these ASS WIPES out when no body is around and the sun has set, I heard their Shadow scares the HELL out of them. They can pay a 10,000 dollar security fee a month, that shoukd make the ASS WIPES feel safe.

Cause walking through the building's front door doesn't make sense

I never realized Marsha Kramer has such a fat ass, and god forbid we should do anything to endanger Israel.

As much as I'm pro-bicycle, and her terrorist comment was laughable, she was born in 1948, which makes her about 63 at this point.  I think (if I remember properly) she's been a local news fixture since the 80s even. 

For an old-lady Jewess, she looks pretty good. 

Sayin'!

the argument about the percentage of bikes using the roads is nonsensical. If we used that logic, then we should simply ask ourselves the following:

a) what percentage of persons in Midtown streets are walking vs driving cars

b) what percent on NYC roads are on a bus vs driving cars

solution: lets prioritize those who are walking (narrower roads, more pedestrian plazas etc) as well as busses, and minimize those who are driving. but thats not how we talk about things normally. The DOT used some of this logic when building the Times Square pedestrian plaza, and drivers fumed nonetheless, so it really doesn't matter. 

The truth is, infrastructure brings ridership. By having an integrated and smart bike system, biking in NYC will go up exponentially.

bikes do not pollute, and more people should ride them, specially ole tubby there.

Terrorist in a bike lane? TSA is developing an app to prevent that. . .

Very ironic that the ad I watched before the Kramer insanity was about a suspicious package on A BUS!   Good thing the second avenue bus is on the opposite side on the street from the consulate.

Yet another story by Gothamist shilling for bike lanes. You guys are such wheat-germ eating pansies.

www.newyorkgritty.net

And your blog makes you a ... ?  Kramerite ?

What was the name of the 80's song again, something like "Dirty Laundry" ?

"We all know that crap is king..."

what a dumb cunt

Why are you insulting feminine genitalia? Kramer's stupidity is entirely unrelated to her gender you prick! [/satire]

wocka wocka! Touche! or should I say Douche-e :-)
Well. I think it properly describes her

What a joke! Walter Cronkite would puke if he saw the local news and this raving lunatic posing as a reporter.

A few months ago my wife and I stopped our bikes at a red light. A somewhat hunchbacked woman crossing the street turned to us with the evil eye. Then she yelled "terrorists" and kept walking. While I was puzzled then, at least now I know who Marcia Kramer's audience is.

Note
to Channel 2 News Director: The next time that "political reporter"
Marcia Kramer insists on doing another "Bike Bedlam" hit piece, remember
that she's not interested in facts. Therefore, don't forget to add the
"EDITORIAL" chyron in the edit room.

Crap is King, Jim Jensen's spinning in his grave.

With or without weapons of mass destruction, bikers are a terrorist threat in this city.  Go back to Portland.

Why are you guys getting all worked up?  She's blonde.

And what does that have to do with the price of rice in China? I know lots of smart blondes, they're just not as famous as Kramer.

Do they also have your sense of humor?

I would liked for them to have run it by someone at the Israeli consulate so that person could tell her that that's the dumbest thing he ever heard.

Now I am afraid some local Tea Party/NRA yahoo is gonna take pot shots at me for being a potential terrorist just for riding my bike.

This hysterically misguided reporting misses the heart of the real question about bike lanes on these stretches of 1st and 2nd Aves., and replaces it with idiotic and pandering divisiveness ("bicycle bedlam", really?) 

The reason 1st and 2nd Avenues are so busy is that they provide the best unobstructed north-south through route for traffic in Manhattan.  They serve to keep traffic out of central Midtown and are the emptying point for often jammed crosstown streets. Even more importantly, they provide the main routing for commercial truck traffic coming in and out of Midtown and elsewhere in Manhattan to/from Queens, Brooklyn, and Long Island, as well as the Bronx and points north and northeast (remember, trucks are not allowed on the FDR). And those avenues connect directly to both of the midtown East River crossings, the Midtown Tunnel and the 59th Bridge, so traffic on them is highly unlikely to be reduced in the foreseeable future.

For all of that, traffic moves pretty smoothly on those avenues during non-rush hours due to wideness and good light timing, giving further relief to otherwise clogged Manhattan traffic.  However, the city has already effectively narrowed those avenues for its express bus service, which is fine since that service has indeed been a boon to east siders under-served by mass transit. 

But the imposition of bike lanes would further narrow the avenues by more than a lane (and would be particularly logistically difficult around the UN Tunnel on 1st, as is shown in the report).  Since there will always be heavy traffic on these avenues because of what they connect to, bike lanes are pretty much certain to contribute to increased back-ups and clogs in the once reasonably flowing traffic there. In so doing, they will create even more congestion and pollution in Midtown, and in surrounding neighborhoods up and down the east side

That's the real concern around here about these bike lanes, not some animus towards bikes or bicyclists, not some deep love of cars and trucks by east side Manhattanites, and certainly not some stupid triviality about the Israeli Consulate, which has remained there on 2nd Ave., in plain view and unterrorized, for many years now.

1st Ave around the UN flies.  You know why?  Because they have a bigtunnel that goes underneath the UN complex on 1st ave from around 41st to 49th street.

I bike to midtown every day and closing the gap is a must.  You're right about the congestion near the midtown tunnel and the 59th street bridge. 

But, you'll always have traffic at the bridges and tunnels.  That's like complaining that you can't have bike lanes near the Hudson (which is where Ray Deter died) or Lincoln approaches.  
Your post is quite reasonable but the concern you raise doesn't warrant keeping those areas of midtown unsafe for bikers.  The "gap" area is unsafe for bikers because without some form of protection we get aggressive drivers on our case all day.   Furthermore, most of the "extension" aren't even bike lanes.  On 2nd ave around the bridge, it's only sharrows, so, to be clear, they are not removing a lane of traffic for bikes around the bridge, they're only putting in sharrows to remind drivers of bikers.

yah, but seriously man, your writing is reasonable but your concern is overwrought. 

You've got 3 lanes going under the UN that flies, the above ground part of 1st ave flies as well, they've already painted the lines on 1st ave there and it looks fine.  You're really over reacting man.  I bike through there every day and there's always excess capacity at 1st ave.  And you don't get on the 59th street bridge on 1st ave.  It's 2nd ave or an eastern approach.  Only 2nd ave is relevant and that's a shit show regardless.

Voice of Reason? Is that you?

Thanks for trying to raise the level of intelligence in this utterly dismal thread.  You make good points, and if traffic impacts are too overwhelming, then DOT may be forced to modify or remove the lanes.  The main problem is not moving bicycles but storing cars.  The streets are for movement and access to private lots (buldings).  Car storage, often for free or very low cost to the vehicle owner, is a luxury granted to a lucky few.  At this point, the lane is a done deal,and I'm hopeful that the impacts won't be out of proportion with the benefits.  As for terrorism, business as usual types, if they think about it at all, are terrified by the idea that after having completely sold their souls to the machine we call industrial civilization, they might end up at the wrong end of the bargain. The bicycle is a symbol, and that symbol represents many things that snarling Kramerites can never enjoy. These selfish creatures (for whom Ms. Kramer is the PERFECT symbol) who live in a city their entire life and yet are essentially suburbanites, who don't even understand that the bike lanes will benefit them indirectly (taming bike behavior, reducing total vehicular volume and speed), will eventually come around or dieoff.

too long to read

Herman Cain in the house under a  pseudonym!

Congestion pricing would solve most of the problems you cite and leave room for bike lanes.

But its not going to happen.  Legislators from the outer boroughs and the suburbs will never let it go through.  In any case, it still wouldn't reduce traffic entirely and wouldn't change the fact that these are the avenues that connect to the bridges and tunnels.  And, it would do nothing at all to deal with the necessity for commercial traffic going east or north from Manhattan to use those avenues.

Marcia Kramer -- always good for lulz.

that lady is malfunctioning.

From a fellow journalist, thank you Marcia for making us look bad. Stay home on the next slow newsday or just clean your desk.

Journalists have been 'looking bad' for a looooong time now. Where have you been?

Unless he is a college professor

Never trust a boy (note the pronoun) with a beard in the summertime

Men shave
Boys itch

a beard traps heat during the summer is a myth. it actually cools the body. try it sometime

I have

It's a horrible thing to experiance

Ah the folly of youth

You like my haterade?

Mix it in your drink sometime

That'll cool you off.

What a stupid thing to say.

Nabokov knows best

Truth hurts

The word is already spreading

But joking aside

You have to be pretty stupid to have a beard when it's 90 degrees out.

Dude seriously? First off, shaving itches. Second, if you keep your beard short, it's not hot. Third, some of the greatest Americans of all time wore beards. What is wrong with this anti-facial hair bigotry?

you clearly don't know how to shave

Stupid hippies!

Depends on the beard. Anyway, beards are a matter of fashion, not a matter of being "men" or "boys". It's stupid to assign arbitrary roles like that. There was a period in Roman history when all the Emperors and men had beards. Were they boys?

Perspective is an interesting thing yes

So is the idea of sacrificing comfort for the sake of "fashion"

Take all kinds in this 21st century

Are you just a guy who's bitter because he can't grow a full beard? Yeah, man, I believe you are.

[Smiles smugly while scratching beard]. That chip on your shoulder must be getting really heavy, nakedface.

Nope not I

I'm just a man that knows what the term winter beard is

Probably if i didn't constantly meet women in the city disappointed by the male species of Brooklyn then kids like you wouldn't be such easy targets.

But alas its so just so easy to mock you chico.

How's that itchy flaking skin doing?

This is my neighborhood and I 100% support the bike lanes. I don't ride a bike, but anything that takes space away from the car-dependent lunatics who treat my neighborhood like a freeway is okay with me.

Bikes don't replace cars in Manhattan. Nobody drives from Columbus Circle to Union Square! Bikes are replacing mass-transit rides.

What's wrong with that?

Donald Trump does. And in the longest limo he can find.

Maybe he can find one long enough that he doesn't even have to drive it. He can just walk down the limo.

Marcia Kramer is an insane shill for Israel.  No crime committed by Israel can't be rationalized away by the likes of Kramer.  Kramer and her ilk are the flip side of the Holocaust deniers.

Proof please.

Proof?  Hysterical "reports" about bike riding terrorists isn't proof enough for you?

How's about you provide some proof? She sure sounds like a shill to me.

But the real question is what is Marcia Kramer's take on bike lanes in Israel?

Using the threat of terrorism to influence policy decisions is sooo 2003.

"Imagine if the man on the bike was a terrorist!"

Yes, because obviously if that lane was left for automobile traffic, a terrorist with a car or truck bomb would do a lot less damage. And I'm sure a suicide bike bomber would observe the law and use the bike lane instead of rolling up onto the sidewalk. Why, he might actually be too scared to ride in the street with the cars if there was no bike lane. He could get killed there!

Terrorists never use cars or trucks!

GENERAL QUESTION/OBSERVATION HERE: Why is Gothamist so fixated on bike lanes/bikers/bicycling? Every other news posting is about bikes...

Did you just comment on this story? Then I guess whatever it is they're aiming for worked.

page views!!!!

I just looked at the front page and this is the only story that has anything to do with bikes.  But to answer your question, 1st and 2nd Ave happen to be in New York City.

Get glasses, Alice, get glasses.

Like when every other story used to be about something Asian.  That stopped.

Is there a site I can go to about Asians on bikes? Failblog?

http://video.google.com/videop...

Dalmation riding a bike on (what I assume is) Japanese television.

"In other words, the streets are simply too unsafe to make safety improvements."

hahahaha. Well played

I am lost without the color–coded terrorist threat levels. Would this be orange? Red?

Puce.

We all know that suicide bikers have been waiting years for a bike lane on 2nd Ave because biking in midtown is like taking their own lives in their hands.

Gothamist's mindlessly pro-cyclist viewpoint is tiresome.

You do know that bonobos have really tiny penises, right?  Like pencil thin.

So, why would they be wrong in being pro-cyclist? I'm looking for stats and figures about why improving the bike infrastructure is bad. Do you have any?

I don't see this story as pro-bike as much as it is anti-really stupid reporting.  Gothamist does us all a service when it points out how poorly reported this story is.

>mindless

false.

"Imagine if the man on the bike was a terrorist!"?
Imagine if the man in the Car  was a terrorist!
Imagine a TERRORIST ON FOOT?!?!?!??!?!
O Noooooooo!!!!  Run and Hide!

Yet Another example of why I don't take Marcia Kramer seriously.

& sidewalks?  DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED.

And the terrorists are only going to attack the israeli consulate, as we well know. Perhaps they should find a safer location for it. Like Nome.

The solution is to move all consulates to a place where nobody can walk, drive, or ride their bike in front of them. Maybe Rikers?

Rikers is the perfect example of why a police state isn't a good idea even if your only priority is staying safe at the expense of any freedom.  Do you think people in Rikers are SAFE?  Of course not.  Despite the fact that they are under lock & key & constant surveillance. 

Sorry, I know you know.  Just riffing.  Too much coffee.

Won't work either, Suicide Jet Skis

"You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!"

it's only 10% of street traffic on those streets with bike lanes. if you make more bike lanes, there will be more bikes! NOW do you see why we should stop the madness of more bike lanes?

Damn cyclists.

Ms. Kramer has no problem using the bike lane to protect herself from car traffic (see around 0:58). Hypocrite!

I often wonder, are the producers of this story that stupid or are they just trying to stir the pot to bring in ratings.

So if we ignore this reporter, she'll probably just go away.  This is like that bullshit nutmeg drug story.

don't knock the nutmeg -- it works! ...and so does green tea.

OOH, and here's some water...

theyre hiding drugs in nutmeg now?

Just getting things ready to deploy the TSA on bike lanes and streets.