DOT's Sadik-Khan: Marty Is "Mistaken" On PPW Bike Lane "Trial"

Marty Markowitz, self-loathing cyclist? (Courtesy The Brooklyn Paper/Ben Muessig)

Relations have been strained (to put it mildly) between DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz at least as far back as April 2010, when Marty called her a "zealot" on WNYC. And it doesn't look like those two will be taking a romantic paddle boat ride together in Prospect Park anytime soon, judging by sworn affidavits filed as part of the great Prospect Park West bike lane lawsuit. Markowitz recently swore under oath that a month before he called her a zealot, Sadik-Khan told him the contentious bike lane was just a trial. Now Sadik-Khan has filed her own affidavit essentially calling the Borough President a liar, liar pants on fire.

In her sworn affidavit, Sadik-Khan explicitly states that she never told Borough President Markowitz at the March 1 2010 meeting “that the PPW Project was a trial or pilot project.” Streetsblog obtained a copy; in it the Commissioner says:

The Borough President's recollection is mistaken; specifically, I never said at the meeting or at any other time that the PPW Project was a trial or pilot project... Nor did any of the others from the DOT make such a statement at that meeting. During that meeting I do recall that DOT stated that it would not initially install concrete pedestrian islands (although it will do so in the future), and that post-installation DOT would be monitering the performance of the PPW project as we do for all DOT projects. To the extent that the Borough President misinterpreted the discussion that the PPW was being installed on a trial or pilot basis, he is mistaken.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit (who are being represented pro-bono by a fancy lawyer whose firm is a big donor to PPW resident Senator Chuck Schumer—whose wife happens to be a former DOT commissioner and ardent bike lane foe) were insisting that the bike lane was a trial because if it wasn't, they would have missed the deadline to file their lawsuit. But in a surprise twist yesterday, lawyers for the city gave up arguing that the lawsuit had missed the deadline, telling the judge they would "not pursue the statute of limitations defense." In other words, the DOT is prepared to fight the lawsuit on its merits.

At issue now is whether the DOT fudged data in its study of the bike lane after it was installed; bike lane opponents argue that the department essentially lied about the safety improvements resulting from the bike lane. “Big lies are being told to cover up smaller lies,"Jim Walden told the Brooklyn Paper after yesterday's hearing. But the DOT seems confident that its analysis can withstand the legal onslaught. "We want to get to the merits of the case," says city lawyer Mark Muschenheim.

"By any reasonable measure, this charade is over,” Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives, said in a statement yesterday. “The City set hard data against fact-free grandstanding to defend commonsense street safety improvements that the vast majority of neighborhood residents love and asked for in the first place. Any concerns about these improvements have been exhaustively addressed and it’s time to move on. The people of Park Slope deserve better than to have their time wasted by a puffed-up PR stunt."

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

By John Del Signore in News on July 21, 2011 9:51 AM

Comments [rss]

randomtransplant

I'm sure its very noble to fight an easy-win bullshit case on it "merit" but there are about a gazzion miles of problems the DOT doesn't have the money to fix. Feeding the trolls in court does nothing but lead the public to erroneously belive Markowitz has a good point somewhere in this trial anti-cycilists wont be paying full attention to anyway.

randomtransplant

I'm sure its very noble to fight an easy-win bullshit case on it "merit" but there are about a gazzion miles of problems the DOT doesn't have the money to fix. Feeding the trolls in court does nothing but lead the public to erroneously belive Markowitz has a good point somewhere in this trial anti-cycilists wont be paying full attention to anyway.

randomtransplant

does my origional edit read 'object object' or is it just me?

xXxMExXx

This is the current DOT’s modus operendi. Sadik knows the cyclist (read: anti-car/anti-business/anti-economic growth) activist groups will cover for the bureaucracy’s lies and deception.

bggb

This comment makes less sense every time I read it.

RobNYC

It's word vomit. No facts needed.

whitecastlerock

Right-like I said, if they would fill the pot holes to make roads safe for everyone. I dispute the amount of work they claim to be doing because the roads in my borough, Queens, resemble the surface of the moon.

Spirit of 76

Honest question: When was the last time Markowitz did anything useful for Brooklyn?

Cait Smith

not ever. unless you count booking the monkees at some random park in coney island as 'something useful'

Fronko

Given how wrong Marty is on a lot of issues (Atlantic Yards comes to mind) I believe your headline could have simply been: "Marty is Mistaken."

RobNYC

That seems redundant to me.

whitecastlerock

I wish the DOT would focus on filling the 8 billion pot holes that plague pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers...

thebedstuyowl

Haven't you seen the awesome Tumblr documentation of pothole filling? www.TheDailyPothole.tumblr.com

Barbara Starkweather

A lot of people seem to think that the DOT's only responsibility should be filling potholes and finding ways to make the traffic move even faster. (And make accomodations for even more traffic). They have other considerations, like safety. Hence bike lanes.

Some enlightening numbers from thegothamist.com...."the DOT is taking the war on potholes seriously, and spending a pretty penny to get the pavement pretty again. Streetsblog crunched the numbers, and you may be surprised to see how much the city is spending compared to, say, bike lanes.

The cost of the four months of extra work is expected to be in the
neighborhood of $2 million. That's more than the DOT has spent out of
its budget for its entire bike program since 2007, from design
to to outreach to construction. (The bulk of the $8.8 million bicycling
infrastructure was paid for by the federal government.) And the $2
million in added pothole costs is only the cherry on top of a $190.4
million budget for paving this year.outreach to construction."

http://tinyurl.com/3f8nhvo
.

GalBklyn

Spending money doesn't mean the job is getting done. Citytime anyone?

schmeep

I wish that Bloomberg gave Sadik-Khan a "get out of filtering your sentiments" card so she could *really* tell us what she thinks of Mr. Markowitz.