Results matching “cycling”

Two cycling activists suspected of repainting the Bedford Avenue bike lane turned themselves in at the 90th Precinct in Williamsburg yesterday. According to the Post, 26-year-old Quinn Hechtropf and 24-year-old Katherine Piccochi were among the bikers who used paint rollers, spray paint and stencils to recreate the South Williamsburg cycling path, which was removed by the city last week with little explanation.

Williamsburg cyclists got a new bike lane on Bedford Avenue yesterday morning, but they lost one last night when dozens of cars obstructed the cycling path on Kent Avenue. Just hours after biking activists repainted a cycling path on Bedford Avenue that was recently removed by the city, the equally controversial Kent Avenue bike lane was blocked by parked cars for a major Hasidic celebration.

The biking activists responsible for repainting the Bedford Avenue bike lane have shared video of their actions with Gothamist. After the city controversially decided to remove the bike lane from a 14-block stretch of Bedford Avenue last week, the guerilla cyclists walked up and down the avenue with paint rollers and spray paint to recreate the cycling route.

We haven't been able to verify this one with the NYPD yet, but sources tell Gothamist that police — and South Williamsburg's Shomrim Patrol — arrested two men suspected of attempting to repaint the recently-removed Bedford Avenue bike lane this morning.

Just when it seemed like the hoopla over bike lanes in Williamsburg had come to a close, Gothamist has learned that the Department of Transportation is planning to remove a 14-block section of the Bedford Avenue cycling route. A spokesman said that the agency will remove the "small portion" of the bike lane between Flushing and Division avenues in South Williamsburg "as part of ongoing bike network adjustments in the area."

Website Ride the City debuted in 2008, integrating Google maps with data about ideal cycling routes. The site enables users to map a bike ride along as many bike paths as possible, or take their chances with the "fastest," most direct route. Tomorrow the site will launch a new version, which will now maintain elevation data for every city and show riders how much climbing to expect from any given route. Ride the City will also allow visitors to create a user profile and save their favorite routes.

As more and more New Yorkers are using bikes to commute and the city continues its massive — and at times controversial — push to expand its network of bike lanes, the Daily News examines the city's 650 miles of cycling routes and names its favorites. Among other selections, the tabloid's biking experts dub Ninth Avenue's protected bike lane between 16th Street and 31st Street as the city's "Safest," the Bleecker Street lane in the Village as the "Commuter's Choice," and the cycling routes on Ninth and Tenth streets as having the "Best-looking Crowd" because they are used by "hotties cutting through the Village and NYU's campus." Funny, because we thought all of the cycling hotties were using the lanes in South Williamsburg.

The MTA is considering rolling out bus-only lanes on First and Second avenues that the agency says might shorten commutes between Houston Street and 125th Street. The "East Side speedway" could be laid down by September 2010, and the agency is planning to stock up on "dozens of super-stretch buses for the new service," the Daily News reports.

The number of commuters riding their bikes to work has increased by 26 percent over the past year, according to city statistics. In a "dramatic" uptick, the portion of New Yorkers traveling to work on bikes has doubled since 2002. This spike comes after an increase of 35 percent last year and amidst the Department of Transportation's ambitious — and at time controversial — push to bolster the city's bike lane network. Over the past three years, the city has laid down 200 new miles of cycling routes including loved and loathed paths on Kent Avenue in Brooklyn and Ninth Avenue and Grand Street in Manhattan.

The notoriously accident-prone Queens Boulevard boasts twelve lanes for motor vehicles at its widest points, but the DOT refuses to cede one of those lanes for cyclists, despite a citywide boom in bicycle commuting. Last month cycling advocates held a somber rally to demand a bike lane on Queens Boulevard, and installed a white ghost bike to commemorate the death of 38-year-old James Langergaard, who was killed by a car as he crossed the boulevard on the evening of August 14th. But a Daily News reporter has learned that the DOT has not even evaluated the possibility of a Queens Boulevard bikeway in recent years.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Times' cycling blog, Spokes, reports today that the paper's coverage of bike-related issues has remained strangely consistent over the past century. In the Gray Lady's 1890s "Gossip of the Cyclers" column — which was apparently the StreetsBlog.org of the McKinnley administration — the paper covered strikingly contemporary bike issues including reckless cyclists, brake-less bikes, and even concerns about bicycle access to the Brooklyn Bridge. In fact, the Times has covered each of these issues within the past few months. Though the Times no longer refers to bicycles as "the wheel" or fast cyclists as "scorchers," it's remarkable that more than 100 years later, both the paper — and the city — are still arguing the same topics.

On Friday night some two dozen cyclists gathered in Queens for what has become a sadly familiar ritual in NYC: The installation of an all-white ghost bike commemorating the traffic death of a cyclist. The notoriously dangerous Queen Boulevard has claimed the lives of two cyclists in the past 19 months; the most recent victim, 38-year-old James Langergaard, was killed by a car as he crossed the boulevard at 69th Street on the evening of August 14th. (In February 2008, Asif Rahman, 22, was killed when he was hit by a truck at an intersection in Elmhurst.)

Denmark's Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen just wanted to go for a simple bike ride in Central Park after "three days of talks in air-conditioned rooms" about climate change, but it turned into such a production. His entourage was swollen with press, two bodyguards, two Secret Service agents, and two "undercover" NYPD cops on bikes. The 7:15 a.m. ride, which kept getting lost, was also tailed by two limos and an NYPD vehicle. Needless to say, it's not the kind of thing you want to deal with on your morning jog, and one runner yelled at the entourage, "This isn’t a bike lane!" To which the cycling cops explained, "We're the police!" And they only use bike lanes for parking. [Daily Intel]

There was great excitement in the cycling community last month when the DOT finally finished turning the treacherous Sands Street approach to the Manhattan Bridge in Brooklyn into an elegant, elevated bike lane. Transportation Alternatives even held an opening celebration, dubbing the Sands Street lane the "Budnick Bikeway," after Noah Budnick, a T.A. advocate who almost died riding his bike on Sands Street in 2005.

Typically you hear stories of the Hasids in Williamsburg revolting against the hipster bicyclists, especially those wearing skimpy clothing. But now The Forward reports on a sign that popped up in the neighborhood this month that could bridge the gap between the groups; "On it is a large Star of David constructed out of 50 or so rubber chickens. In the middle of the star, Yiddish text offers a free bike loan to any of the Yiddish-speaking Satmar Hasidim who live in the area." Baruch Herzfeld (himself a Sabbath-observant Modern Orthodox Jew, with two rabbi brothers) is the man behind the sign, and he hopes his efforts will help the Hasids understand their cycling neighbors. The 37-year-old Herzfeld is described as a "neighborhood gadfly/clown/activist/businessman who owns a small bicycle repair shop below the offices of his cell phone company" (it's noted that he loaned out the 1st floor space to Time's Up). He's already had some takers, and he "just received 500 used bikes from Japan that will allow him to expand his program." He says, “The goal is just to make it acceptable. I’m not doing it because I want to change the world—I just think it would be a healthy thing for the whole city if some of these guys got on bicycles."

A Staten Island driver is due in court at the end of the month to face assault charges after a road rage incident with a cyclist. Unlike Fox News staffer Don Broderick, whom the Manhattan DA let off the hook despite allegations that he drove with a cyclist clinging to his hood, 27-year-old Michael Graziuso was taken away in handcuffs after this altercation, which took place at a busy Staten Island intersection on the morning of July 8th. The confrontation was sparked after cyclist Gregory DeRespino, 48, stopped in the bike lane at a red light at Capodanno Boulevard and Seaview Avenue, making it difficult for several cars lined up behind him to make a right turn.

Anyone who's followed along with the city's various cycling issues won't find much new in the Daily News's "Special Investigation" today, about how "pedestrians and cars clash over biking boom." There's the requisite quote from a biker-phobic pedestrian, 62-year-old Marjorie Levine: "When I, as a retired woman, walk these streets, I have fear of my safety that I will be hit by these riders and get knocked down." There's the requisite counterpoint from Transportation Alternatives spokesman Wiley Norvell: "We still have a really 'me first' culture on the street, whether you are a pedestrian, a driver or a big rig. The problem is that some of those 'me's' weigh tons and others weigh 110 pounds."

City officials and cycling advocates gathered in The Bronx yesterday to celebrate meeting the goal of adding 200 bike-lane miles in all five boroughs in three years. Dr. Thomas Farley, city health commissioner, was on hand to trumpet the health benefits of cycling; Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe praised the bike lanes connecting the city's parks and waterfronts; and DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan declared New York "the bicycling capital of the United States." The bike lane network is now the equivalent length of a bike lane running from New York City to Boston! The 200-mile initiative was launched after a 2006 report [pdf] determined that cyclists were safest in bike lanes and wearing helmets. The project cost $8.8 million, and included installing 6,100 bike racks and 1,000 guide signs. According to the DOT [pdf], there are now 70.9 miles of bike lanes in The Bronx, 138.9 miles in Brooklyn, 90.4 miles in Manhattan, 96.7 miles in Queens, and 27.6 in Staten Island. And besides helping cyclists, they make for great parking spots, too!

Transportation Alternatives, which advocates for "bicycling, walking and public transit as the best transportation alternatives," has this interesting graph in the new issue of Street Beat. It shows how more bicyclists have led to better safety:

New data now reveals that there are 185,000 daily cyclists in New York City, an increase of more than one third from just four years ago. This staggering surge is not only a testament to the infrastructure improvements that have been implemented in the last couple of years, but also a contributing factor to the increased safety of cyclists throughout the city.

Continue reading "More Bicyclists, Fewer Casualties"

     

"We have to make bicycling fun and elegant, which it is not yet in New York!" declares Renaud Dutreil, a big shot at luxury goods conglomerate LVMH. Dutreil rides a bike to his office on East 57th Street almost every day, and he thinks more people would do likewise if there was only a fashion alternative to the dominant DIY style of ripped jeans, tattoos, and Bushwick-bound butt cleavage.

The Critical Mass ride that wrapped up Bike Month last Friday night saw an increase in participants, as well as an increase in summonses for "failure to keep right" while cycling, which biking advocates maintain is not a valid ticket and is regularly dismissed in court. (The rule in question, RCNY 4-12(p)(3), states that "Bicyclists may ride on either side of one-way roadways that are at least 40 feet wide.") Over a dozen summonses were issued, some during a sting at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge, where police wrote tickets for cyclists without front and rear lights.

      

Every year Transportation Alternatives holds a commuter race to Manhattan between a cyclist, a subway rider, and a motorist to promote the efficacy of cycling. And every year the cyclist wins. When will the gaming commission investigate T.A.? The only difference today between the outcome of last year's race was that this year the car commuter came in dead last, taking 47 minutes, 11 seconds to get from Sunnyside to Columbus Circle in a taxi. Coming in second was NYC transit rider Dan Hendrick, who crossed the finish line in 35 minutes, 16 seconds.

NYC's DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan may be beloved by cycling enthusiasts for her radical expansion of the city's bike lanes, but to critics like Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, she's "an anti-car extremist. It's kind of easy for Ms. Sadik-Khan to be holier than thou and tell people they have no business driving. She may live down the block from the subway station—but most people don't." And John Liu, the City Council member from Queens who chairs the council’s Transportation Committee, says her agenda comes with "a sense of the elite telling the everyday people what’s good for them, and that’s simply not appreciated. I think it can no longer be ignored, the demographic groups calling for these changes versus the demographic groups that protest."

Made almost entirely out of bike parts found in the streets of NYC, the Skybike is the invention of Mario Diamantis, a grad student in NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. Designed to evoke the perspective of riding through the air, Skybike straps the rider to the frame upside down at a 45 degree angle. Here's video of a recent demonstration, via Animal New York:

If you care about cycling in New York, or just about your Constitutional right as a citizen to freely assemble, the transcript from the first day of testimony in the lawsuit over NYPD's ongoing crackdown on Critical Mass is a fun read. The defense spent most of the day trying to establish that the police have been selectively enforcing Critical Mass rides by coming down heavy on the Manhattan rides while cooperating with the Brooklyn rides. Then, during the afternoon session, someone pulled a Pacino in And Justice for All, bursting into the courtroom yelling, "This is a corrupt system you've got here!" And in cross examining Critical Mass participant Madeline Nelson, lawyers for the city brought up a typical example of ridiculous NYPD cyclist harassment: "Q. At that ride we are speaking about you were issued a summons for an improper taillight, correct? A. That's right, I was. Q. And isn't it correct that your bicycle did not have a taillight at the time that summons was issued? A. Yes, but I had a taillight mounted on my helmet... And I did, in fact, offer to move that light then onto the bicycle and, nonetheless, I was summonsed for not having it mounted on the bike when it was in fact on my helmet and flashing."

Summer may not start until June 21st, but with all the warm weather we've been enjoying you may have noticed an increase in the number of cyclists on the streets—that is, unless you're too busy speeding past cars and dodging pedestrians on your own set of wheels. Clearly, this is going to be another big summer for biking, with the city already predicting a large increase in riders. Jeff Underwood has been part of the biking scene in this city before most of us knew there was a scene. Tucked away in the East Village, Continuum Cycles is packed with bikes both new and old: bikes, frames, and various other parts can be found hanging from the walls, leaning against each other on the floor, even spilling out into the street.

When it causes injury or death, the answer is obviously yes. But some New York cyclists are finding fault with this morning's City Room article about pedaling under the influence. (PUI?) Brian Fried at Streetsblog says the article, which suggests an anti-drunk biking P.S.A. might be in order, is wrong to equate the dangers of drunk driving with drunk cycling:

Drinking and biking puts cyclists at risk because impairment makes them more likely to be killed by a motorist. Drinking and driving puts everyone in the vehicle's path at risk of being killed by that motorist. In 2007, nearly 13,000 people died in crashes involving drunk drivers on American roads. More than 4,300 of those killed were people other than the impaired perpetrator behind the wheel [PDF]. Meanwhile, how many people died at the hands of a drunk cyclist?

Emotions were high last night at Brooklyn's first CB1 meeting of the year. The ongoing controversy over the Kent Avenue bike lanes and the recent, sudden dismissal of Teresa Toro, who had chaired the Transportation Committee, inspired members of the local community to crowd the small room at the Swinging 60's Senior Citizens Center, waiting for their chance to speak to the board.

    

As we announced on Monday, a group of cycling clowns rode along Kent Avenue in Williamsburg today to protest what they call a growing "anti-bike sentiment in Brooklyn." Organized by Times Up, the ride was a response of sorts to vocal community opposition to the bike lane, which some residents and business owners blame for a sudden dearth of parking. Last month Hasidic Jews in the largely Satmar section of South Williamsburg vowed to protest the bike lane by blocking traffic on Kent.

Residents and business owners who have been complaining about the new Grand Street bike lane now have a video that they say demonstrates the traffic mess caused by the lane, which provides a dedicated space for cyclists separated from traffic by a row of parked cars. Sent to us by the Soho Alliance, the video depicts a truck driver turning from West Broadway onto Grand Street and mistaking the parked cars for idling traffic.