Results tagged “bike”

A Fox 5 cameraman happened to be shooting footage near the Ed Sullivan Theater yesterday for a segment on taxi medallions when an angry brawl exploded between a pedicab driver and a cabbie. It starts when the pedicab driver, fed up with the hack honking his horn behind him, tosses a cup of coffee at the cab's passenger-side window. You gonna take that cabbie? Not in New York! Check it out:

Author Robert Sullivan, who writes provocative bicycling op-ed pieces for the Times when he's not writing about rats and the American Revolution, has a suggestion to solve the ongoing tension between cyclists and pedestrians on the Brooklyn Bridge walkway. He proposes that the city ban bicycles entirely from the walkway, and shift them down to the motor vehicle roadways by creating physically protected bike lanes.

Cyclist Armando Cruz was arrested after throwing a bottle through the window of a NYC bus, raining shards of glass onto the driver. Cruz had been riding down Flushing Avenue in Bushwick when police officers ordered him to pull over due to his "unsafe manner" of biking. He attempted to pedal away, but was cut off by the bus; he then threw his bottle through the bus driver's window. That must have been one hell of a throw, one hell of a heavy bottle, or one hell of a cheap bus window. Cruz was charged with "assault, menacing, and criminal mischief."

We're torn about this rather graphic video, which depicts an alleged bike thief getting beaten up after getting caught by the bike owner and his friends in the East Village. On the one hand, lowlife thieves deserve what's coming to them; on the other hand, street justice does have its downsides (anarchy, mob rule, model riots, etc). But the blogger who posted the video, Prolly is not Probably, is all for it, writing, "The guy wasn't bleeding or banged up. Just enough to send a message. DON'T STEAL BIKES. Cops won't do anything and this guy will think twice about stealing bikes."

After a record low number of fatalities from auto accidents in 2007, the number of deaths spiked last year to 292 pedestrians, drivers, passengers, bicyclists and motorcyclists—18 more people than in 2007. According to a report issued by the DOT, pedestrian fatalities last year jumped to 147, seven more than in 2007.

The pitched street battle between cyclists and drivers (and pedestrians) just won't let up! Cyclist Anna Letitia Mumford says that she was punched in the face by a driver yesterday during her evening commute in Brooklyn. Here's her story:

I had just crossed the Manhattan Bridge and was biking south on the bike path on Jay Street. The traffic was backed up, but the bike lane was open. Right in front of me, a car peeled out of the traffic and began to cruise up the bike lane. At Willoughby, the light was red so the car stopped. I tapped on the trunk to let the driver know that I was trying to pass.

Continue reading "Driver Punches Cyclist in the Face After Blocking Bike Lane"

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."

Don Broderick, a one-time New York Post reporter and current Fox News staffer, won't face charges related to his June 1st altercation with Central Park cyclist Brian Dooda. Dooda's accusations are pretty sensational; he says that after he pulled in front of Broderick at a red light to admonish him for cutting him off, Broderick gunned his SUV into him, knocking him down. Then, when Dooda tried to block the SUV so Broderick couldn't leave the scene, he allegedly rammed Dooda onto the hood and drove some 200 feet with Dooda clinging to the vehicle, pleading for him to stop. Now the Manhattan DA tells Gawker they've dropped the case because they could not prove Dooda suffered any injuries in the incident. (Dooda insists he did sustain minor injuries from the death ride, including a scrape on his elbow.) Broderick, who was once forced to take anger management classes after he threatened to tear a subordinate's head off, says, "The DA's action speaks for itself. There's nothing further to say." Dooda couldn't be reached for comment, and the DA's spokesperson declined to comment on why they didn't file lesser charges against Broderick based on damage to Dooda's bike.

Is there anything Facebook can't do? A Park Slope family has now used the social networking site to track down an adolescent bicycle thief. Beth Harpaz, an AP reporter and author of The Girls in the Van: Covering Hillary, says a local teen used the oldest trick in the book to separate her 11-year-old son from his new BMX at the playground: He asked to "see your bike for a minute," then never rode back. (The trick even works on adults!) Harpaz tried filing a police report, but a beat cop discouraged her, saying, "If you file a police report, we'll have to arrest him. Just wait a few days. You'll get the bike back." And the policeman was right—though the BMX wasn't recovered thanks to NYPD detective work, but through Harpaz's dogged sleuthing. Long story short, some kids at the playground knew the suspect's first name and the Middle School from which he'd graduated, so Harpaz obtained a copy of the yearbook, identified him, and tracked him down on Facebook. After threatening to have him arrested, the unidentified thief revealed the bike's location, along with the combination for the lock. He also asked Harpaz, "Where do u live at?" but Harpaz knew better than to let him see her house for a minute.

After a little speed bump, the City Council has passed Intro. 871, the Bicycle Access Bill, which requires commercial landlords to allow office workers to bring bikes inside office buildings (with freight elevators) as long as their employers have space for the bikes. The bill passed 46-1; Transportation Alternatives' executive director Paul Steely White said, "No other city in the country has a policy like the one City Council passed today. When we open the doors of New York City's workplaces to cyclists, tens of thousands of commuters are going to get on two wheels." Transportation Alternatives also points out that though biking is the fastest growing mode of transportation in the city, many people don't bike to work, due to fear of their bikes may be stolen on the street.

While some of you have been enjoying a lazy Sunday morning, thousands of people spent their early morning starting the Nautica NYC Triathlon—a 1500 meter swim in the Hudson River followed by a 40KM bike race (in Manhattan and the Bronx), ending with a 10KM run in Central Park. Though the race was delayed by rain, there are already winners: Greg Bennett of Australia won the men's competition, with a time of 1:45:50 (swim: 12:34; bike: 58:37; run: 31:12), while Rebeccah Wassner of New York won the women's, with a time of 1:58:25 (swim: 13:40; bike: 1:06:01; run: 34:36). And in the ParaTriathlon competition, Aaron Scheidies won with a time of 2:02:15. Last year's competitors faced obstacles like jellyfish and the heat and humidity; the NYC Tri website says, "This year, the rain certainly slowed athletes’ final times, while the humidity made the race seem to last too long for some," but the participants were undeterred. One said, "Running through one of the best landmarks in the world… it was a privilege."

Summer is upon us, and Mayor Bloomberg has declared July to be Good Beer Month. And there's nothing quite like riding ones bike to a bar and imbibing in some cold ones, right? Actually that sounds like a dangerous idea, but it still didn't stop some folks from putting together a Bike to the Bars event.

Recently a Starbucks customer witnessed a scuffle outside the store between an older gentleman and a bike messenger. The witness described the incident, on the the corner of Allen and Delancey, as such: "they ran into each other at the intersection. the old guy just wouldn't leave the bike dude alone, so the bike dude totally let him have it, POW! KRYPTONITE LOCK TO THE FACE LIKE 3 OR 4 TIMES!" Lucky for us, he filmed it:

It was almost a year ago that a Times Square tourist happened to videotape a police officer's seemingly unprovoked assault on a cyclist during a Critical Mass group bike ride. The video, which depicts rookie cop Patrick Pogan slamming 30-year-old cyclist Christopher Long off his bike, sparked widespread outrage and ended up costing Pogan his job (getting caught filing a false police report didn't help his case, either). Long is now living in rural Wisconsin and working on a farm, but according to his lawyer, "There is psychological trauma, which explains why he is not living in New York City right now. It is a terrible experience for him to go through." So naturally he's suing the city, for $1.5 million, to help ease the pain.

Watch out, meat heads: While administering street justice to cyclists who dare touch your precious vehicle, keep in mind you may be photographed for posterity on the internets. And that photo may lead to other photos, like this one here, depicting one Gus Gonzalez, who Streetsblog believes is the man who allegedly assaulted a cyclist during a road rage on Ninth Avenue incident last month. A lawyer used the license plate seen in the photos track down the vehicle's owner; it's registered to Flushing resident Laura DiSpirito, whose Facebook page (since made private) shows her on the beach with her husband "Gus." We'd know that gut anywhere.

Like the Facebook event page says: "Here it is finally. New York City will officially be joining in with thousands of cyclists around the world for the World Naked Bike Ride." Yes, finally. The event will take place with New York City’s inaugural nudist roll out (Critical Ass?). "Bicyclists in dozens of cities around the country and northern hemisphere will bicycle in the buff to 'stop indecent exposure to vehicle emissions.'" Now this is important: the ride begins at 5 p.m. at West 23rd Street between 11th and 12th Avenues, departure is around 6:30 p.m. on an, as of now, secret route (hopefully nowhere near South Williamsburg). No one will be excluded, there's been some mention of bodypaint. If you get photos, tag them with "Gothamist" on flickr! Or not! Use your best judgment, we can't decide.

Brian Dooda was riding his bike in the left traffic lane in Central Park around 5 p.m. last Thursday when an altercation with an SUV driver got crazier than usual. In a post on a cycling message board, Dooda describes the incident, which began when a driver in a grey SUV with press license plates angrily cut him off as payback for riding in the car lane, "speeding within inches" of his front wheel. Dooda "gave chase," caught up with the vehicle at a stop light, and, pulling in front of the SUV, "explained to him that what he just did almost cost me my life, the speed limit is 25mph in the park and if he doesn't like it to stay out of Central Park." Bet you'll never guess how that tool in the SUV responded!

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"

Newlywed Rebecca Padro had just moved to Flatbush from Philadelphia, so when her husband Miguel, a grad student, went missing on his way to work two months ago, she got a little panicked. According to Fox News, Miguel had left the apartment on his bike to ride over to his part time job at the Prospect Park tennis center, but never made it work and wasn't returning her calls. After some hours passed, she notified Miguel's parents. His brother Juan rushed down from Massachusetts, and she called the 71st Precinct, where the person who fielded the call wasn't aware that Miguel had been arrested and booked that day in that very precinct.

     

"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 DOT has recently unveiled a Google map interface showing the locations of 5,968 bike racks (out of approximately 6,100) that have been installed throughout the city since 1996. As you can see from the map, there are CityRacks all over, which doesn't explain why it's such a pain in neck finding a spot to lock your bike anywhere near Caracas on First Avenue. The map's certainly a nice gesture, but will cyclists will actually consult it? There's almost always a signpost or something you can lock your bike to within a block of your destination, and seeing a bike rack on a map doesn't mean it will be unoccupied when you get there. At any rate, the DOT will update the map as new racks are installed, and there's a form on the website that lets you request a CityRack for your block.

A recently-released study [pdf] conducted by Hunter College students posits that—are you sitting down?—"a large number of cyclists routinely disobey many traffic laws." But wait, didn't these Hunter kids already alert the public to the scourge of cyclist scofflaws back in November? Indeed, they did, but according to City Room this new report is "a rigorous and scientific version" of the previous observational study, which monitored 3,000 cyclists chosen at random at 69 locations. The new version used a wider sampling compiled of 5,275 observations of riders at 45 randomly generated intersections across Midtown from First to 10th Avenues and 14th to 59th Streets. According to the study:

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?

At 11 o'clock Saturday night—while the bourgeois sheep are filing their nails watching whatever season of Mad About You Netflix delivered to keep them meek and complacent—a group of cyclists are going to be living life to the fullest by competing in a gnarly unauthorized brakeless bike road race through Red Hook. According to Bike Blog NYC, the 2nd annual Red Hook Criterium will be held on a "quarter-mile course which features several hairpin turns, a fast sprint through the parking lot of a chain retailer, a cobblestone stretch, and a sprint finish." Organizer David August Trimble elaborates: "Last year was perfect. Not too big but the racing was intense but safe without any crashes. I couldn’t believe the pace that we completed the race at." The winner after 16 laps gets $300, but because "bus and automobile traffic on the course... is a near-certainty, " anyone who survives should be considered a winner. As for the exact location, you'll have to do some digging, or just follow that distinctive bike messenger smell. (And study this crazy video for a warm-up.)

The NYPD officer caught on tape bodyslamming a cyclist to the curb during a group Critical Mass ride through Times Square last July has been fired. Though charges of assault, harassment and filing a bogus police report are still pending against rookie cop Patrick Pogan, a spokesman for the NYPD confirmed that he was dismissed ten days ago and that the termination was directly related to the Critical Mass incident. But Stuart London, a lawyer for Pogan, tells the Times the NYPD didn't fire his client—he quit in order to "concentrate his efforts on fighting the criminal charges that are against him, so that when he is ultimately acquitted he can reapply to the Police Department." Referring to the NYPD's claim that Pogan was canned, London says, "They make errors all the time." Indeed! A spokesperson for advocacy group Times Up had this to say: "The NYPD is taking a heavy hand on dealing with this police officer, but we hope that Mayor Bloomberg will direct the higher-ups at the NYPD to discontinue their pattern of dangerous tactics and selective enforcement against cyclists."

Hmm, where have we seen white bikes like this one before? Oh yeah, they're locked up in cities across America to mark locations where cyclists were fatally run over. Nothing like the memory of blood-stained asphalt to make you want to run out and buy a pretty white dress. In a boneheaded move reminiscent of DKNY's failed fashion week bike-vertising, Macy's is now utilizing what appear to be replicas of the sadly familiar Ghost Bikes in their flagship store, as part of an adorable little display called "My Funny Valentine."

     

The fourth annual memorial ride and walk for cyclists and pedestrians killed in New York City took place yesterday. Groups of cyclists met with families of the deceased at the sites of 14 fatal bike accidents in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan. Memorials were held at each accident scene, and new "Ghost Bikes"—painted white with small plaques—were put in place as detailed reminders of the fatalities. The DOT has yet to release official numbers on fatalities in 2008, but according to last year's report, 23 cyclists were killed in 2007, up from 18 in 2006.

Chances are you're not trying to ride your bike anywhere today in this mess, but anyone who's tried to pedal over the bridges connecting Brooklyn with Manhattan this week was in for a treacherous trip, because the city has yet to adequately plow or salt the bike and pedestrian paths. As of last night, much of the Williamsburg Bridge path (pictured) remained impassible on two wheels, and commenters on Streetsblog say both the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge remained unsalted and icy.