After vocal protests and threats of self-immolation over the presence of Citi Bike in SoHo's Petrosino Park, this photo seems to indicate that maybe, just maybe, there's room for art and bike share stations to co-exist peacefully.
Minerva Durham, who usually runs her figure drawing classes out of her nearby Spring Studio, is protesting the docking stations by holding sessions outside this week—because nothing sends a somber message of resistance more forcefully than attractive naked people. If this tour de force somehow fails, Durham said last week that she would take the next logical step in protecting the park's artistic integrity: Death. She doubled down on this threat in an email to Gothamist yesterday:
Already I have spent every day that it has not rained in the park protesting. So I have been living every moment of my life to get those bikes out of designated park space. My youngest grandchild is more than five years old, so I figure I have no remaining biological duties and I can die if need be.
Okeydokey then! The art class, however, appears to be proceeding uninterrupted by a single instance of seppuku. If Durham really wants to get rid of the rack, she should consider instructing her nude models to pose atop the bikes. You can swab a Citi Bike with antibacterial wipes until your fingers chafe, but there are some things you can't unsee—and direct taint-to-bike seat contact is one of them.
