The Re-Painted-Over Bedford Bike Lane
Over the weekend, we went to check out the DOT’s Bedford Avenue bike-lane-blackout handiwork ourselves. As you will recall, first there was a bike lane that ran through the heavily Hasidic section of South Williamsburg, then DOT painted over it as a result of a back-room political deal made by the mayor with religious leaders,…
Over the weekend, we went to check out the DOT’s Bedford Avenue bike-lane-blackout handiwork ourselves. As you will recall, first there was a bike lane that ran through the heavily Hasidic section of South Williamsburg, then DOT painted over it as a result of a back-room political deal made by the mayor with religious leaders, then some bicycle safety activists painted it back, then DOT painted over it again. Yesterday there was a mock funeral procession to mourn its loss. Have we heard the last of the issue?
bxgrl-you’re very right that bike lanes general were poorly planed, the revisions of the Kent bike lane is a classic example of poor planing.
Beyond that, the entire issue was twisted, by the media and bloggers, from a legitimate safety issue to a peculiar dress issue. (Is it because of sensation? anti-semitism?, or ridicule of chasidim?) Neither the DOT nor the local residents indicated anything but safety. There are other bike lanes running through that community, without any objection. This particular bike lane however, which runs through a heavily populated area and near many schools, was a safety threat to the many children. I paddled through Bedford Ave many times on Sunday mornings, when the local schools are open. On this 14 blocks stretch, i could easily pass 15 buses, either dropping off children at school buildings located on that stretch or picking up children, which as a bike rider is pretty annoying to stop behind buses.
Streets are for ‘everyone’, and that includes the local community too. Why should biker’s safety take precedent over the local community safety? Bikers can take a detour, the locals cannot. It flies in the face the open bias against the Jewish people living in that community.
zinka-if you ever cycled through Bedford ave straight to the bridge, without following the bike lane to berry street like other safe cyclists do, than you should have no problem with the bike lane removal at all. Please see Google Street View that proves it.
abak’s comment makes no sense. Bike lanes IMPROVE safety, for everyone, not reduce it. Also, it’s not true that bikes had to detour to Berry St. They could, but they could also continue straight on Bedford for a more direct route. The proposed “detour” involves Flushing Ave under the BQE at the exit ramp, which is horribly unsafe.
How was this ‘back room deal’ any different than the ‘back room deal’ that almost surely took place to get the bike lanes there in the first place? I detect a bias here…
abak- thank you for the clarification. One thing I will say, then, in all fairness, it is not in the best interests of the community to have people complaining about how people are dressed when riding through the neighborhood. The streets are still public streets and belong to everyone.
Don’t people have more important things to do? How about mass bike rides against drunk drivers? Or against unsafe bike riders (having nearly been hit several times by overly aggressive ones going through lights)?
People have pointed out is that the bike lanes are not well thought out. If we want to make roads safe for bicyclists maybe the lanes ought to be put only on streets that can easily accommodate them and for the rest, they should obey the rules of the road as they stand. I think bike lanes are great, and we should have them, but i wish someone would come up with a much better plan. Its unrealistic to think a car centric society like we have is going to easily give up the streets, no matter how much better it would be.
Would be interesting to see the Hasids reaction if a mass bike ride took place in the neighborhood every month.
A source from within this community rejected the ‘absurd comments’ that accuses them of being intolerant to outsiders, and what a far stretch this is from the truth. The fact that they have been living in an area that is situated between major thoroughfares such as Bedford, Lee, Wythe, Kent, Flushing, and Park Ave., without major issues, proves that others are being intolerant to their needs. Specifically he pointed out; they have no issue with the Wythe Ave. bike lane and the elaborate Kent Ave bike lane.
However, just as cyclists usually do, they too had major safety issues with the Bedford bike lane. Not with the bikers themselves, but with the restrictions the designated bike lane placed on them. On this 14 block stretch there are 8-9 schools, four of which are located on the left side of the street, which made it difficult to drop off children safely. Moreover, Bedford Ave. was not a straight connecting route to the Williamsburg Bridge, cyclists needed to take a detour by Division Ave. on to Berry St. in order to close in to the bridge. So for safety reasons it made perfectly sense to make the detour 14 blocks earlier, which ensures the safety of the local community on the expense of an inconvenience to the cyclist community.
So if anyone is really concerned about safety, (one Jewish child was struck and killed 7 weeks ago, on a Sabbath morning when the streets are empty from cars, and it could have been a cyclist as well) you should applaud them. At least one community has done something to ensure their safety.
just for fun they should relocate the mermaid parade over there.
i think the problem with bike drivers is that most of them, especially the ones who get hurt or worse killed, ride around the city kind of obvious, non helmeted, and riding grandpa bikes that are designed for leisurely rides in the country, not a super fast highly crowded city.
*rob*
Normally I couldn’t care less. I live in Gowanus, and don’t have a bike. But I just read this article on Gawker about a 33-year-old DJ getting killed on her bike in Greenpoint yesterday. Is it too much to ask that bikers get a little piece of the road? There are bus lanes everywhere…why not bike lanes. Article link below:
http://gawker.com/5425873/brooklyn-dj-killed-on-bike