City Promoting Bike Lanes More Aggressively
Today The Times covers how the city has set out to make its case for bike lanes, saying it hasn’t been “aggressive enough” in promoting and defending them. The PR push comes after the lawsuit filed over the Prospect Park West bike lane. The lawyer repping the plaintiffs in that case has been on a…
Today The Times covers how the city has set out to make its case for bike lanes, saying it hasn’t been “aggressive enough” in promoting and defending them. The PR push comes after the lawsuit filed over the Prospect Park West bike lane. The lawyer repping the plaintiffs in that case has been on a media blitz himself and says “the Bloomberg administration had still not addressed concerns about its closeness with bicycle advocates and its interpretation of statistics.” Meanwhile, the article notes that the bike-advocacy group Transportation Alternatives has hired a PR firm for the first time in its nearly 40-year history: “‘It’s all hands on deck because the future of our city does, quite frankly, hang in the balance,’ said the group’s executive director, Paul Steely White. He framed the recent ruckus as a turning point in whether the city continues to promote pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly policies.” The story also highlights that the city’s defense of bike lanes comes amidst the mayor’s low poll ratings “and a fair amount of resentment from those who live outside Manhattan, who tend to be less in favor of bicycles.”
Promoting Bicycle Lanes as if They Were on the Ballot [NY Times]
Photo by Graham Coreil-Allen
By dirty_hipster on March 30, 2011 11:01 AM
“”I get on my bike and ride. I don’t need a bicycle lane, I ride where ever I feel like riding. ”
Yeah – Same here. Riding in bike lanes is actually sorta boring and seems to encourage people who are inexperienced to get out there on the road before they become familiar with proper etiquette.”
Agreed. My position is:
1) bicycles are a great way to get around the city.
2) bike lanes are for pussies.
tybur6
I won’t stoop to your level. Have you tried driving the routes I mentioned?
Wayyyyy too much is made out of these bike lanes. To date the miles of bike lanes in this city are a small fraction of city streets. The city has spent no more in the last 4 years on them than it spent on 4 months of additional pot hole repair from a severe winter, about $2M of a total $190.4M annual paving budget.
But it is another way to get around in the city which increases livability for many of us who are able to use them, and ridership is growing – about double in the same 4 year period. By giving cyclists more of a presence on the street and thus encouraging more folks to jump on their bikes they make this mode of transportation much safer, in turn encouraging even more riders. If more bikes can cancel out a few cars then the quality of life for everyone will improve even for motorists.
The cost is negligible. Let’s chill out a little and see where the lanes take us.
http://gothamist.com/2011/02/17/extra_pothole_filling_costs_more_th.php
hairyone… You’re an idiot. “Not being filled as fast” compared to WHAT?!
What do you mean by “free-for-alls”?!
tybur6 sez
“Do you honestly think the city’s bike lanes are preventing the Bloomberg Administration from continuing improvements and repairs to the aqueduct bring us drinking water? They’ve stopped providing services to the sick and homeless? The school system is no longer being evaluated and adjusted? The pot holes are being filled?!”
Um, yes. I don’t know about the aqueducts, homeless services, or the school system. But I DO know that the potholes are not being filled as fast. And some GLARING problems with major city arteries are not getting addressed by Transportation.
Have you tried driving down the “calmed” Flatbush Avenue, north of Atlantic, lately? Have you tried negotiating your way across Fulton Mall in an automobile? They’ve both been left as free-for-alls since last fall, obviously because Transportation doesn’t consider protecting automobile drivers as a high priority.
Seriously… the “Doesn’t he have better things to worry about?” line is getting VERY old. This is the same line that’s used for Bloomberg and Obama and *anyone* else you disagree with.
Enormous administrative organizations are capable of doing MORE THAN ONE THING at a time.
Do you honestly think the city’s bike lanes are preventing the Bloomberg Administration from continuing improvements and repairs to the aqueduct bring us drinking water? They’ve stopped providing services to the sick and homeless? The school system is no longer being evaluated and adjusted? The pot holes are being filled?!
Effing ridiculous.
5w30 – I really dont think the bike lane issues are really hindering Bloomberg from dealing with larger City issues like Budget, policing, water supply, infrastructure, etc….It isnt a 1 person show – its an entire administration.
However, since you fixate on how much money he has (by all accounts legitimately and self-made) I again assert that your criticisms are really just about your resentment for his wealth. Especially since the criticisms you have are either factually untrue (relative to all of NYC history), and/or irrelevant.
I only point this out because I really hate it when people use hyperbole, lies or subterfuge to advance a narrative that doesnt address the issue at hand or solve or prove anything. This is now a great tactic of the right vis-a-vie Obama (their position is simply the opposite of his regardless of facts, logic or history). Doesnt mean Bloomberg (or Obama) is correct about anything – it just means that such blind opposition is morally bankrupt (ironic that your in the same camp as these “liars”)
@fsrq if Bloomberg was just your average politician working off Other People’s Money I’d make the same points.
Doesn’t he have a lot more pressing things to take care of, like trying to limit the salt content of a bag of french fries?
Most politicians in this day and age are all the same. Liars. Some more persuasive than others. It’s usually about the man and his personality, not his money.
But if you add the man and his money together … please. Plutocracy was something we thought we progressed away from.
“I get on my bike and ride. I don’t need a bicycle lane, I ride where ever I feel like riding. ”
Yeah – Same here. Riding in bike lanes is actually sorta boring and seems to encourage people who are inexperienced to get out there on the road before they become familiar with proper etiquette.
It’s the entitled attitude of car drivers that makes me think they’re necessary. I don’t want to be hit by someone who doesn’t feel they should have to share the road with anyone.