Comments on: Today’s Headlines

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 21:20:28 +0000

Cops are “quick to ticket” anyone who double parks after alternate-parking hours expire, whether they’re in a bike lane or not. I’ve been rung up twice in the past few months after forgetting to move the car back, by just a couple of minutes. The cops cruise for the absent-minded, I believe. It has nothing to do with bike lanes – except that it offers a convenient red herring for anti-cycling cranks.

By: Hilary Kitasei

Hilary Kitasei — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:31:49 +0000

The question of what will replace the parking deck is important, because one of the Yankee Stadium deal’s most controversial aspects was its requisite “swap” of equal parkland – in this case, a beautiful community park with many big trees was razed and the community got ersatz “parkland” on top of parking garages. So while it may be good news that they’re shrinking parking capacity, are they still holding up the park bargain (such as it was)?

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:02:38 +0000

Of course, a little pre-post research would have led me to the use of "parking deck" to refer to the entire structure. I never thought you intended to mislead. I thought that the use of parking deck -- which might be construed as referring to a single level -- kinda buried the lede.

By: Brad Aaron

Brad Aaron — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:47:41 +0000

Sean, where I hail from, “parking deck” is commonly used to refer to an entire parking structure, while a “garage” is where one goes to have one’s car repaired.

No intent to mislead.

By: Lee

Lee — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:34:19 +0000

The bike lanes in NYC are going to be most useful if they are tied together into an integrated system. Part of that should be signage. I’ve come accross bike lanes in Brooklyn, but there is no signage or labels of any kind. I don’t which bike lane this is, where it starts, where it ends, which direction its going, or how far it goes. Am I supposed to rely on faith that I’m going in the right direction?

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:38:03 +0000

The use of “parking decks” is misleading. When I think of a parking deck, I think of one level of a multi-level parking structure. Removing one deck would make a smaller structure, but would have no effect on the use of the land.

According to the Post article, they are eliminating an entire parking garage from the plans, which suggests that the space for the garage can be used for other purposes.

Does this mean that the park that was going to be sacrificed for parking won’t be? Or maybe not all of it?

And, you’ve got to love the line that says the parking reduction won’t be a problem because of the new Metro-North station!

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:31:23 +0000

re: times cycling article

What’s Timothy Williams goal in writing this article? It seems to me to be about scaring people (again) to not commute by bike and stirring up the bike lane vs. double parking thing (again). Are cops really “quick to ticket anyone double-parking in the lanes”? And what’s with that “cautionary tale”? Guys with knives? And then connecting commuting to CM, conjuring up images of mass arrests…

Oy.

By: Angus "Germaine Greer" Grieve-Smith

Angus "Germaine Greer" Grieve-Smith — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:03:18 +0000

They used to have one of those “trolleys” in Albuquerque, and one of the Green Party activists called them “transvestite buses.” I was all ready to be offended, but the more I thought about it the more apt I realized the metaphor was.

There are plenty of ways to dress up a bus to signal that it’s a free tourist shuttle. Dressing it up as a trolley is patronizing and insulting to trolleys.

By: mork

mork — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 13:34:14 +0000

Re: “Brooklyn Trolley”

Why do they have to call that thing a “trolley”? It’s a bus. Calling it a trolley does a disservice to trolleys.