Streetsblog New York City

I do, but I don’t know if it will get past my profanity filter.

#$%^&* #$%^&* $%^&* $%^&*, $%^&*?? $^&*( @#$%^ #$%^ **** off!!!

The NYPD recently reported that cars do not obstruct bike lanes: “We had numerous reports of blocked bike lanes so we set up this covert observation platform and didn’t see a single car in the bike lane. We concluded that the problem does not exist and that cyclists are hippies.”

Anyone know what they are doing? Is there going to be some kind of big-crowd event like New Years Eve in that area? What’s going on? Please tell me that’s not just for watching everyday foot traffic and such?

Sniper tower for parking in a bike lane.

As bad as the photo is I can’t remember seeing those barriers installed when I rolled past there during the NYC Century.

Critical Ass(es)?

The NYPD once again shows what they feel is appropriate respect to bikers in the city.

Between the legs of the barricades and the cone, the NYPD has rendered the bike lane unusable. Between this and pushing bikers off their bikes, the NYPD really doesn’t like bikers, do they?

Also notice the number of pedestrians in the ill-conceived, poorly-executed and traffic-causing Broadway Boulevard. How long till it is ripped up like Koch’s bike lanes on Fifth Avenue?

“Traffic-causing Broadway Boulevard” … huh? Wha’? Would you like to explain exactly what you mean by that?

I certainly hope B’way Blvd. doesn’t get “ripped up.” It’s made the area much safer for people on foot. If the area is returned to its previously pedestrian-hostile condition, it will go back to being a deadly hazard to people like me.

“Roads don’t cause traffic, people cause traffic.”

I asked the cop standing next to the Tower of Fun if it’s OK for people to walk in the bike lane. His response, “They’re not supposed to, but there’s too many of ‘em, so we can’t enforce it.” Good thing there aren’t too many law-breaking drivers, too many teens taking over subway stations, too many muggers, too many bad guys. At least they’ve got the manpower to ticket the very few beer drinkers on stoops and to tell cyclists to slow down on the 59th St. Bridge. There’s a couple of problems they can handle. Believe me, I’m not anti-cop (one carried my bleeding body to the hospital when I got hit by a car as a kid), but they’re becoming a joke. The cops I’ve talked to are frustrated, but what can they do? It’s a pretty good-paying job, and you don’t get anywhere by making waves. As for the B’way Blvd., one less stretch you can ride on. I’ve been using it for 8 years to ride home, but if it stays like this, never again.

maybe those guys in the tower are designing a veloway! someone ask them quick. i gotta know.

That’s nothing new, they have those in my neighborhood all the time. I think they are there to help remind us where all our tax dollars go, instead of to separated bike lanes. It’s a subtle juxtaposition, and not usually so blatant as in time square, but maybe they wanted to make sure everyone on the century could see it and get the message.
Or you know, it is a surveillance tower, so maybe they were just filming all the future critical mass suspects riding in the century for the giant NYPD terrorist database. Smile, the panopticon has you.

Dave, thanks for the explanation. But calling illegal parking inevitable strikes me as self-defeating. Also, I’m as much in favor of CP and East River tolls as you are, but I think it would be a mistake to delay all other livable-streets improvements while we wait for them.

Every time I’ve walked through Herald Square since the improvement, I’ve been struck by how much less terrifying and dangerous it is to people on foot. That part, at least, has to be regarded as a success, and I think the people responsible deserve some credit for it.

Not for the first time, I sense the biker part of the Streetsblog audience diverging from the pedestrian part. Perhaps there is such a thing as handlebar perspective.

eternal vigilance is the price of liberty