If you're into bikes-in-buildings and community boards -- and really, who isn't -- there are two deadlines coming up for events to be held next Monday. A cycling PSA film fest, bike rack siting and a couple of pedestrian events round out the week.

• Monday: Register today if you wish to testify in favor of the Department of Buildings' rule change [PDF] to clarify language in the Bikes in Buildings bill. That hearing is next Monday, Nov. 23.
• Tuesday: At 6:30 p.m., the New York Bar Association hosts a panel discussion on the new ped-friendly Broadway and what it means for the future of NYC streets. The panel will include Kyle Wiswall of TSTC, Jeff Zupan of the RPA, and Tim Tompkins of the Times Square Alliance. At 7:00, TA's Biking Rules film festival showcases the best of the many public service announcements that were submitted to promote the Biking Rules safe cycling campaign.
• Wednesday: NYCDOT holds an open house on the Downtown Brooklyn surface transportation circulation study, involving how all modes of travel interact. 5:30 p.m. And today is the deadline to RSVP for TA's Community Board Jammy Jam, to be held Nov. 23.
• Thursday: Speaking of how community boards can improve our city's public spaces, today Bronx CB 2 and NYCDOT present the Longwood Pedestrian Improvement Workshop. 6 p.m.
• Sunday: The Open Planning Project, Livable Streets Initiative, and Neighbors Allied for Good Growth bring you the Williamsburg and Greenpoint Bike Rack Roundup -- a lively competition with cool prizes to help "verify" potential bike rack locations. 2 p.m.

Keep an eye on the calendar for updated listings. Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line.

Ever wonder how the oil extraction industry affects indigenous peoples and environments in places like Nigeria, Russia, Venezuela and the U.S.? Peter Maass' engaging, detailed reporting in "Crude World" answers that question. This week, he is swinging through his hometown for three back-to-back speaking engagements at the Strand, CUNY and Revenue Watch. Be sure to catch one of them. Here's more of what's happening on this week's super-packed calendar:

• Monday: Just announced on Friday -- The New York State DOT is giving a presentation and taking public comments on the rehabilitation of the Major Deegan Expressway in the South Bronx. The rehab project includes an exit ramp extension that would affect pedestrian access to the Harlem River waterfront. Hearing runs from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Presentations at 4:30 and 7:00.
• Tuesday and Thursday: NYC DOT will hold public hearings on ways to reduce traffic congestion on Brooklyn's Church Avenue and White Plains Road in the Bronx. 6:30 p.m.
• Thursday: Barnard College hosts a panel entitled "Rights of Way: A New Politics of Movement in NYC." "With the recent turn to pedestrian zones, bike lanes and greenways in New York and in many cities around the world," the flyer notes, "there is a growing sense that a new kind of urbanism is possible, one no longer dominated by the culture and politics of the automobile." 6:30 p.m. Also Thursday: City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and other elected officials host a town hall forum on idling tour buses and charter buses on the West Side. 7 p.m.
• Friday: The Open Planning Project hosts a workshop on using Web 2.0 for wider citizen involvement in civic life. How can new opportunities be leveraged for use in city planning? What are the emerging technologies that will make this possible? What are the bureaucratic, logistical, or social issues that need to be addressed in considering these ideas? 12:30 p.m.
• Saturday: The Brooklyn Waldorf School holds its annual Scoothathon in Prospect Park (10 a.m.) and the New York Transit Museum is offering a tour of the Brooklyn Broadway Elevated -- the J line (11 a.m.).
• Next Monday, Nov. 16: Hunter College is holding a day-long conference on New York City's environmental challenges. Among the speakers: Owen Gutfreund, who will talk about transportation policy.

Keep an eye on the calendar for updated listings. Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line.

• Tuesday: Remember to vote! Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Find your polling site here.
• Wednesday: Columbia University hosts a lecture by General Motors' former Vice President of Research and Development Larry Burns, entitled "Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century." 6 p.m. Reception follows at 7:30 p.m.
• Thursday: The New York Transit Museum features a panel addressing recommendations offered by the recent Regional Plan Association study "Tomorrow's Transit: New Mobility for the Region's Urban Core." The study recommended various means to provide new and upgraded transit for the five boroughs and northern New Jersey, detailing new subway, bus, commuter rail, light rail and ferry projects. 6 p.m.
• Friday: RSVP by today for the joint Open Planning Project / Regional Plan Association workshop to brainstorm new technologies for participatory urban planning, to be held Nov. 13. 5 p.m.
• Saturday: The Institute for Urban Design will host a day-long event titled "Arrested Development: Do Megaprojects Have a Future?" The symposium will examine the effects of the global recession on large-scale developments and the ramifications of the re-emergence of mega-projects. As mega-projects like New York City's Atlantic Yards and the UK's "eco towns" slow down, stall, and even stop, local and national leaders are rethinking the nature of these projects with respect to social and environmental sustainability. 9:30 a.m.
• Sunday: The Transportation Alternatives East Side Committee will lead a bike ride of the U.N.-area gaps in the East River Greenway. 11 a.m. Also on Sunday, in conjunction with its ongoing exhibition "The Last Days of the Myrtle Avenue El," the Transit Museum presents a walking tour of its former route.

Keep an eye on the calendar for updated listings. Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line.

This week we have competing Tuesday evening events, followed by the big Tri-State Transportation Campaign fund-raiser on Thursday. But first, TA and TSTC team up for what could be a momentous discussion on traffic justice.

• There are three events on Tuesday: the legal symposium on vehicular homicide with presumptive Manhattan DA-elect Cy Vance, sponsored by Transportation Alternatives, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and the Cardozo School of Law (9 a.m.); Auto-Free New York hears a presentation on the NYC Planning Commission from Hunter College Prof. Tom Angotti (6 p.m.); and TA's East Side Committee celebrates recent successes, including the Upper East Side protected bike lane resolution (6:30 p.m.).
• Wednesday: NYU hosts a panel on transit funding with Dick Ravitch. Unfortunately, registration is closed. 8 a.m.
• Thursday: TSTC's annual benefit honors Streetsblog and Streetfilms. Be sure to sign up for this important fund-raiser. 6 p.m.
• Sunday: The exhibit was extended due to popular demand, but this really is the last day to see "The Future Beneath Us: Eight Great Projects Under New York" at the Transit Museum and the New York Public Library. All day.

Keep an eye on the calendar for updated listings. Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line.

• Monday: The Five Borough Bike Club's monthly meeting features a Nova Scotia travelogue. 6:30 p.m.
• Tuesday: Transportation Alternatives will hold a membership party in Long Island City especially for Queens residents. 6:30 p.m.
• Tuesday: A Greenpoint/Williamsburg community group with possibly the greatest acronym ever -- Organizations United for Trash Reduction And Garbage Equity (O.U.T.R.A.G.E.) -- will discuss ways to minimize the impact of garbage trucks in the area. 7 p.m.
• Wednesday: Manhattan Community Board 8 is scheduled to vote on a resolution in support of protected bike lanes for the Upper East Side. 6:30 p.m.
  
• Friday: The Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute will host a conference on the important role local transportation infrastructure plays in the city's economy. 8:30 a.m.
• Saturday: The Time's Up! Green Apple Climate Tour will precede a ride highlighting future sea level rise. Events will be held at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.
• Saturday: The Hub in the West Village hosts what is billed as the city's first fashion show featuring clothes to wear while bicycling. 9 p.m.

Keep an eye on the calendar for updated listings. Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line.

• Wednesday: Transportation Alternatives Bronx Committee meeting. The Bronx Committee is one of TA’s most successful volunteer campaigns. Founded in 1994, the committee was involved in developing the Bronx Greenway Plan and organizing the first Safe Routes to School program in North America. The committee also partners with the Bronx borough president’s office on the Tour de Bronx, which marks its 15th year this weekend. 7 p.m.
• Sunday: 15th Annual Tour de Bronx, a free bike tour offering 25- and 40-mile routes, and including a NYC DOT bike helmet giveaway. Staggered start times. Advance registration required. Register online by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, October 15.
• Sunday: Artist Theresa King leads a gallery tour of her New York Transit Museum exhibit on the Last Day of the Myrtle Avenue Elevated Train. The exhibit runs through February 28, 2010.

Keep an eye on the calendar for updated listings. Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line.

• Monday: The City Council is holding a public forum on citywide ferry service. Members of the public are asked to come to speak. 5:30 p.m.
• Monday: The DOT is holding a public forum on the Broadway changes. Like the car-free spaces of Times Square, Herald Square and Madison Square? Come speak up!  6 p.m.
• Tuesday: The Walk 21 Conference gets underway at NYU. Events are happening through Friday. See our previous post for more details, and the calendar for each day's complete agenda.
• Thursday: The City Council Transportation Committee holds a hearing on seven bills relating to bicycles, idling vehicles, commuter vans, parking meters, and more. Many of these may be of interest to Livable Streets advocates. Also of interest is that this may be the last, or one of the last, Transportation Committee hearings chaired by the presumptive future city comptroller, John Liu. 10 a.m.
• Friday: Today is the last Free Bike Friday on Governors Island for 2009. If you missed it all summer, today is your last chance to enjoy car-free streets on the island. 10 a.m.
• Saturday: Staten Island supporters of Transportation Alternatives are getting together for a bike ride that starts at Borough Hall. 10 a.m.
• Sunday: The T.A. Queens Committee sponsors the 25-mile (or 12 mile) Queens Around the World Ride. 10 a.m.

Keep an eye on the calendar for updated listings. Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line.

• Tuesday: Primary day runoffs. Remember to vote! Polls are open from 6 a.m. - 9 p.m.
• Tuesday: At this month's Auto-Free New York meeting, John Rozankowski speaks about the idea of putting the subway and bus systems under city control. 6 p.m.
• Thursday: The DOT is gauging public reaction to car-free spaces on Broadway from 59th St. to 23rd St. Got an opinion about the new Times Square, Herald Square or Madison Square? Be part of the conversation at today's public feedback session. 10 a.m.
• Thursday: Details are still murky, but the two-day IBM Smarter Cities Conference gets underway today. Among the speakers are Robert D. Yaro of the Regional Plan Association, Kathryn Wylde of the Partnership for New York City, and Petra Todorovich of America 2050.
• Thursday: The Municipal Art Society exhibit "Re-Imagining Cities: Urban Design After the Age of Oil" opens with a reception from 6:30 - 8 p.m. This had been a members-only reception, but limited spots for the general public are now available. The exhibit will be on display through December 4.
• Sunday: The Atlantic Antic hosts the 16th Annual New York Transit Museum Bus Festival. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Keep an eye on the calendar for updated listings. Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line.

It's another busy week on the calendar. Highlights include a panel featuring David Byrne and Janette Sadik-Khan and an appearance by Transpo Secretary Ray LaHood.

• There are two events tonight: A forum at the NYU Wagner Rudin Center on building transportation mega-projects and a lecture on the clash between Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses to celebrate the launch of a new book on the subject. 6:30 p.m.
• Tuesday: David Byrne, Janette Sadik-Khan and Paul Steely White headline a panel discussion on the future of transportation. Byrne's highly-anticipated "Bicycle Diaries" was released last week. 7 p.m.
• Thursday: Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood visits NYU for the NYMTC Council meeting, where he will outline the Obama Administration's commitment to sustainable communities. Later in the day, U.S. DOT will hold a sustainable communities webinar. The LaHood event starts at 10:30 a.m. Space is limited; RSVP required.
• Saturday: The Climate Ride 2009 departs from New York City via ferry to the Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey area. We hope to have precise details on the calendar before the event. Stay tuned for details.
  

Keep an eye on the calendar for updated listings. Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line.

• Monday: Congressman Jerrold Nadler speaks on what the reauthorization of the federal transportation bill means for New Yorkers. Sponsored by the Women's City Club of New York. 12:30 - 2 p.m.
• Tuesday is primary election day. Vote!
  
• Wednesday: Screening of "No Impact Man," which premiered in New York last Friday, to be followed by a livable streets discussion featuring, among many others, Clarence Eckerson and Kim Wiley-Schwartz. 7:20 p.m.
• Wednesday: Come join the Transportation Alternatives Queens Committee and connect with like-minded neighbors as they tackle advocacy issues and plan fun events in Queens. 6:30 - 8 p.m.
• Thursday: Paul Beyer, New York State Director of Smart Growth, will address the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council at a brown bag lunch. The meeting will be webcast at www.nymtc.org. 1:15 p.m.
• Friday: Park(ing) Day NYC is a TA/New York City Streets Renaissance collaboration which supports the conversion of parking spots throughout the five boroughs into human-friendly places for a single day. This year, the POP.Park Competition will transform Park(ing) Day NYC from a once-a-year act of reclamation to an every day statement. The winning submission -- transportable, affordable and easy to use -- will add the immediate potential of public space to every block, every day of the year.
• Sunday: The Time's Up! bike clown brigade liberates Manhattan bike lanes from errant motorists. 2 p.m.

Keep an eye on the calendar for updated listings. Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line. 

Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn, the organization fighting Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Yards boondoggle, point us to the latest traffic "mitigation" from the Empire State Development Corporation, pictured above. Over at Pacific Street and Sixth Avenue in Prospect Heights, the sidewalk has been transformed into a motor vehicle travel lane. DDDB writes:

Yes, they've turned the sidewalk into a lane of the road. And as we took these photos we saw a number of confused pedestrians walking down the "road" and confused drivers wondering why they were supposed to drive on the sidewalk. It will be pure luck if nobody is hurt by this mess.

The Atlantic Yards construction project -- which still hasn't even gotten started -- is already turning out to be something of a minor disaster for pedestrians and cyclists. The Carlton Avenue bridge, a critical link in Brooklyn's bike network, was demolished months ago and isn't expected to re-open for years. Then there was that entire city block that Forest City leveled and turned into a surface parking lot for construction workers and future arena visitors.

Speaking of Atlantic Yards, there will be a pair of rallies against the project today in Downtown Brooklyn...

From Streetsblog San Francisco contributor Chris Carlsson: 

The Oregon Legislature has flushed an effort to bring the Idaho rolling stop law to that state. It's a bit of a surprise, given both the simple and proven efficacy of allowing cyclists to make rolling stops, as well as Oregon's big reputation as a bastion of cycling sanity. I've been an "outlaw bicyclist" for 30 years in San Francisco, running stop signs and red lights routinely. The design of traffic laws and the engineering of our roads are focused on automobile throughput, parking-and-shopping, and not much else.

Photo: Dear Knucklehead/Flickr

The safest place for me is on the OTHER side of that red light, where the road is empty. Waiting to start on the green with the automobiles is to remain shunted to the unsafe corridor between parked cars and moving traffic, and often enough, being threatened by a right-turning car. You'll end up spending most of your urban cycling time in hazardous narrow corridors anyway, but whenever you can get into an open road without moving cars alongside, you're safer. It's self-evident! It's also helpful to be pedaling ahead of traffic, keeping a healthy distance from the door zone, where approaching motorists can see you clearly and make adjustments to accommodate our presence on the road.

Over a decade ago, I wrote a flyer that I distributed at Critical Mass. It was inspired by a frustrating conversation I had with a woman when we found ourselves side by side on our way to a memorial at 24th and Valencia where a cyclist had been hit by a bus some days earlier:

As I was riding to the memorial for the woman killed at 24th and Valencia, I got a dose of bicyclist moralism. (I have been riding my bike, mostly as a commuter, in SF for the past 19 years, and I’ve only worn a helmet a half dozen times at most. So far I’ve avoided any serious accidents.) I turned to some unknown cyclists with me in the left turn lane from Market to Valencia, and asked if they were heading to the memorial, and a helmeted-woman immediately informed me in that tell-tale "tsk, tsk" tone of voice, that the accident victim "hadn’t been wearing a helmet." I took offense at this blaming of the victim, and said as much, leading to an alienating and inconclusive exchange regarding the individual responsibility to wear a helmet.

Most bicycle accidents cause injury that a helmet cannot help, but still many cyclists share the mass media bias that says "if you’re not wearing a helmet, you have given up your rights to complain about an accident or the injuries you may have received." I find this absurd and offensive.

It’s not a moral imperative to buy a commodity that offers meager protection in order to be critical of a ridiculously hostile road structure. You don’t deserve to die, or even suffer injury, just because you refuse the "common-sense Consumer Duty" to buy and wear a helmet. Road engineering today guarantees serious accidents between bikes and cars, and of course, cars and cars. You may survive a slightly higher percentage of these predictable and designed "accidents" wearing a helmet, but you are reproducing an insidious logic when you criticize bare-headed cyclists. It is terribly false to place the onus for traffic safety on the individual vehicle driver, whether car or bike. The system is designed in such a way that it is entirely predictable that many thousands of people will die in the "normal" course of events on America’s roadways. Cyclists who ride without helmets do not thereby deserve the fate handed out by the unforgiving streets of America.

This is one example of a moralistic acquiescence to the status quo that blocks some bicyclists from seeing the radical implications of bicycling. Another example presents itself in the ongoing tussle between advocates and opponents of bike lanes. Bicyclists against bike lanes believe that the best way to improve conditions for bicycling is by bicyclists becoming able to ride as an equal among cars on regular streets. Rather than changing roads and rights-of-way, they hold individual cyclists responsible, insisting they learn to behave as cars, moving as fast as autos through normal city traffic. For a large majority of real and potential bicyclists, this is physically impossible and socially undesirable.

Bike lane opponents seem to think that everyone should be like them. Often these folks claim inspiration from the theory of "Effective Cycling" (John Forester). They embrace cycling with a near-religious fervor and feel passionate about its "natural" superiority as a mode of transit in terms of energy and thermodynamics. Ten thousand hours of experience qualifies you to claim the status of "effective cyclist," a status for which rather few of today’s urban cyclists would qualify.

I prefer the label "Republican Efficiency Freaks" (REFs) for this crowd, who curiously seem to think that the only cyclists who are a worthy political constituency are those who conform to their standards of law-abiding behavior and thermodynamic efficiency. Arguing against bike lanes out of some strange paranoia, they claim that bike lanes will ghetto-ize cyclists into those areas only. Additionally they have argued that with a system of separate bike lanes we will see MORE bike-car accidents because of the confusion that exists at all intersections of bikeways and car streets. (2009: All you can say to this is, "Copenhagenize It!")

We will never be banished from city streets! There are too many of us already, and after a new bikeway system, our numbers will quintuple again. Bike-car accidents are already awful. We need a big public education program about new patterns and priorities, accommodating bicycles, wheelchairs and pedestrians, improving public transportation performance, and so on. A network of bikeways is what will encourage many more people to start riding. The most common reason people have for not cycling is their legitimate fear of being killed on the streets by cars.

The attempt to make individuals responsible for a socially-imposed madness is not just foisted on us by our obvious opponents. Unfortunately, those of us in the "bicycling community" spend all too much time fending off the same kinds of blame-the-victim mentalities from within our ranks. But this kind of petty moralism and political self-defeat cripples our utopian imaginations. Oppose political arguments that situate the crucial decisions of our predicament at the point of shopping for a helmet, or in our ability and willingness to act like a car when we’re riding our bikes. We want to change life. Bicycling is an affirmative act toward that end.

— Chris Carlsson, Sept. 1998

I still, after all these years, yearn for a more comprehensive agenda to remake the city for cycling. We've made some small progress, and soon with the lifting of the injunction we'll see a bunch more white stripes and other modest improvements. But we have to go a great deal further, and if we can generate a compelling vision of a citywide grid of safe, separate, horticulturally designed and artistically adorned cycling paths, we might finally have a goal worthy of the decades of effort that have gotten us this far.

Image: NYCDOT

Eric McClure of Park Slope Neighbors files this report.

Last night, the transportation committee of Brooklyn Community Board 6 unanimously endorsed a plan by the Department of Transportation to calm traffic on Prospect Park West through a major street redesign.

The plan features the implementation of New York City's first on-street, two-way, physically separated bike lane, which will run alongside Prospect Park on the east side of Prospect Park West, and will be protected by a four-foot striped buffer and a parking lane. In order to accommodate the new bike lane, Prospect Park West will be reduced from three south-bound travel lanes to two, and the remaining lanes will be narrowed to ten feet each.

The planned changes address two major issues: the need for northbound bicycle access on Prospect Park West, for which there has been strong demand, according to DOT Bicycle Program Coordinator Josh Benson; and a major problem with speeding, which has been a longtime concern of residents and neighborhood activists.

Preston Johnson, DOT's project manager for the Prospect Park West redesign, highlighted the problems caused by the street's current configuration. At nearly 50 feet wide and with three travel lanes, the street encourages high speeds and reckless driving, forces pedestrians to make long crossings, and lacks dedicated cycling space, despite a high volume of bicycle traffic. Prospect Park West's existing vehicle volume, which peaks at about 1,100 cars per hour, can easily be accommodated by two lanes, Johnson said.

In field surveys last month, DOT found that more than 70 percent of the cars on Prospect Park West were exceeding the 30 mph speed limit, and at least 15 percent were traveling at 40 mph or faster. From 2005 to 2007, there were 58 reported crashes on Prospect Park West.

In addition to the the two-way bike lane and buffer, the street redesign will include concrete pedestrian refuge islands, which will significantly shorten the crossings at intersections, and extensive new landscaping under the DOT's Greenstreets program. Parking spaces will be maintained along Prospect Park West with the exception of approximately two spaces at each signalized intersection.

The plan was enthusiastically received by the CB 6 transportation committee and an audience of about three dozen people. Board members raised some concerns about the lack of dedicated signalization for cyclists, especially those riding northbound. In a unanimously approved motion introduced by transportation co-chair Joanne Foulke, the committee asked DOT to include north- and southbound signals for cyclists, some daylighting measures, and dedicated drop-off zones in the final redesign. Roger Melzer, a 30-year Prospect Park West resident, was the only person to speak against the plan, saying that he feared the loss of a travel lane would create a "nightmare" of double-parking near the 9th Street park entrance.

Said Jeff Prant, a Park Slope resident, Transportation Alternatives board member and long-time advocate for livable streets, "I never thought I'd see the day when a proposal to remove an entire lane of traffic would encounter virtually no objection."

The Board chairs would not entertain a question from a resident regarding the possibility of converting Prospect Park West to two-way traffic, in conjunction with a similar reconfiguration of Eighth Avenue, asking that the discussion be limited to the proposal on the table. DOT's Benson, however, said that he thought such a change would create problems with additional signal movements at Grand Army Plaza, but he didn't rule out the possibility of further design changes over the long term.

According to DOT, the Department of Design and Construction will likely begin implementing the Prospect Park West redesign in September, and the full build out would take a few months.

In addition to the Prospect Park West changes, DOT announced that it is planning to permanently close the 3rd Street park entrance to vehicles beginning next month. In conjunction with the closure, DOT will stripe new bike and pedestrian lanes into and out of the park at 3rd Street, with the intent of reducing conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians. DOT will also permanently close the vehicle exit at 16th Street and Prospect Park South, so that all cars entering the park at Grand Army Plaza will exit at Park Circle. The park's West Drive is open just two hours each weekday, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

DOT also presented a plan for a traffic-calming redesign on Baltic Street between Hoyt and Bond Streets, a very wide block that has been plagued by speeding. The plan involves the installation of a landscaped 10-foot median, three lanes of parallel parking (two on either side of the eastbound south side of Baltic and one on the westbound side), and pedestrian refuges at the intersections with Hoyt and Bond. DOT cited the redesign of the north end of Carlton Avenue as an example. DOT also plans to implement a Class III bike lane on this stretch of Baltic Street, with "sharrows" to indicate shared road space for cars and bikes.

Rasha Shamoon was struck riding her bike on Delancey and died of her injuries. NYPD failed to fully investigate the crash.

As you know, Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC: A Greener, Greater New York calls for a range of projects to improve mass transit, reduce congestion and promote bicycling. The plans for transit may be stymied or delayed by the recession, but bicycling is booming in New York. DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan is painting bike lanes all over town, and many commuters are switching from cars to bicycles to save money, get in shape and reduce their carbon footprint.

In 2008, bicycling in New York City grew by 35%! The cycling boom means New York’s Finest must recognize the rights of bicyclists and accord them the same respect that drivers of cars, trucks and buses receive. A human being encased in two tons of steel has the same moral weight as a human being riding 25 pounds of steel, or one on foot. A recent fatal crash indicates the extent to which this is not now the case.

Early on August 6, 2008, Rasha Shamoon was riding east on Delancey Street when she was struck and killed by an SUV traveling northbound on Bowery. Police interviewed the 21-year-old driver and his two young passengers who blamed the unconscious and dying woman. No other witnesses were interviewed, even though several people reported the crash to 911. No skid marks were measured. Remarkably, although the SUV driver had six prior motor vehicle convictions, he was allowed to leave the scene after giving a statement. Shamoon, 31, a lecturer at Hunter and City colleges, was the daughter of a physician who fled tyranny in Iraq in the late 1970s. She was by all accounts a wonderful person and responsible bicyclist. Her bike had front and back running lights and was swathed in reflector tape.

There are many other examples. As bicycling becomes more prevalent in New York, police officers must thoroughly and consistently investigate all crashes. Inconsistent and incomplete reporting undermines efforts to improve the safety of city streets. At the moment, crashes caused by negligent drivers often are recorded in sketchy “aided reports.” More detailed MV-104 reports are only filed when there is physical contact between cyclist and motor vehicle. This often leaves injured cyclists with little recourse to compensation.

Breathalyzer tests should be required for all involved in a crash. Street locations and conditions should be noted so that data can be gathered to improve safety and prevent further crashes. Red light and speed cameras should be installed at dangerous intersections. The NYPD should commit to a Vision Zero policy for traffic fatalities, and thoroughly investigate all fatal crashes to determine a formal finding of cause and responsibility. Those in the wrong should be fully prosecuted. I recognize that cyclists also have a responsibility to ride safely. Transportation Alternatives is undertaking a new campaign in 2009 to encourage lawful riding on city streets, starting in Brooklyn. “Biking Rules in Brooklyn” will outline the rules of the road for bicyclists.

I realize it is not the NYPD’s problem, but I find it sadly ironic that the District Attorney goes on the warpath when a handful of people die in dramatic crane accidents in Manhattan while more than 100 pedestrians and bicyclists die on New York City streets every year.

Over the past 20 years, the NYPD has made amazing progress in making the city safer for its growing population. There is no reason why a focus on the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians should not be an objective of the next 20 years. With the population expected to increase by another million by 2030, bicycling will be a critical element of that “Greener, Greater New York.”

Thanks,
Steve Hindy

At last night’s Manhattan Community Board 4 meeting the full board voted overwhelmingly in support of the DOT’s proposed extension of the Eighth Avenue bike lane from 14th to 23rd Streets. Only two board members voted against this plan. Zero community members attended the meeting to speak out against the bike lane. Eight community members attended to speak in favor. Because of the noticeable amount of support in the crowd, the chair, J.D. Noland, actually moved Eighth Avenue up from item 27 to item number two on the agenda, knowing so many people were in the room waiting to hear the verdict.

When it came time for the board to vote, at least two board members who had formerly been leading opponents of Eighth Avenue went on record as now supporting the plan and thanking the CB4 Transportation Committee for holding such a thoughtful and comprehensive public forum on the topic in November.

It is important to remember why Eighth Avenue is now being supported by CB4.

1. The board did a thorough job of working with the community and addressing all of their concerns in their resolution, as well as structuring a forum to help alleviate misinformed concerns. The DOT responded to CB4’s desire for meaningful community outreach and has also responded to these concerns, or in some cases indicated the city will work with the board in the future.

2. Supporters SHOWED UP and SPOKE at these public meetings in numbers far outnumbering opponents, making it undeniable that public input matters tremendously in this process.

3. No opponent could argue with the facts: 280 pedestrians and bicyclists were struck on Eighth Avenue between 14th and 23rd Streets from 1995 to 2005 (our most recent crash data) -- that’s a very high crash rate. In the year since its installation, a comparable project on Ninth Avenue has achieved dramatic reductions in crashes. Data collected by the NYC Department of Transportation shows the impact of that project, and the results we can expect to see on Eighth Avenue:

• 57 percent increase in cycling
• 36 percent decrease in pedestrian-related injuries
• 50 percent decrease in injuries from all crashes
• 41 percent decrease in the number of crashes
• Sidewalk cycling reduced from 5 percent to 1 percent

People continue to bring up scofflaw cyclists. Transportation Alternatives will be working on outreach along Eighth Avenue. To keep things in perspective, in the last 10 years roughly 2,000 pedestrians have been hit and killed by cars in NYC. This compares to an estimated 4 to 6 pedestrians hit and killed by bikes during that same time, citywide. Every death is one too many, but it is good to have in mind the real source of death and injury on our streets when safety comes up with an intent to incite anti-bike lane sentiment. We all have a role to play in making our streets safer, and this process has demonstrated the need for cyclists to ride with consideration of the laws and other street users in order to shape public opinion favorably toward cycling and future bike lane projects.

Just last week a woman, seven months pregnant, was hit and killed on 38th and Ninth Avenue, in CB4. Pedestrian safety is a huge concern for this community board, and the existing protected bike lane and pedestrian safety improvements on Ninth Avenue point to the undeniable improvements that will stem from a similar design on Eighth.

Thanks to all who turned out and vocalized their support for one of NYC’s premier bike lanes and a beacon for the livable streets of our future.

Nine months after Inwood residents first proposed a physically separated bike lane for Dyckman/200th Street, connecting the east- and west-side Greenways, this week the Community Board 12 Traffic and Transportation Committee approved a resolution calling for DOT to "test the feasibility" of such a project. CB12 action was considered necessary to gain the involvement of Borough President Scott Stringer's office, which, it is hoped, will also carry weight with DOT. Streetsblog reader and Inwood and Washington Heights Livable Streets member Daniel O’Neil attended the committee meeting and files this report. 

A traffic-calmed Dyckman Street, including pedestrian amenities and a protected bike lane, moved one step closer to reality Monday when the Community Board 12 Traffic and Transportation Committee voted unanimously to request DOT carry out a feasibility study.

The adopted resolution acknowledged several key points that members of Inwood and Washington Heights Livable Streets have raised in previous presentations to the committee, including:

• Greater numbers of New Yorkers cycling and walking through the city reduce automobile congestion and help the environment through improved air quality.
• A segregated bike lane along Dyckman Street, separated from traffic by a planted median, would improve safety for both bicyclists and drivers.
• A safe route connecting Hudson and Harlem River Greenways would encourage bicyclists from around the region to visit Inwood and patronize local businesses.
• The plan is being championed by a grassroots group of Inwood residents.

The resolution stopped short, however, of fully endorsing a livable streets makeover for Dyckman Street. Rather, it limited itself to requesting a feasibility study by DOT and did not state a position for or against the proposal. Committee member Jim Berlin took pains to point out that even if DOT determines such a project is feasible, the community board may still reject it. Member Anita Barberis wanted a demonstration of support from business owners along Dyckman Street before approving the project.

Not all members were negative. Edith Prentiss, a committee member who uses a wheelchair, voiced her support for segregated bike lanes, stating that she used them regularly and that the city needed more of them, since unprotected lanes often become auxiliary parking spaces. Rita McKee, a new committee member and member of Inwood and Washington Heights Livable Streets, attempted to insert an amendment stating CB12’s support for a Greenway connector. However, committee chair Mark Levine, who authored the resolution (and is himself an Inwood and Washington Heights Livable Streets member), encouraged members to vote on the resolution as is. “There is no downside,” he said to McKee, to not including more supportive language at this stage since DOT simply needed a request from the board to move ahead with the study. It was also clear that an amended resolution might not pass.

All seven members of the committee voted in favor of the resolution. CB12 member Martin Collins, also in attendance, voted in favor. Five community residents voted in favor, and one abstained. No voices were raised in opposition.

Last night was the fourth time this year that community residents and activists had brought forward the idea of a protected bicycle lane on Dyckman Street to CB12. This vote demonstrated the importance of attending community board meetings, the usefulness of Livable Streets Groups as a community organizing tool, and the value of having community board members involved in your group.

Photo: Brad Aaron

If New York City's inaugural Summer Streets event on August 9th was any indication, it seems that bikes and pedestrians do just fine without cars. Here's why, as observed from the seat of a peregrinating pedicab:

1) With cars completely off the route, cyclists, walkers, runners, skaters, rollerbladers, and 'others' (see above) had plenty of space. Instead of our normal elbow-to-elbow jostle for the scraps of an automobile-packed Avenue, we spread out over all the traffic and parking lanes, and found that when we’ve got room, we do pretty well together. A Park Avenue 'for' cars means the less prioritized modes are unfairly pit against each other in a sort of low stakes turf war. But at Summer Streets, there was no need to squabble over the scraps.

2) We could talk and listen to each other. Without automobile engines idling, anxious drivers honking, and bus air brakes squealing, it was breathtakingly quiet. People on bikes, foot, rollerblades, skateboards, and ‘other’ wheels, could actually hear things, including each other. And so more than once, approaching a clump of moseying pedestrians from behind, I would make the quick calculation that my four foot-wide pedicab would certainly not fit around them, and gently tap my bell (it was so quiet, ginger signaling would do just fine), slow down a bit, and say in a cheery voice: "Coming around you!" And I was also free to strike up conversations with all sorts of strangers, and not just ones on bikes! Imagine how city streets would feel with more people talking to each other, and not shouting at each other.

3) When cars and bikes share the road, the expectation is that bicycles behave more like cars, since most New York City streets have been engineered for automobility. Except on roads with special accommodations for bikes, such as the separated cycle track on 9th Avenue between 23rd and 14th streets in Manhattan, the path of least resistance for urban cyclists is the one of automobile avoidance. Sometimes cyclists avoid cars by using shared bike/pedestrian paths (such as the Hudson River Greenway), but these are in precious short supply. Many cyclists instead avoid cars by grasping handlebars tightly, eyes fixed on the road ahead, and attempt to 'keep up' with the dictates of automobile-sped traffic. We avoid injury by girding up as for battle against possible encroachments by cars and pedestrians. But an unfortunate side-effect of this defensive driving–type strategy is that cyclists can displace their automobile-spun mistrust onto even the most obediently flow-maintaining pedestrians, who are by now well-trained to leap out of harm's way from the threatening cyclist bearing down.

Bike travel as battle is automobile-reactive, and when cyclists let the tempo of automobile time/space rhythms become their own cadence, we can easily let the humanity drop out of our commutes. In suddenly humane Summer Streets, pedestrians and cyclists were free to enjoy each other's compatibly human paces! And so...

4) We choreographed impromptu dance steps! According to some, Lafayette Street and Park Avenue are tragically design-flawed for the occasion. I mean, we're a first-rate city, so oughtn't we have Class 'A' improved bike/pedway for such a demonstration of urban space for people? Isn't anything less terribly dangerous and isn't the city putting us all at risk by opening up an unscripted ribbon of roadway to rag tag multi-modals like us?

No way!

In the absence of special pavement markings delineating lanes for walkers, runners, cyclists, rollerbladers/skaters, people with children (and strollers), and others, we had to be responsible for our footprints. The burden of regulating our interactions and avoiding altercations was on us; NYPD was only keeping the current conflict-free where it met automobiles at transverse streets.  And so it seems when we travel at more or less the same speed, and the journey is itself the destination, we somehow figure out how to use each other as signposts.  Now if we could just figure this out on a workday, in all five boroughs...

Time is running out. The Five Borough Bike Club and several others are plaintiffs in a lawsuit which challenges New York City's attempts to suppress Critical Mass rides. The Court has given us an August 8 deadline to gather information concerning summonses, arrests and other NYPD action against bicyclists. For those of you who don't know, the suit challenges the constitutionality of recently implemented rules that require a group of 50 or more to obtain an NYPD permit before proceeding together (the "Parade Permit Rules"). The suit also challenges various other tactics that NYPD uses to target and suppress Critical Mass rides. Details on how to provide information you believe may be helpful are provided at the end of this post.

So far, we have already gathered evidence of unlawful conduct by the NYPD, including evidence which shows that:

• NYPD "profiles" suspected Critical Mass participants for selective enforcement of the law as they ride their bikes individually in the vicinity of Union Square prior to the start of the ride, as shown in this video.
• NYPD tickets cyclists during these "profiling" operations and points to them as proof of Critical Mass's lawlessness, even when the summonses were issued on evenings when no Critical Mass ride took place and/or for violations which are not relevant to bicyclists, such as "no seatbelt" [download a summary of these tactics].
• NYPD has systematically arrested and summonsed Critical Mass participants without any valid basis. The charges frequently have been dismissed.
• NYPD officers have repeatedly used excessive and dangerous force against Critical Mass participants.

As one NYPD officer candidly told a Critical Mass bicyclist while ticketing him for an equipment violation, the policy of selective and unlawful enforcement was triggered by the August 2004 Critical Mass bicyclists' protests against the Republican National Convention. We contend that such protest activities provide no lawful reasons to establish the 50-person limit on public processions, or to suppress or selectively enforce the law against Critical Mass month after month [download].

The Court requires us to collect all relevant documents, photographs and videotape by August 8, 2008. If you believe you have evidence that is relevant to the suit, we ask that you send it to us.

This is not an offer to provide individuals with lawyers or legal representation. We request that you voluntarily provide information for use as evidence in the lawsuit. If you can help, please send us a brief email describing the information you have, and including a daytime phone number where you can be reached and/or an email address, to: [lawsuitinfo] [at] [5BBC] [dot] [org]. Please contact us about the lawsuit only through this email address.

Thanks so much for your help and support.

Best regards,
5BBC

With Detroit increasingly desperate to unload inventory, one Missouri car dealership seems to have struck gold with a special promotion: Buyers get a $250 coupon towards either a gun or gasoline. The offer comes from Max Motors, a small dealership south of Kansas City that has slapped the image of a grimacing cowboy wielding two pistols all over its website.

Max Motors owner Mark Muller claims sales have quadrupled since the offer took effect. But in this case, the high price of gas seems not to be influencing consumers' decisions. Most takers are opting to pack heat, reports Reuters:

Every buyer so far "except one guy from Canada and one old guy" has elected to take the gun, Muller said. Muller recommends his customers select a Kel-Tec .380 pistol. "It's a nice little handgun that fits in your pocket," he said.

When asked by the bloggers at Wheels why drivers choose guns over gas, Freakonomics co-author Stephen J. Dubner explained that most consumers prefer their prizes to come in the form of an optional purchase -- the gun -- rather than a necessary purchase -- the gas. "For many coffee-drinking New Yorkers, an equivalent may be the choice between $250 grocery money and an espresso machine," the blog says.

Of course, the analogy doesn't run very deep. According to the Centers for Disease Control, guns were responsible for 30,694 deaths in 2005, and motor vehicles caused 45,520. You can say this for the latte-sipping elite -- the CDC reported no deaths by espresso.

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who is holding a rally this evening for better G train service, is drawing fire from transit advocates because of his opposition to congestion pricing. Streetsblog commenters plan to confront him at the rally. "Simply because one did not support the mayor's version of congestion pricing does not mean we shouldn't do everything possible to improve mass transit," Jeffries says.

"The mayor's version." One supposes this leaves open the possibility that there is some version of congestion pricing that Hakeem Jeffries wouldn't have opposed. But despite their attempts to pawn off the coming transit finance crisis on Mayor Bloomberg, Assembly Democrats killed a version of congestion pricing that differed markedly from the mayor's original plan. The final bill reflected the recommendations of the Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission, which, lest anyone forget, was created with Albany's blessing.